FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 214, 17 February 1915, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY.

i A GREAT SALE OK 110LSTE1N CATTLE. .■CI4/J36 FOR 53 HEAD. The Scottish Fanner of November ]■!. j a journal published in Glasgow, has the . UtlJowhlg report of a sale of U'oMem cattle,One of the most notable sales of cattle ever held in this country took plare on (itb November at Clock House. [Svfleet, Surrey, when 3!) males and 20 females of the celebrated black and white Frieslaud breed were sold for the British Holstein Cattle Society These cattle were imported from Holland by the society, with the sanction of the Government, but tlie whole matter had- been kept a profound secret, v It. appears that the importation was made under the powers vested in the Hoard of Agriculture and Fisheries by the l'Vm>ign Ani- | raals Quarantine Order of 18%. and cer- | tainly'tlie extraordinary demand for the imported beasts justifies the, unprecedented action of the Government in taking such a step. It ia difficult to understand how the secret was kept, especially as tbe intimation was made in tlie London Gazette, and the Board of Agriculture'* Order to import was hoimo' to be submitted to Parliament. La'st July a Haying Committee, winch included Mr. Hugh Brown of Colton Mains, went, to Holland to find the cattle, arid they succeeded in getting together a choice consignment of U9 young hulls and 20 heifers, chiefly selected on account of the producing capabilities of their ancestors, although care was taken i to see that some of the finest Wood in the country was also drawn upon. Mr Matthews, the auctioneer, stated that

'-""jably thi' three best bulls iu Holland w> !•('. Ceres, Albert, and Jan 11.. and that the society had been able to obtain many animals with the blood of one or other of tlio' former, but only two lots descended from Jan 11. Tlio Friesland is easily the best and most popular br«'.d in Holland .and it is the one that has gone to every part of the world_ In America, where it is known as the Holstein-Friesian, it has ,won all the world's records for milk yield, and most of them for butter fat production. It is no uncommon thing for a cow of this breed to give 20,000 11) of milk in a year, so highly have their dairying capacities! been developed. Mr. Matthews stated that ft breeder in America recently sold a half-interest in his stock bull for' £SOOO. When lot J. entered the, ring a company of some 300 had mustered, and many Scottish representatives were noticed, while ,a liberal sprinkling of khaki uniforms showed that the Holstein men have responded we'll to the country's call. The pale opened auspiciously svith th 0 sale of Fokke 11. to Messrs T. and J, Brown for 400gns., the last opponent of the purchaser being Mr Hugh Brown of Colton Mains, Diwferlinc, -who bought the next one, in for 270{;ns. , Roth these lots contained crosses of Albert blood, tlm first one no loss than three, which lie showed in the fineness of bone that characterised him. Tin? next lot, Cesar, was one of the two mains lit- far service, and u duel between Mr. Samuel Wallace and Lord Raylelgh cridiid in the former buying at 300gns. Lot. '4, Frits, went, to Wales, 'Major Powell'taking him for Rlogns. Jan. the great-grandsir« of this one, took 15 impoitant prizes and was famed for the rich milk of hii descendants. This same Jan was th e sire of both the sire and dam of Robert (Lot 61. which cost Messrs Denenham, : of Dorchester, the sum of yfiOgns, the highest price of the day, winch was, however, equalled later by Colonel Harrison, the runnerUp fur Robert. The other bull old enough for use followed, and went to Yorkshire. Mr John Bromet taking him from T.ord Rayleigh at SGOgns. Yrne j (Lot 7), 'by tVcs, Out of a 1000-gaJlon three-year-old cow, sired by a son or Albert, quickly went to EGQgns., Colonel [Harrison being the buyer, and Lord ' Raylcigh again the last opponent. His! lordship succeeded' in getting Vie Her- I tiis (lot 88) for 220gns., and the next' one went rather cheaply to Mr J. B. I Jarmuy for 2flogns., seeing .that the ! pedigree cc.ntains two 1500-gallon dams j and one 1400-gallon ancestor. Of the I eight greai-grand-partmts, five were well known prize-winners. Lot 10, a neat sort, fell to Dr. William Sinclair, Nigg, Abberdcen. for loOgns., and the' great j biitter-fat-bred hull Cesar 11. (lot 12), cost Mr David A. Spence of Dunninald Mains the sum, of 3«ogns. Lot 13, next in order, was knocked down to Lord I Eayleigh for 52Ugns.. after spirited bid-1 ding by Miss Guest, All this bull's an-} cestors were bred above the. MOO-gal-; lon standard, with fat particularly, good. The next big price was' 520gns, j the cost of Ideal, to Miss Guest. The .' first of the two bulls with the blood of Jan 11. only realised - 2,'>ogns.. to Mr. E| j Sehmer, and as the dam of this cele- ( brated bull yielded 1337 gallons of 4.25 per cent fat milk in 323 days, the price I does not seem excessive. Bravo ran to I 320gns., b«for c . Mr. Richard Ford defeated the Duchess of Hamilton. Hollander II came next, and Mr. Daniel Macßeiin, of Inverness, got him cheaply! for ~l4ogns., seeing that five of his six I nearest dams exceeded the thousand gallons, while the sixth, the dam herself, gave 809 gallons as a twi-yenr old ' with her first calf. Mr.Andrew Spence j of Commieston then took Roland (lot! 22) fn r ISOgns. Roland has three 1400, gallon forebears, so the milk breeding' is satisfactory. The next Scottish; buyer was Miss Taylor, of Paisley, | whose plucky bid of 230gns left her the ! owner of Adeuia XLIX., bred by Mr. S.' Kind of Hartwerd, on tliousaiid-gallon! principles. A brother of tins bull was sold to Mr. George Findlav for llOgns.' Orion went to Mr John" Houston," of Bishopton. for 200gns., and Janus, the other descendant of Jan 11., was knocked down to Mr. Thomas Rarr for 2logns. The 3!) males, only two of which were - above n year old. sold for £10,04S 10s,' the splendid average of £257 13s being i realised, B j

