HIDES AND BRANDING.

Putaruru Press, 2 June 1926, Page 7

HIDES AND BRANDING.

PREVENTABLE BLEMISHES. A Heavy Annual Loss. r A reliable estimate given by an official of the New Zealand Tanners’ Association sitate that an ordinary oxhide weighing about 501 b. will realise Id to 2d per lb more if not branded than the hide which, has been branded on the rump. li. 1924, says the “New Zealand Times,” nearly 600,000 ox-hides and 800,000 calfskins were produced in New Zealand, but from 50 per cent to 90 per cent of the ox-hides were spoiled to some extent by branding on the rump, reducing their market value by 5s to 7s' each' equalling a loss of from £150;,000 to A £200,000 annually through indiscriminate fiSre branding. The Stock Act interprets a cattle brand as “a distinct and plain mark, burnt with a branding iron into the skin and not less than 2in. in length.” but nqthing in the Act compels anyone to brand horses, cattle or pijfs running on securely-fenced lands, nor • does it stipulate the part or parts of the animal on which the brand is to be placed if the owner decides to firebrand his stock. Colonel J. Pow, secretary to the New Zealand Farmers’ Upion, stated in an interview in Wellington that a large percentage of the cattle in New Zealand were branded on the rump, and the ; was becoming so serious that it j had been taken up by the Farmers, Union which had sent a circular let- j ter on the subject to the affiliated associations. New Zealand Tanners Associa- j tion is endeavouring to have the Stock Act amended by providing that the | brand shall be burned into the skin ; only on the shoulder or neck; also that | it shall te compulsory that all calves I born, if not registered pedigree cattle, * ;shall be dehorned. :