NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 4033, 30 June 1931, Page 12

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The Exhibitor’s Art. The fitting of animals for show is an art, inasmuch as it consists in preparing the entries in such a way that they will display' their inherent qualities to the best advantage, while at the same time their breeding qualities are in no way impaired. As a general rule it will be found • that the fittest animal, other things being equal, is the most likely to win in a public competition, as it is the judge’s duty, on the whole, to examine and judge stock on the form presented to him on the day of the show, not on what the animals may be at some future date.

In the case of beef cattle, it is necessary to feed them up to a high degree of condition. It is true that such characteristics as character, quality, and symmetry count for much at a breeders’ show as distinct from a show of fat stock, but at the same time it must be apparent that the animal is capable of fulfilling the purpose for which it is bred, and to this end proper condition is essential. In these days animals are exhibited at an earlier age than formerly, and young cattle especially need very careful feed-

ing if they are to retain even fleshing. High or good feeding must be accompanied by ample exercise, so that the flesh handles firmly and evenly, and the foodstuffs must be properly balanced, so as to produce the maximum amount of flesh with the minimum of fat. The feeding of young stock for show purposes always invites criticism; but there is nothing to equal high feeding in youth, while to the exhibition of young" stock must be attributed to a large extent the inherited quality of 'early and rapid maturity. This quality has been as much a breeder’s as a feeder’s triumph. Of course,, we do not wish to exhibit dairy cattle in high condition, because their purpose is the production of milk; but unless porkers and baconers, also fat sheep, are shown in good condition it is impossible for a judge to tell their capabilities. Value of Poultry Manure.

Leaflet No. 140 issued by the British Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, contains some very useful advice and information in regard to poultry manure.

The quantity <Sf poultry manure made under different conditions has been calculated as follows: —100 breeding fowls produce 80cwt of fresh manure in one year; 100 chickens from one day old to the age of 13 weeks produce 9cwt of fresh manure; while the same quantity of fattening birds produce scwt of manure in three weeks; 1000 fowls will produce about lewt of manure per day in the houses and S’ similar amount outside. It is well known that poultry manure is a rich fertiliser compared with farmyard manure, while air-dried poultry manure, though poorer than good guano, has a composition similar to. that of rape cake. Manure from laying birds contains 1.75 per cent, of nitrogen, and that of fattening birds 2.28 per cent, of nitrogen. The bulk of the nitrogen is in a quick-acting form, and because it is easily fermentable care must be taken in storing, or much of the valuable ammonia will be lost. Assuming that only one-half of the total nitrogen has a value equal to that of sulphate of ammonia (about

12s 6d per unit), that the remaining hah as one third that value, and calculating I phosphate and potash at 2s to 3s per unit I respectively, the poorest of the fresh I sample has a manorial value of 21s per ' ton, while rich air-dried poultry manure '■ is worth 73s per ton. A flock of 1000 j laying birds would therefore produce, ; besides eggs, manure* to the value of over £4O. !

In regard to experimental work with poultry manure, it has been proved that 4cwt of fowl manure produced as good a crop as lewt of nitrate of soda or lewt of sulphate of ammonia. That is to say, poultry manure is about as effective as one quarter of its weight of nitrate of soda, and would therefore be worth (on its experimental showing) about £2 10s per ton at present prices. The storing of poultry manure calle for great care. Manure deposited on the fields by the poultry themselves quickly sets to work, and its good effects are easily seen. But the manure made in houses calls for the greatest attention. The point to aim at is to dry and pulverise it with as little loss of nitrogen as possible. Peat moss, sawdust, and gypsum are used, but fine dry soil is quite effective. Alkaline substances, such as lime or wood ashes, should not be used, as they cause loss of ammonia through volatilisation. In practice a good plan

is to make shallow layers of the manure and dry earth alternately in proportion of two parts of the manure to one of earth. The heap is kept under cover, and turned occasionally till it becomes dry and friable. For such manure dried suitable additions would be : Superphosphate at one-fifth of the weight of the soil-dried manure, and kainit or potash salts at one-tenth of the weight of the soil-dried manure.

Bakewell’s Legacy. Among the improvers of stock Robert Bakewell takes by common consent a high place. There have been others perhaps who set to work with higher motives, others perhaps who deserve in greater measure our personal regard, but Bakewell will never be forgotten. He was a man of many faults. He was selfish and secretive, impatient of criticism, jealous of his rivals, and given upon occasion to self-advertisement. Among his contemporaries he made a good many enemies; but (as Mr J. A. S. Watson has pointed out in an article in the _ journal of the Royal Agricultural Society) he forced them, as he forces us tq-day, to acknowledge the greatness of his genius and of his achievement.