Mrs lirown again showed lie- pinole by Inlying tlio first female, and it was evident that slip liail determined to bny the male and female according to the 1 nrchase prices it) Holland. Mr David A. Silence, of Dmiiiinal.i Mains took r.etje TV.,, in calf to Tiet, for the top pne,, for females of r>2ogns. This was a sweet, stately heifer of grc.nd appearance anil quality. Mr. A. Munro, of Inverness, bought Ecke 111. for lOogns., a big sort with three crosses of Albert blood. Mr George A. Francis, of Arbroath, backed Ins fancy for Johanna V. to the extent of 4ir)gns. Lord EayleHi' spent 310 gns. on .Toltje XXXI.. whcTse dam averaged 3% gallons over 28S days, her dam averaging \% gallons over 3:1(1 dags, and the sire's dam avoragin" V/:> gallons over 200 days, the average fat test being 3.52 ner cent.' The.-20 heifers made £4887 15s, the average, being Xil-l 7s 9d. The total of the sale amounted to .-CU,!)3;i ss, the average for the 59 lots working out at the wonderful sum of £-253 3s Id. The trade was remarkable, and the bidding exceptionally quick, and it is noteworthy tbat this is the first 'sale since Aylesby, when every animal dropped three ilirnrea. AMEKICAX FIOKDINU OF DAIRY I COWS. i A„ American farm paper of November last, states that a "cow should produce •2501b fat in a year, which means 50001b

