FARM AND DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 165, 21 October 1910, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY

IHELAXD AS A COMPETITOR IN BUTTER. As u result of the aimmlments mane in the Irish land laws, there uppeiirs to lie a probability that in future Irish butter will become an increasingly formidable competitor with colonial butters on the London market. Mr. 1). I'. U atson. a member of a firm of Australian produce exporters, who lias been to Londwa to studv the position and prospects of the butter trade at the importers' end. says:—"l am convinced that what is called 'lrisn creamery butter'—the output of which is increasing at a marvellously rapid rate —is going to be a feature of some significance to Australia. Hie lii*h peasants are going in extensively for Winter production; they are adopting a system of stock food conservation, whereby thev win be able to produce butter in the winter and land butter in London at a time when it will clash with Australian. This butter is of very fine quality, ami. of course, it will have the advantage m the matter of freshness. 1 sampled Siberian butters, but in quality they did not nearly equal our makes. The Danes s< cm to be adopting more and more 'exclusive' methods in marketing their but{tor —I mean thev are selling it only through certain channels, l'or instance, the Maypole Dairy Company handles Danish an 1 no other butter, and the general run of merchants in England fl ho deal in Australian brands find it incrca*iniily dillicult. year by year, to si cure control of sullieient quantities of Danish to supply regular customers. Against these 'exclusive' tactics, however, Irish butter. I think, is going to be an important factor, although perhaps not immediately. Judging by the present rate of expansion .in production. I believe it will not be very long before Ireland's output is half as large again as Australia s, and already English traders are looking for a regular supply of Irish butter throughout the whole year.

Milk out the last drop, for that contains the most butter-fat. No dairyman should leave the milkin i;-. separating and churning to his wife. Part of the value of the drill is in the savins of the seed lost under tae method of broad-easting. • The idea that certain varieties of cheese can only be made in certain districts is a most erroneous one. Intelligence is worth money in horses, and intelligent horses render better service than those lacking that qualitr. AVhy not prevent the maturing of weeds upon our lands and upon the roadsides adjoining and in the waste places? In Russia much of the soil is cultivated with an instrument called the sokha, which just scratches the soil a few inches deep. The dav is at hand when a farmer will be ashamed to say that his land is poor, for it will at once be known that he is a poor farmer. it never pays to overstock a pasture. It is not possible to get maximuip results where there is not sufficient food during the whole season. Epsom salts given in the drinking water and small corn buried in loose litter will improve the condition of fowls that have become too fat and ceased to lay. A double handful of lime thrown into the watering-trough will tend to prevent calves from scouring after they are weaned. This ilime should bo renewed

once a week. 'Unless an animal is adapted bv breeding for the making of beef it is foil}' to try to make it put on an abundance of llesh through any system of feeding that may be devised. The appearance, smell and color of artificial manures are no guide as to their value, the only true test in buying is chemical analysis, although the best test is maae by the crop itself. Selecting the right kind of sire to head the herd of dairy cows is a problem which requires mature consideration. It is important, in selecting a bull, to choose one from any of the noted dairy strains. ' For butter-making a cow that gives a good quantity of milk that is rich in butter-fat is what is wanted, but when selling milk is the object a cow giving a large quantity of milk is of more importance. As demonstrating the rapid manner in which fat sheep have increased in price ♦luring the past few weeks (says the Ashburton Mail), it may be mentioned that a farmer five weeks ago purchased a fairly large line of ewes at lis, which he sold on Tuesday at los lid, It is stated that a Matarua horsedealer cleared between £6OO and £7OO on his last consignment of horses for tile Melbourne market. On one mare alone he realised a profit of over £IOO. Marking of lambs has been carried out on several farms, and good tallies seem

Ito be the result. It is not thought, lio'.vever, that the percentages will be as good as last year owing to the scarcity of feed when many of the youngsters were dropped, and the consequent lack of necessary milk on the part of tile mothers. The storm of last week has also tended to reduce the percentages to some extent. —Southland Xews. The slaughter of calves has reached such a point in the United States—four million last year—that suggestions are being made that legislation should stop the practice! The question of whether young men should be associated with judges at shows was discussed at a meeting of the Xorth Otago A. and P. Association committee the other day (says the Oamaru Mail), when a letter was read from a judge asking if the Society had any objection to his bringing his grandson with him. Mr. T. Little thought the principle was a very good one, and tliey should encourage young men to take an interest in judging. Another speaker also thought J that members of the Society should deem it a privilege to have their sons act as associates for judges, for there was no better way for a young man to gain experience and get confidence in his opinion as a judge. The committee approved of the suggestion made in the letter, the judge himself to take all responsibility, liis grandson brns his associate only. A series of experiments with a view to determining the cost of egg-production, which extended over several years, and in which every ounce of food consumed was recorded, has l(een carried out at the Oregon Agricultural .College. On an average six pens of Leghorn hens consumed during a year sli4lbs <■■: wheat, 3!)(i lbs of maize. 2031bs of oats. H2lbs of 'bran and shorts, and 2301bs ol' skim milk, in addition to some animal food. The cost of the total food per fowl per year varied in different pens from 2s G'/i-d to 3s 3d, and averaged 2s !)d, wheat constituting nearly half this cost. The hens laid an average of 144 eggs per fowl per . year, and allowing something for labor, II these are put down as costing 3s 4d. Pret| sent-day values of this number of eggs shows a return of 10s 4d for the eggs, or I just 7s per hen profit. In experiments 1 with larger breeds, the cost of feeding I was greater, for Wyandottes being 4s 2d, \ and for Plymouth Rocks 4s 7y s d per fowl per year. ' This extra cost, however, is (largely offset when the fowls are market- >* ed, the larger breeds bringing more than Ttlie smaller ones.