FARM AND DAIRY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 71, 14 November 1931, Page 2

FARM AND DAIRY

NOTES FOR THE PRODUCER. In the work of building up really profitahle.pastures, every farmqr must study the subject from the viewpoint of his own farnp No two farms are I exactly alike, and while some principles of grassland management are capable of general application,. there are others whieh must be amended to suit a particular locality and a particular farm. The" level heavy-soil farm is quite a different thing to the upland light-soil farm. Rotational grazing in wet winter and early spring months is much more difficult in the former than in the latter case. We have a case in mind where a level heavy-soil farm is too well sheltered and the wind does not have the drying effect it has an a less well-sheltered farm. Co-operative Pig Marketing. The Co-operative Pig Marketing Assoeiation with headquarters at Hamilton, and 'which serves the whole of the Auckland Province, is to have a new and more virile lease of life. A new board of directors has been elected, dominated by keen progressiveness, a younger generation than the old board. A policyis under consideration which should prove of immense service to the pig-keepers of the province and ultimately to the pig-lceepers of the Dominion in general. Juvenilq Clubs. . Calf Clubs are in existence in one | or two districts, and have had an excellent- effect in stimulating an interest in good stock, and in the proT per feeding and management of them, among farm boys and even girls, but unfortunately the movement has not been associated with the herd-testing movement anil therefore marked stock have not been used. Pig clubs club was once established and would have been proposed, ancl a Poultry have been a great success, seeing the enthusiasm of the members, had there been a qualified directing official available. Were there a proper. scheme of agricultural training, lessons in the elementary principles of the rural sciences at our country schools, it would be possible to have animal clubs. It is understood that giving boys and girls an animal of their own to care for and benefit from is the best means of inducing them to take an interest in farming and therehy keeping them on the land. Silage. Farmers who are depending more on silage than on hay are finding that silage made in a pit or trench, where the grass can be better consolidated as the.stacking proceeds, is more satisfactory. This fruity or sour silage puts the cows in better condition for calving than the sweet silage, usually made in the stack where the air cannot be exluded so effectively. They are also finding that grass cut before the seed heads form makes a better silage than where the grass is allowed to reach an advanced stae-e

of maturity. The bulk of material is not secured from the grass harvested in the lear stage, but it has a much higher feeding value. Calf Troubles. A man who has tried everything on the market as a cure for scours'in calves recently tried starving a calf that had the trouble and then reducing its ration of skim-milk. He was entirely successful. He made the calf comfortable on a bed of hay in the corner of a shed and gave it no- | thing but an occasional drink of steri- | lised water — water taken from the electric heater which had been allowed to cool. After two days he gradually re-introduced it to skim-milk, but stopped the increase when the calf was getting a smaller ration than it was getting before it commenced to scour. Russian Butter. A 687 per cent. increase in Soviet

butter imports into England during last August compared with the same month last year, is revealed by the British Board of Trade returns for August. Taking the first eight months I of this year, the total imports of Soviet butter show a 167 per cent. increase over the corresponding period of last year. The figures are: — August, 1930, 9419cwts; August, 1931, 74,186cwts. Jan.-Aug., 1930, 82,258cwts; Jan.-Aug., 1931, 220,424. Although these totals seem relatively small when compared with the butter imports durings the first eight months of this year from New Zea(l,361,116cwts.), Australia (1,030,I 403cwts.), and Denmark (1,648,117 cwts) , they afford striking proof of Russia's determination to become a formidable competitor in the English butter market. Abortion Incurable. Cattle abortion cannot be cured,j but it may be eradicated, according to Dr. H. J. Metzger, of the New York State College of Agriculture. Dr. Metzer recommends as a means of stamping out the disease the blood test and the isolation of infected aniJ mals. "The complete eradication of abortion disease from the herds is impossible, and it would mean stopping a serious source of loss to the stoelcmen of the State," he says. No cure for abortion is known, according to Dr. Metzger, and the purchase of any drug or stock tonic as a cure is a waste of money. The blood test will detect the presence of the Bang abortion disease, and then y the owner can take the measures which, through sanitation and prevention will clear his herd of the disease. Dr. Metzger recommends complete isolation of the diseased animal, complete cleanliness, • and the rearing of all animals on the farm to keep from reinforcing a clean hard.