The first and perhaps the most important of Bakeweirs services was that he conceived an entirely new type of animal. If we turn to any of the writers on live stock before Bakewell’s time and read what they have to say about the “ points ” of cattle and sheep, we see at once that the value of the animal as a meat producer scarcely entered their thoughts. Almost without exception they insist on the importance of size; also they have plenty to say about colours and horns and other more or less “ fancy ” points. But apart from these things it is quite clear that oxen were judged as draught animals, cows as milkers, and sheep as wool producers Bakewell foresaw a demand for meat on_the part of the masses of the people, and he realised that a new kind of animal must be evolved to supply the new need. Moreover, the sort of animal

that lie saw with his nnuu s eye had, as we now know, the essential qualities that were required. Bakewell rightly argued that if animals were to be bred and reared primarily for meat, then the time required *to bring them to butcher’s weight and condition was a factor of first-rate importance. He seems to have observed that the large, long-limbed, and heavy-boned animals which were popular with his fellowbreeders were those that took longest to reach maturity and were the slowest to fatten. Therefore he favoured an entirely different type, a smaller and blockier animal, short of leg, fine of bone, apd broad of back. Not'only did Bakewell discover a new aim in breeding; he devised a new system. Many others before him had, of course, applied the principle of simple selection, had chosen their breeding animals with due regard to what were considered good qualities. It remained for Bakewell to discover, or at least to apply, two other principles. On the one hand, finding that sires did not always possess equal powers of stamping their qualities upon their offspring, he began to subject his male i animals to a breeding test, postponing his final selection of stud bulls and rams I until he saw what kind of progeny they were capable of producing. Incidentally he arranged as far as possible that these tests should be carried out in flocks and herds other than his own, preferring to let his rams out season by season rather than to sell them. On the other hand, Bakewell showed that inbreeding, instead of being a thing to avoid at all hazards, was, when judiciously used, a weapon of great value to the breeder. How much credit Bakewell deserves for this last discovery will never be known, for he never told how it came to be made. The likeliest theory is that he was faced with the alternative of using good home-bred sires, closely related to- the rest of his stock, or of obtaining indifferent sires from other sources, and that he had the courage to try Jhe former. In any case, Bakewell inbred both cattle and sheep to an extent that was unheard of before his time.

Stimulating Primary Industries. One looks, naturally enough, to the metropolitan agricultural and pastoral associations during times of economic stress to keep the flag of the greatest industry, in the country—the agricultural interest—flying. The question to-day is, What are agricultural and pastoral associations doing to foster our primary industries ? To the breeder and the farmer an association owns any prestige it may possess, and the latter should now realise the fact, and do all in its power to assist the man on the land. The president of the Manawatu Association, Mr L. B. Wall, when interviewed recently on this question, said : “ The average person regards an agricultural and pastoral association as merely an organisation for the holding of an exhibition of animals, articles and goods akin to the farming industry, and nothing else. The public does not delve into details, and in the majority of cases would be no wiser if they did so. But the fact remains that their breakfast milk, butter and cheese, the mutton and beef that adorns their dinner table, and the bacon and pork of which they are fond are all the better in quality and purer as the result of over half a century’s work of agricultural and pastoral associations. “ This aspect has its reflection in the Home markets also. There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that it is by our farm products that we are so well known in the Motherland. In Great Britain we have 1 one of the principal markets for our produce, and we must foster that market to the fullest extent possible. We have strong competition in all our products from such countries as Denmark, Canada, Australia, and the Argentine, and now, according to information recently received here, from Soviet Russia. Unless, therefore, the high standard of our produce is maintained we are going to lose ground. There is no patriotism in a man’s stomach. If he considers that the product of a foreign country suits his pocket or his palate better than Empire's foodstuffs do, there is no doubt is to which country will secure his preference. “ The depression through which we are passing, having its primal cause in the low prices prevailing for our primary produce in the world’s markets, it behoves someone to make a move in the direction of improving the quality of our products. Mere advertising alone is not sufficient; we must ‘ delver the goods.’ The fact that this Dominion can do so is due undoubtedly to the efforts of the agricultural and pastoral associations in the competitive show ring. This undoubtedly brings about increased butter, beef, or mutton production, a better texture in our wool, or an improvement in the quality of our pork and bacon. “Of late much has been heard about that dreaded scourge foot-and-mouth disease. Certain breeders contended that to achieve improvements in the

Dominion’s live stock it was necessary to import new blood from overseas. .This theory, however, has been disproved by many of the foremost breeders in this country, who believe that the stock ia the Dominion is already of such a high standard that it is practically unneeessaiy to import any animal to improve the present strain, and while it may be at times thought necessary for importation to improve blood stock the risk of contamination is too great. Therefore we simply rely on the ability of the stud breeders of New Zealand to preserve the quality and develop the flocks and herds of this country.” AGRICOLA.