of a per c«nt. milk, or o,ooolb of 4.2 per cent milk." The feud to secure the standard is (1) 301b silage a day, and a tile grass they can eat; (2) lib of mix ed grain anil oil eake and hay to eaeli mi> of milk given daily; (3) green Interne and :201b silage. The ration would <■ too expensive in New Zealand. Tie,'inerican dairyman fixed the priee of iod in: November ax follows.—Lucerne lay, 13 (loin, per ton; bran 25d01.; bar- | ,ey. green. 2adol. If wo take baled hij eerne there at !s per Ulfllb, and hay at i (is per 10Mb, the cost per to,, of 200<!il ! would be for lucerne. IM, and for ha< I ;Cli; affording the following eompari {son: — U.S. N.Z. Lucerne,,per ton'.. 54s 2d SOs Bran, per ton .. 104s 2d 120s If a cow save 301b of milk a day, sin would need 101b of bran, and 301b lucerne or other bay, and the cost would bi about 7id a day for bran, and about Is 4d a day for hay, or say, 2s a day i against a return of from 3s to 4s fid'or a yield of between 3 and 4 gallons a day. Another American dairyman, writint' in November last, prices the cost of feed as follows: Mealies, 1.70 dol. (fis lid) oats 1.20 (as), bran 1.30 (as sd), 7iiid dlings 1.35 (as 7(1), and oil meal, 2ilo! (8s 4d) per 101b. His cows give from . 24 to 001b of milk, and he was recommended to feed one pound of grain food per day for 4 to 4.} pounds of milk. METHODS OP MILKING. According to an American dairv scie'n- | tist, the order in which the teats an' viilked exercises considerable influence on the quality of milk obtained-. Tin teat, drawn second in order generally yields the richest milk; next in order the third and fourth, the, first one invariably giving the poorest milk. From these results the scientist argues that the milk is largely formed during milking, and that it does not accumulate to any extent in the ready made condition of the uddor. COINS AS WEIGHTS. In case of emergency, coins do very well as weights. Here is a table which you might cut out and put in your pocket book: Six pennies, (or ten half-pennies) equal 2oz (avoirdupois). Three pennies, or five half-pennies, equal loz (avoirdupois). Twcl half-pennies and one farthing equal Joz (avoirdupois). One half-penny and one. threepenny piece equal joz (avoirdupois). SALT FOR STOCK.

Salt is supposed to he hurtful to pigs, and Lander says that 4oz to Goz would prove poisonous. All vegetable; feeders, however, crave for'salt, which assists the gastric juice. As a purgative for cattle, doses of Alb with -Jib of Epsom salts, given in plenty fof water, is more efficient than Epsom salts alone, though it is not quite safe I for the. horse, dog, or pig, as its action j is so uncertain. As a stomachic, 2oz or So-* may be given to horse and cattle, though this is usually provided in the form of rock salt for the animal to lick. / As a parasiticide, internally it lessens I the liability to intestinal worms, flukes, etc. An enema of 2oz to one pint of water will dislodge and bring away ascarides from the lower bowels. In some cases, when spread upon pastures, it is the best means we have of destroying "strongyles" in some phase of their life's varied existence. Salt is used .as, a lotion for sprain? after the inflammatory symptoms have subsided: a tablespoonful (of sea salt preferred) to a pint of. water forms an excellent solution to wet bandages with. NEWS AND NOTES. A crop of wheat at the Levin ExpcriI mental Farm has been harvested, and j averages 50 bushels to the acre i The lamb which, was' awarded first | prize in the pet lamb class at the Feeding show turned the scale at 1481b5., live weight. I A Manawatu farmer states that the crops in that district, on the whole, are particularly good this year. In most cases they are the best recorded during the past ten years. A settler at Pahiatua purchased his farm in the early days for £3 per acre. He has recently been offered £45 per acre for it, and has refused the offer. The output of milk sugar at Edendale at present is five tons per week (says the Wyndham Herald). The product is perfect, and the substance has a high marketable value, with an unfailing demand. This new industry in the district will be of great value in the employment it will afford, as well as being a potential factor of added wealth to the country. At the prices being realised at Home, the present season's output through Patea represents a value of over .-CSOO.OOO. What this sum means the average person scarcely realises, but a correspondent of the Dominion quotes calculations, which work it out as follows:—If it were in shillings, and these were placed side by side, they would reach a distance of over 2GO miles, or some three miles,farther than from New Plymouth to Wellington, Placed together, in a row six deep, they would make a silver pathway six inches wide from the Wanganui railway station to Patea-. The weight of cheese itself represents close on 10,000 tons, whilst the milk utilised in the making of it would be something in the neighborhood of 100,000 tons. Draught horse breeding in Scotland, fostered by Government co-operation, is carried on through the medium of the agricultural societies, and in 1013 there were forty such, with a membership of 15(11 small landholders. Mares owned by these are served by the stallions to which the Government premiums are awarded on condition that one-half the service and foal fees arc paid by the G<> eminent up to a total limit of .-C2 10s. The landholder must be a member of one of the societies, paying an annual subscription up to the limit of 10s. The continuance of the scheme is guaranteed by the srant of £4OOO from 'the Development Fund for 1014. The active societies are roost numerous in Orkney, where there are eight, and in Aberdeen and Caithness, where there are six each.