WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 8

WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

l , The weather is a bit cold and wintry, but j ! not much rain has fallen, t j T'«e but sufficient to keep the j Weather. land mucky, and therefore . I delaying eeeding. A welcome ohange has set in, however, the sky r being clear and bright, with a rising ba.ro- [ meter, and it is hoped that it will continue, ■ as there is a lot of woiik waiting for the chance of a dry spell. Seeds should be got in now as soon as possible, and potatoes » planted. Wath regard to the latter, some large growers have adopted a system »f . planting a patch at intervale from September till the end of December as one means of combating the blight. The only advantage I can see of co doing- is that all the eggs are not in one basket, and the weather may favour one planting- more than . another. It might be of value on a small ' soale, but after many years' experience I would stick to the old fashion of planting the main crop at tho end of September or during October (much depending on the nature of the soil and the weather), and be fully prepared to apray from the time tie shaws appear above ground till they are fit to dig. Wihen planted late there is . always a danger of getting flooded' before , they are ripe, especially on the river flats wliare the most of the potatoes are grown , in the district. Every season reports are circulated of the I heavy losses sustained by I Abortion. dairymen owing to a large percentage of cows having aborted. At the annual meeting of the Dannevirke Dairy Company the chairman, of directors (Mt M. Walsh), when moving the adoption of the balance sheet (wihioh showed that the settlers had- received more than Is a lb for their butter-fat, which was most satisfactory), said that well as they had done during the past year, he was conlident that with care they could easily do better. There were 29 suppliers to the factory, and he supposed that their average holdings would be about 100 acres, making a. total area of 2900 acres supplying tho factory, from which something like £2000 was derived during the year. Lar<r e as this sum 6©emed to be, he was confident there were considerable leakages, for he had calculated that, on the average, each farm in the district lost the supply of »t least three cows— a loss that was not due to ignorance, but to carelessness. Last year their factory had lost the milk of 87 cows which represented a loss in cash to the settlers of £870. That was a big thing f<xr • m j b °v c oll^*"'^ and individually, and it had been brought about simply through the failure of the settlers to treat their covra properly. Mr Walsh proceeded to quote from a report by Mr Gilrufch on "Abortion, which was declared to be responsible I for the loss referred to, and which, he said, ' was still going on In proof of this he mentioned the case of a settler who last year milked 35 cows who this year would not milt 10 as the result of n#gleeting his nerd. Although it appears by Air Walsh's statement that the dairy herds about Dannei yirke are in a bad state, yet it is encouraging to note that those interested recognise the position, and when such is tho caee thece is always room for hope that the disease will be stamped out, as it can be so simply done by following the instructions given by the Government veterinaries. perhaps tue greatest reason why abortion has not been stamped out is the simplicity of fehe cure— the old story again, " Why wash in the waters of Jordan? " As already said, there are hopes for the dairymen of Dannevirke, but it is to be feared that the disease is widespread, and in too many in- j stances owners try to conceal the matter i with the object of disposing of the affected | animals, both cows and bulls, and thus i disseminate the disease right and left. In ' the interest of the dairying industry it seems that legislation to prevent the sale of diseased animals is badly required. One thing that shows that improvement is S the watchword among dairyTht Dairy men is the cautiou3 way Bulls. thej go about selecting the . bull. Not that all are as yet imDued with the fact that the bull ia half the herd, or better, as bulls still sell readily in the aaleyards the buyers of which know nothing as to their breeding or freedom from disease. But it is encouraging to 6ee that the number of the cautious is fast increasing. It has long been a question of dispute as to the utility of using young or old bulls. Personally, I like the fullydeveloped as sires, and at times feel wrath to see a five or six-year-old bull of undoubted breeding bought for a couple of pounds to go to the pot just because he is considered old, wfcile the beast is in his prime. The objection to aged bulls is that often they have learned feace and gateema^lung, and at times have become vicious so that there is reason in the dairyman's objection to the old bull, unless they adopt the wise system of keeping the , bull separate from the herd, either in a small paddock or. if a fence-breaker, tethered. A good plan of tethering which, 1 think, was mentioned in this column some time ago, and is now largely adopted, is. to anchor a wiie across the paddock about three or four chains in length, to which the bull is connected by 12ft or 15ft of chain. This allows a feeding area of four enains by one chain and a-half. The plan works admirably, as having a range of half . an acre at a time and shifted regularly the ' grass is always clean and sweet. It seems ' tnat al! dairy coy. s in Denmark are grazed on the tether. The greatest advantage of : Tethering the bull is that he can do no damage either to fences or people. Seeing that it is such a simple matter to control the bull, there should not be any objection to aged aninrah. Where the herds are small , and only one bull is required, there is a ! necessity for making frequent changes unle^a arrangement can be made for the ' service of the heifers by a neighbour's bull. There is annually a big trade in bulls in. dairying districts. At present from Wplling+on to New Plymouth the Jersey is most in favour, and are bringing high prices Tlie Ayrshire has of late been quietly mak- I ing his good qualities known and respected ' 11k; shorthorn has ajid will always have re- '

