UNKNOWN

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 214, 19 December 1910, Page 7

UNKNOWN

USEFUL INFORMATION. Do not brush the cow before or at the time of milking, for the dead skin and | bail*?, currying thousands of bacteria, will be loosened, and ready to drop into the pail. A better quality of meat will be secured if the pigs are given a variety of food, especially during growth, than if confined to one kind of food, no matter how good it may be. The yak, sometimes called the grunting cow, is a native of Thibet, where its milk feeds the people, and its hide brings money. A small herd of yaks has been taken to Canada for experimental purposes.

Basic slag may be used on many kinds of land. It responds well on clay soil deficient in phosphoric acid and lime. The lime in this manure has an invaluable effect on seemingly worn-out lands. The London Times suggests the establishment of a register of purebred seeds, which might do for crops what the studbook and register have done for ,'nerses and cattle.

The wheat output of Canada last year was over 11G6,000,000 bushels. Tho total for Australia, according to the figures available, was about 90,000.000 bushels.

It is estimated that in the mash from the production of spirits there is thrown away a pound of nitrogen for every gallon of fluid extracted in the distilleries of Europe. When the stalk of grain is short and puny the deficiency in the soil is likely to be nitrogen; when the grain is slow to mature the shortage is probably of phosphorus.

Molasses, thinned with hot water and mixed with chaff, is considered a good feed, for horses in winter. In summer it is less useful, as it attracts the flies round the feed boxes. ,

Horses for farm work are valued high in England as well as here. At a recent sale at Huddersfield best heavies fetched £6O to £7O, and seconds £SO to £55. While cross breeding should not be attempted by the inexpert, there is no question as to the certainty of improvement of any stock by using a purebred male.

The cow man who breeds good calves will have no need to look for buyers. They know the time to be looking for him.

While pedigree may not make the calf, it is one of the things taken into consideration by,the intending buyer. One of the greatest losses that comes to the pig-breeder usually occurs while the pigs are quite young. Many are overlaid by their mothers at or right after birth. Always brush the cow's udder and teats with a coarse cloth before sitting down to milk. Treat them to this, and they will soon look for it to be done every time.

Ropy milk is due to a germ which attacks the casein, and creates the condition. The germ may be in the stable or on the udder, or may get in the pail during the act of milking. Horses, which possess a comparatively small stomach, should never be overgorged with food, but should be allowed small quantities at rather short intervals. The quicker the milking the richer the milk; when you start get through as speedily as possible-. '

Weather conditions have a marked effect on the flow of milk and its quality. Co-operation amongst adjoining holders would do much in the direction of keeping down the weed pest.

A horse, well looked after and not overworked, will grow till it is five years old.

Some men half believe a cow cannot be a fine milch cow and also a fine beef cow. They never jpade a greater mistake. The Shorthorn breed was produced for this very purpose. And the best of the breed do this. The two qualities are not antagonistic; they go together in the true ShOrthorn. Some men go for milk, some go for ;beef, some go for both. During the spring months questions are frequently asked as to what are the best manures to use for various eror>s, especially root crops. The answer should be that the proper course for a farmer to take is to experiment for himself. That is the only way in which he can know exactly what hisjDaddocks require, and by that means he can tell better than anyone else their capabilities and limitations. What farmers should remember is that what might be the best mixture of fertilisers for a certain crop on one farm might prove by no means the best for another, hence the reason why individual experiments should be made by farmers on their fields.

Early maturity is possible only when the animal is kept steadily progressing from the time of its birth.

The value of the agricultural products of tihe United States have increased by over £2oo,o'i'o,ooo since 1908.

I The albuminoid ratio is an important ■term to understand. In feeding the young growing animal it is necessary to have the food balanced in the chemical sense. Thus, in apportioning the rations for a cow an effort should be made to have one part of nitrogenous matter or albuminoids to five or six of non-nitro-genous, and for fattening beasts one to eight. The relationship of the nitrogenous elements to the non-nitrogenous is called the albuminoid ratio. The character of the cow is sometimes gained on a large temporary yield of milk. All cows do not milk alike. Some produce heavily during the first month or two of lactation, and then fall off rapidly. Others give liberally over the season and show no symptoms of decreasing even after nine months' profit. The milk given in the later period of lactation is not so cenerous in quantity as earlier in the milking time, but it is as a rule richer in solids. In the large cornfields of Canada the straw has no value to the farmer. He uses and thresher combined. The ears of the corn are snipped off, the machine being elevated and depressed to meet long and s'hort grain at will. The ears pass through a drum, and the srraiji is collected in the bodv of tie machine, being emptied into sacks when the cart is full. The English correspondent of the Pastoralists' Review says:—"All departments but one of the stock industry are fairly prosperous and promising; the exception •is the fat mutton trade. A Sussex breeder says that the price of mutton hangs like a black cloud over the sheep trade. The explanation, of course, is the heavy and increasing imports of frozen mutton and lamb. What else could happen when the British sheep-farmer is confronted with the import for the three-quarters of the year of over 10,000,'000 carcases of ovine animals from South America and Australasia ?" "A.W.P.," in the Pastoralists' Review, mentions the following as things tin ihave struck him:—That the price of land in manv parts of New Zealand is absolutely ridiculous, and the man who buys it, and (in italics) pays for it, will never see 1 per cent, by working it. He rrKiv find someone to give him a profit on his purchase, 'but the man who will fall in will be the man who holds the baby when the price of produce falls. That it seems curious that a farmer can get £ls an acre for land in New Zealand, breed fat lambs, send them-to freezing work?, fatten a few cattle, make 10 per cent, clear profit, and yet the farmer, in Great Britain cannot make ends meet. That the British farmer is alongside his market, awd the New Zealander is 12,000 Hiiles away; that the British farftier . better labor, has much cheapen amd -better machinery, and apparently has everything in. his favor, and. that it is curious