FEEDING AT HIGH PRESSURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 8

FEEDING AT HIGH PRESSURE.

IFor Ihe Ofa^o Witucs 1 -) By .T\Mts Lilico. Inveicaigil' On reading omt the lepons of the Christmas fjt s;oclc show* ji Home one cannot help being impie-sed with the fact that British farmeis aie points ahead of the world in their methods of feeding a* well as breeding h\e stock, and it 1^ in a large measure tin* supremacy which has enabled them to keep tileir pioducts at the top of the market in spite of keen and annually-incieasing competition from every part of the civilised world. The valuable table of figures gi\en in the Lne Stock Journal of December 20 will repay a careful study by those engaged in the stock-breeding "industry, but the main lesson to be learned is the economical advantage of breeding- and feeding for early maturity. In no class can the daily gain in weight of the older animals compare with that of the younger sections of the exhibits. The day of the three and four-year-old mutton and beef has passed in the Homeland, and the sooner the same can be said 1 of New Zealand the better equipped will we be to hold our own in the markets of the woild. This remark may be met with the objection that the more uitcnsive lncthtir^a of, fanning iv

practice at Home are not practicable heie. The answer to'~ > Uiio is that they can be .made s o by turning off the finished pioducts in half the time it requires to do so under piesent conditions. Space forbids ; going into details on this point, but to ' touch briefly on what has in recent years 1 become one of the most important and ' a'so one of the most lucrative branches of farminsr — viz., fattening lambs for export. Alter the lust draft for the season has gone there is a certain percentage left which 1 ju^t barely reach the standard of prime, i vet these are invariably left to worry out a mere existence on a break of turnips without a tooth in their heads, with the very natural result that at 12 months old they are not in any more forward condii tioii than they were at eight months In this particular line, with all our notions 1 of being progressive and up to date, we 1 aie half a century behind Britain in the j economics of etock-feeding. Refeiencc j might be made to others, but we prefer ! to pass from the general question of feed- | ing for early maturity to quote mdiv ldua! instances of its success. I The champion fat stock exhibition at I Home is Smithfield. Here the winners from I Norwich, Edinburgh, Birmingham, and other less notable snows meet for the final j awards of the season, and in the report of this show in the Journal to which I have referred we get much valuable information of immense interest to stock- . breeders all over the world. At no other

centre is the battle of the breed's fought out to such conclusive results as here, where c\en to t.Tie uninitiated in the myslerie, of breeding and 1 feeding the final lesults are as plain as the writing on the v all. The object lessons thus to be gained are, we icpcat, of incalculable benefi t i the whole fanning community. In this. Dominion we are more inlerested in raiitlon than vi beef production, but a few examples of what can be done in the wav of producing '"baby" beef may not bo our of place. To begin with, as all loyal Neu Zealanders know, his Majesty the King not only takes a keen personal inteiest in stock-breeding, but is a consistent and successful exhibitor at shows throughout Biituin. In shot thorn-, in the class for steers under two years old, the pieinier award went to an exhibit from one of the loyal farms. This steer when 686 days eld sealed 14541b live weight, thus showing a daily gain of 2.111b from birth. This daily gain was beaten in several instances ry animals in the show, but notably by a Hereford steer, which four dajs under two \ ears weighed 1850 7 b live weight, or a gain of 2jlb daily from birth. Just in parsing we may point out, that here we Lave examples of cattle at two years old which will hang up a diessed carcase of from HOClb to 12001b. On the other hand, jn only three instances in the classes for rattle over two years in that vast array of animals, the bulk of which had been fed at high pressure from birth, was there shewn a dail3- gain of over 2 ] b, and in each of the three cases (he animals were just over the two-year-old limit. Coming now to the sheep classes, which to us here are of vastly more interest than catilo, we confess that some of our preconceived notions of the best breeds for "early maturing purposes received something of a shock. For instance, Lincoln and Leicesier breeders will be inclined to question the statement that in the longwool classes the sheep which showed the highest dai'y gain — viz., 0.711b — was a Romney ; and not only this, but the three best Romneys showed the best daily sain (0.681b), Lineolns following with 0.661b and Leicesters 0.611b. No more striking evidence can be adduced than this that Romney breeders at Home are fully alive to the importance of early-maturing qualities in their sheep in these days of intensive agriculture. In the classesc l asses for Down breeds the individual weights and daily gains are abundant testimony to the responsive qualities of these famous mutton producers to a liberal diet. In Southdowns the most striking fact is thai the pen which were champion sheep of the show recorded the lowest daily gain in their class. Still, lambs which at 500 days old weighed 1431b live weight, apart from their finish and beautiful breed attributes, are bound to be high-grade n utton sheep ; indeed, to judge from an excellent photograph which appears in the issue of the Journal previous to the one from which I am quoting, they aye simply ideal butchers' sheep. Taking the v daily gams of individual sheep, the Oxford Downs top this with a record of o.Bolb, a lamb of this breed at 284 days old scoling 2301b. though the Suffolks as a class show the highest doily gain, with 0.721b for fi\e of the best sheep, the oxford 6 coming second with 0.69!b. These figures, I need hardly add, all refer to sheep under 12 months old. Here, as in the cattle classes, the youngei animals score in the weight gained per day as compared' with the older sections, as in only two instances in sheep over a year old did the-^laily gain reach 0.501b (half a pound). These are Lineolns, three of which at 655 days old turned the 6cale at just over ha"'f a ton — truly a great achievement, alike in the arts of breeding and feeding.

Figures al - c n ot as a rule of much interest to the general reader, but I cannot close this article without making some reference to the block test which is carried out under the auspice* of the Smithfield Club. The most prominent feature in this connection to cattle-breeders in New Zealand is the success of the polled Angus and their crosses. The champion carcase in the beef section was that of a steer of this breed, under two Years, weighing alive 12741b, and the dressed carcass 86flb, thus kiUine 69 per cent, of li\e weight. The second ticket went to a pure polled Angus in the s>ame class, and in the class for steers under thres years an Angus-shorthorn was first.

It is worthy of note that this breed, which provides the "Prime Scots" invariably at the top of London beef prices, is, in the southern portion of this Dominion, virtually tabooed by the butchers, who in most instances refuse to purchase a polled Angus except given a full guaranteo that tho animal when killed will pass the abattoir inspector.

In the sheep classes we have again a reversal of current opinion here, as the outstanding merits of Cheviots and their crosses are unquestionable. The champion mutton carcase is that of a Cheviot wether weighing 95ib at under two vcars old, ihe reseive champion being a SuffolkChevi ot cross.

Altogether the lesions to be learned from a per->ual of the very comprehensive tables I have been quoting from are many and of various degrees of interest to those engaged in the lne stock industry; but the al'-important fact is again and again established bejond question or dispute that the xounger animals gue infinitely better returns for the amount of food consumed 1 , and this cannot be too persistently impressed on New Zealand farmers by ~ those- y responsible for the moulding of agricultural / opinion. We are not amongst those who fa-vow the idea of craving Government assistance on every po&sible occasion, but censidering the amount of public money which is being spent to foster the dairy industry, it is quite within the bounds of reason to expect that 6ome practical experiments in sheep-feeding might be undertaken at some of the Government experimental farms. Without at all wishing to depreciate the importance of dairying to the Dominion, we cannot get away from, the fact that threp-raising is still the staple industry, and as such is entitled to first consideration at the hands of the Go\emment.