spect, and if it were possible to import tf few of the same strain as Darlington Oraiv ford "V, which put up such, a great performance at tdie English Royal Show, it would be a boon indeed. -.There were 90 competitors in the milk yield classes, and she easily topped the lot, giving 821b 14oz ! of 3.725 per pent, milk for the two mdlfcings. i The next highest was a Lincoln red with 1 , 631b 4oz of 4.275 mildc, then a South Devort with 581b 14oz of 4.20 test, a red poll wifcb. 1 551b 2oz of 3.325 test, an Ayrshire with 511b of 3.375 test, a Jersey with 461b 4oz of 5.825 test, a Guernsey with 471b 4oz of 4.95 test, a Dexter-Kerry with 421b 2oz of 4.275 teat, a K*rry with 411b ICoz of 3.85 test, a longhorn with 321b 2oz of 4.475 test, aaud * Devon with 381b Boz of 4.10 test. The Lincoln red is really a shorthorn, and is in some quarters better known as the allred shorthorn. _ It 'is interesting to note what is doing in the Old Counfxy towards improving the milking qualities of" what artt generally considered a beef breed of cattle. The time may be distant yet, but the signs of the times point to a. system of mixed farming on the rich lands of this coast, when it will be found profitable to combine dairying with cattle-fa*tening to a large extent, the soil and climate being so suitable for root-growing. Should such , «, system come into force then* the milking breed of shorthorns, Herefords, • and other beef breeds that have milking qualities will be in demand. It should be worth the while of some young enterprising dairymen, to lay the foundation of a -purebred milking herd- of shorthorns, Herefords, or other oeef bresd. At the present time there is a demand for such bulls, and the outlook for the future is encouraging. The annual meeting of the Hereford Cattle Breeders' Association will : Hereford*. be held at the office of the Romney Breeders' Association, Feilding, on Friday, September 24, \vhen the report for the year will be considered by members. From' the report, which is already in the bands of members, the following items should be of general interest. With regard to finance the balance of assets over liabilities is now £531 18s lid, and the profits on the year's transactions after writing down ihi surplus copies of Volume XI from actual cost prica of 17s 9d to 5s each is £58 16<t 3d. Volume XI lias been completed, and is now in the hands of members, and contains the registration of 168 bulls and 826 cows and heifers. The council recommends that 40 volumes be procured of the "History of Hereford Cattle," now being published by the Live Stock Journal Company, England, which will be rewritten and revised to date. This . will provide a copy for each member, and a few spare ones for those joining the association at a later date. The president and vice-presidents (Messrs G. M'Gregor and F. W. Arbon) and two members of the council retire by rotation — Mossers G. M. Currie and A. G. Toxward, — but arg eligible for re-eleHion I ANTIQUA OVIS.