Farming Column

Hokitika Guardian, 26 March 1932, Page 8

Farming Column

CORJRIEDALES FOR JAPAN

For some years past the Japanese Government has made annual importations of fcorriedale sheep from Australia. This year, however, it wa s decided to divide the order with New Zealand and the Japanese representatives, Mr R. Hatakeyauia and Mr Y. Ohno who were accompanied by Mr K■Shimade, a resident of .Sydney, have selected 290 Oorriedale sheep From the sold established Bushey Park and Moeraki 'Studs. 7 rams and 155 ewe's were selected from Mr J. yt. Johnstone’s Bushey

’ i'k flock and 5 rams and 125 ewes from Moeraki. Shipment was made per ■S.S. “Brisbane Muru.” ; The representatives of the Japanese Government have inspected several of' the leading studs and have expressed a very high opinion of the standard of'our Oorriedales'. They have intimated that this .shipment will be the fore runhe.r df many more from New Zealand, as the Corriedale is admirably suited .to Japanese conditions.

LINCOLNS IN SOUTH AMERICA. Lincolns shipped to South America last July have .since sold at auction for satisfactory'prices. 19 hoggets and one shear ram averaging approximately £95. These rams came from the well known Wairnrapa breeders, Messrs Win. Rayner, L. R. Wilton, A. D. McUlaster and •H.’j. Rayner. The top prices, 4,200 pesos -(14 to the £1) was secured for a ram ’of .Mr Wm. Rayner s breeding while one of Mr L. R. Wilton’s .rams realised 2,500 pesos. The exchange, however, is having a retarding ' effect on business with South America at the present time the rate being over 40 per cent, below par.

NEW MARKETS FOR THOROUGH-

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! Since the initiation of the national yearling thoroughbred sales at Trentham five years ago the market for New Zealand bred horses has greatly extended. In the past Australia has operated!’'substantially and orders have been filled for the Malay States and Pategonia. This year, however, competition ivas in very much greater force from Australia who secured fourteen lots while the United States of America, Ceylon and iSouth' Africa ’ gave valuable assistance. Competition considering the times was remarkably well sustained and 90 lots this year made an average, of 118 guineas against 128 guineas last year. , Keenest interest was shown in the progeny of last year’s champion sire Limond,-seven colts by this horse offered on account of Mr G. M. Currie, Kai Iwi, filing for an average of 475 guineas. Competition on these was" keen from Australia. The progeny of Mr John Donald’s sire, Chief Ruler, who is leading sire, to far this season were also in keen demand, ’Those by Tea Tray, owned by the'Elderslie Stud Coy., so cl well and were more keenly sought after than those by Paper Money and Weathervane. The progeny of Night Raid, sire of Phar Lap and Nightmafch, from Mr Geo. Mains’ stud made good money. Mr Harry Telford (part owner of Phar Lap) paying 450 guineas for a colt out of Satisfaction. Phar Lap's brother who was passed at the sales, ha s since been sold for a substantial figure to go to Ceylon. The yearlings this year were an exceptionally good lot and were particularly well connected. It is anticipated that the. success ot the yearlings sold this year which were' so widely distributed, will prove a very valuable advertisement for the New Zealand thoroughbred and that overseas competition can be counted on at the future yearling sales.

PUMICE COUNTRY. An experiment recently carried cutin the pumice country indicates that control of grass, never letting it getaway, is, together with complete fertilisation, the true solution of successfully establishing farms on these areas. Hitherto, faring have been established on a large scale, and therefore intensive methods have been out of the question, but it is the intensive method that is required. Grass control, good fertilisation and the heavy stocking that comes with rotational grazing are absolutely necessary. Cost of transport of fertilisers is a drawback -to the development of the. pumice country, and many now regard the stoppage of the Rotorua-1 aupo railway as a bad mistake.

nothing NEW. Farmers cannot have failed to notice how soon pasture land insufficiently grazed deteriorates or goes wild (writes an English authority). The man with plenty of stock maintains the quality ; of his pastures ; the idle field become* a waste. Our rich pastures have become so •through good management ; and a grass field is always generous for any manure it receives. One of the oldest ! adatres among graziers is .that . -‘grass • skould he a day old for a sheep and a | cos old lor a bullock." Good graziers have, always shifted their animals around | frequently to ensure a young bite; and have employed mixed animals, so that I what one would not- graze down tl ,f ' other would. All, however, have n#t been skilled; souk* of those with skill have not always been able to puroh:««e sufficient stock; -so that in one way or another grass land often deteriorates, and much has never given half the return it might have done under skilled j management. | LIME IN WATER-. It has been ' definitely proved that

in the “good fattening” pastures ot Britain the ash of the grass plants contains a high percentage of lime and phosphate, while the bad fattening pastures contain a low percentage. If the good pastures of Brita n are good because of- tße lime aim phosphate the grass contains it ' s even more important that the grass ol the New Zealand dairying pastures should contain a high percentage of phosphate and lime, seeing that the cattle obtain their sole nourishment from them, and that they are grazed on them practically the whole year. Emphatically lime and phosphate are the most important mineral requirements of' our pastures, not only f°r the sake of maximum milk production but in order that our cattle may be kept in vigorous health.

