AGRICULTURAL ITEMS

Shannon News, 18 January 1929, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS

After a long prohibition against export it has been recently announced that the, Soviet Government has agreed to the exchange of Astrakan sheep with South' America, the latter country to supply Russian with Spanish Merinos. South Australia is the first Australian State to establish a laboratory of the Division of Animal Nutrition, in which research work and experiments will be conducted. These should bo of great value- to the pastoral in dustry of the Commonwealth. ’ Livestock breeding is by no means a simple matter, and with it there are many pitfalls. If New Zealand is to attain the distinction . of being* either "The Dairy Farm of the Empire," or "The Stud" Farm of the World," some steps of a national character must be taken to bring either of these desir-able-objects to pass. The improvement of water for washing butter in the process of manufacture is engaging the attention of several dairy-factory managers in North Auckland. The Bay of Islands Co-opeiativo Dairy Company has installed a filter, and other concerns are* considering the adoption of this method for treatment of the water by pasteurisation. The total prize money to bo offered for competition ,at the Sydney Royal Show at Easter is £14,000, and, in addition, there are over 30 valuable silver cups for winners in the different sections. When one goes back to 1915 and finds that the prize money for that, year's show was £5026, one can realise what progress has been made by the Sydney "Royal" in'the last 13 yeurs.

To insure satisfactory profits we must reduce the cost, of production., The greatest factor is more efficient cows. It takes as much labour to feed ten poor cows as to feed ten good ones. It takes just as long to deliver their product to the factories, therefore, there is a tremendous saving in having good cows. The co-operativo movement continues to grow apace in North America, the United States Department of Agriculture reporting that more farmers participated in it during 1927 than in any previous year. Including duplications, due to producers belonging to more than one association, the estimated membership is 3,000,000. Grain marketing associations have 900,000 members, associations marketing dairy products 600,000, and live stock marketing associations 450,0000. A farm boy at lowa, when just a youngster, formed a calf club, became the owner of a registered calf and rapidly developed into an enthusiast for purebred, cattle. A year or so later his family moved to New Mexico. In his new home this young man organised a calf club among the-boys of I lie neighbourhood. When this lad moved into the community there was not a purebred animal in the country. Four years later the county boasted .1400 registered cattle. The boy who had done this good work was then 17 years old.