The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1912. A WASTEFUL PRACTICE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 81, 30 November 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1912. A WASTEFUL PRACTICE.

Not long ago the Empire Trade Commission had before it a complaint regarding the waste through carelessness in branding cattle, hides being seriously damaged in a great number of instances. Dealers and- tanners in the Commonwealth have taken the matter up and are agitating for a change in the methods adopted by stockowners. It is stated that at present, out of pure carelessness, or because it is easier to do so, owners place their brands in such a way as to spoil the most valuable part of hides. With the great increase in the prices the loss to Australia is a very serious thing and runs into many thousands of pounds, apart altogether from the dissatisfaction caused to buyers on the look-out for the best articles. It is stated that some graziers are not satisfied unless the brands put on their cattle arc so very conspicuous that they can be seen and recognised at quite a distance, and to ensure this use the fire-brand heavily on such parts of the hide as are most valuable if clean and unspoiled. New South ' Wales is making'an effort to make it compulsory by law to brand cattle only on the cheek or thigh.. Dealing with New Zealand’s position in this connection a contemporary remarks that it is “satisfactory to note that New Zealand stock-owners, while not entirely free from the faults of their Australian brethren, show more consideration for the value of hides. One of the foremost of the Sydney stock agents points to Now Zealand for an example of the benefits to be expected from a change. He declares that in this Dominion, where cattle are housed and run in fenced-in paddocks, they are often not branded at all, with the result that when the hides go to Sydney they are snapped up by eager buyers who pay high prices for them without even looking at their purchases. That is simply because many of the New Zealand hides have not been spoilt by the branding tool. There are, however, many farmers who take little or no trouble over this matter and if they would profit by the lessons of Australia there would be a considerable saving to the State.”