THE SPEAKER’S £337 A YEAR. The fact that the Speaker of fluHouse of Commons, Captain the RtHon. E. A. Fitzßoy, has again been cwirded Tlm’-nton’s Cup for the best four dairy Shorthorn bulls submitted by one breeder at any of the Thornton firm’s collective sale<s during 1931. ireminds the Live Stock Journal that one of the most prominent females in the Foxliill herd is Telluria May 4th. 'She is now over 12 years of age, and is still breeding bulls of the stamp for which the herd is famous. In 11 years she “made” for the Speaker in milk and calves £0. 785. or £337 a year. In 1919 her second calf, s he gave 11,167|1b. in 330 days: in 1920 (third calf), some 12,7741 b. io 323 days; and in 1921 '(with her fourth calf), 16.1291 b. in 339 days. With seven calves she has averaged 12,6251 b. and of these calves some have made big prices, including Foxhill Gav Day. which sold at 500gns.

HEIFER’S GOOD PERFORMANCE. . One o'f .the best performances for jjtrn eiven in ' “\v Ze n I■n 1(] last Sanson is that of the senior two-year-old Jersey heifer,' Ra Ora Grace, vs Hit i .produced 6811 b. fat under C.O.R. test This heifer, which is the property < ' ..M> V. Jfr Hopping, Harapepe, Waikato, started off by producing 89.021 b. i * aa or first month a Dominion record for .age, but afterwards encountered a 'lot Of trouble,, including poisoning. Under the circumstances her performance for the season was no.th ng short of remarkable. Ra Ora Grace. is o c/rand&on of the imported bull, Eminent’s Fontaine.

CHEESE TROUBLES. Experiments designed to ascent me the cause's of rusty sP°t in Cheddar and other 'cheese .have been carrier 1 out by-the staff of the National Insti tute for Research in Dairying, Pear' j n rr. The following conclusions hm-e been arrived - at(1) The most important factor in the growth of the red spot organism ,in milk is the presence -and growth of-certain other bacteria, not vet defined. (2) ' lh o incidence of red s pot may be controller! bv excluding bacteria from milk during milking, and reacting milk from udders suffering from disorder.

better marketing, methods urgently needed

The need lor a scientific system o marketing Farm produce was perhaps never greater than at the present time when farmers throughout the world are finding it so difficult to make ends meet. A thoughful scheme towards this .end has been worked out by the British Ministry of Agriculture, and ■ IH . sa practical commencement, the sale of potatoes is being taken in hand. In G'ermauy, when there is a bumper yield of this valuable crop, the surplus is converted into farina, commercial alcohol and such like, but in Britain the surplus has at once been thrown on the market because of the fear of falling prices, with the- result that even a small surplus thus thrust on an unwilling market may bring the price down from £5 a ton to £2. It may he argued that the loss to the producer brings advantage to the consumers, but this is not usually so, and the following example is cited; A large British producer had a bumper crop, and could not sell at any price, consequently he bought 4,000 pigs to consume the surplus, and even . then quantities of the potatoes had to be allowed to rot in the ground ; vet- potatoes wore then selling in South-East London at £lO a t° n * though the distance from the farm in question was only /0 miles. According to the Ministry's scheme. tie* needs of the market can be pretty accurately gauged because they vary but little from year to year; the acreage of the crop can be accurately told, and the yield approximately guessed. What is wanted is a central organiser or group of organism's, who .shall have the power to deal with the surplus and prevent it being thrown needlessly on the* market-; no private person can start a farina lactorv. oi an alcohol extracting or a drying plant, or any other apparatus for deviling with unwanted potatoes. It is estimated that within one* year British potato producers would have received £” WO.~ 000 more if their surplus had been hold up. The scheme will mean a tin r-’iiob svst.em of grading, ami better liaison between the merchants am) the associated producers, but. none of the difficulties is insurmountable, and even an approach to tlu; ideal would bo ol real benefit. The Germans get rid ()i more than one-third of their potatoes in feeding pigs, while Britain pays about £4O 000,000 a year for pig pr> d»‘ t<* imported from ‘'brtfvl.