FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 256, 4 December 1909, Page 6

FARM AND DAIRY.

Aged ewes, if fed well, are the best ol mothers. Slirivelled wheat affords a profitable mil e, in feeding p.gs. Pigs should lie weaned at six to eight weeks old, not later. The lorkshire sow is a better mother than the Berkshire, and raises larger litters successfully. Much vexatious delay will occur ui wet weather if the land around the stack is soft aud boggy. For oaten hay, cut when the tips are just beginning to turn white, and at a later stage thau for wheaten hay. By the time the harvest commences see that tile horses are in good condition and lit to be pushed to cover 12 10 14 acres a day. A foundation of logs, straw, or some oiiier material should be made for the stack, so that valuable hay will not be lost through damp. c'astrate the male pigs at three weeks; do not allow the young pigs to lose their baby fat, but keep them going right from the start. The average litter from good sows should be about eight. You can get five litters of eight pigs in two years, say, 20 pigs per sow per year. Even if rain does not fall, hay suffers in value if allowed to remain too long iu the paddock after it reaches the desirable degree of dryness. The Danish farmer now does not confine his ell'or,t to keeping records of his cows, but tho cow-tcstcr also keeps track of the that is fed to the growing heifers and to the dry cows.

The average value per bale of all the wool sold in Australasia during the past twelve months was £.ll Gs lOd, as compared with £l3 0s 2d for the previous year—a decrease of £1 13b 4d, or 12.8 per cent.

11 is pretty generally understood that straw which is harvested wholly in fine weather is eaten with relish by most kinds of stock, whereas that which is exposed to rain for a protracted period is rejected; hence the difference which a line harvest makes' to the stock-keeper.

Every farm should have a good hayshed, and where liav is regularly raised for market it is economical to provide sufficient shed room. Where sheds are available less care is needed in stacking, and Hie hay is thoroughly protected against all kinds of weather.

Sixty years ago Cheshire had tIO.OOu cows; to-day the "number is 250,000. Sixty years ago the average yield of milk was 250 gallons; to-day it is 500 gallons. The annual yield of cheese is now 30,000 tons, against 9000 tons sixty years ago.

The German idea, and this ha-, 1 been continued by the French, as well as by tin? best farmers in Great Britain, ot the advantages, of feeding cows aim other live stock thoroughly well, ia explained in a variety of ways. Jt iU claimed that the same quantity of food consumed by a given number of cows results in the production of more milk, or of a larger quantity of solids, than if it were divided amongst twice the number, which would in consequence be badlv nourished.

Thai. the_. spring season in the Waikato has been a phenonjenal on« itf demonstrated by the money paid out' by the Cambridge Co-operative Dairy Company the other day. Jt totalled £2700, or £SOO more than was paid in the corresponding month last year. The output last liionth was 47001b por day, some 10001b a day in excess of whaA was made during September of last year. There is no doubt that dairying has' put a number of settlers on their legs, and many urc now putting in 'milkingmachines to get rid of a portion of the slavery. The assistant produce grader at Pa tea, Mr. A. C. Ross, who has occupied this position since his appointment to the Commissioner's staff, has been transferred to Dunedin, where he will have charge of the gradin'g operations (says the Times). This' is the first grader appointed, to Dunedin, the grading at wliich port in the past lias been done by the Lyttelton grader, who has had to travel between the two points. Air. Ross will also take up instructional work among Otago factories. His position at Pa tea is to be filled by Mr. E. C. Wood, formerly manager of Messrs. Joseph Nathan and Co.'s Whakaronga cheese factory, and one of the experts recently appointed to the Commissioner's staff. I