FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1917, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY.

NEWS AND NOTES. Tins week a Daily News' representative was over the Moa Dairy Factory. The season has hardly got into stride yet, but the manager (Mr. Ross) informed me that prospects as far as the milk supply was concerned were good, and he believed the quality, of milk being received was a little ahead of the same time last year. When seen he was busy "testing," and it was ail object lesson to know that there are some herds rich in milk and others whose cattle are evidently much of a muchness. It required no experienced eye in the testing room to see the difference in high and low tests. From appearances in that particular section tested there are some herds in the district that require building up. Asked about labor, Mr. Ross said he did not anticipate any trouble iu this direction. What concerned the company most was the shipping of the butter, not the manufacture.

Evidently the firewood heap is becoming a thing of the past. Most of the factories are now using coal, whilst not a few are using water power. Eltham has had turbines in work for several years, and Kaponga is also using the" water race to work tile agitators in the cheese vats. I

"I may be wrong, but my weakness in cattle has been for the Shorthorn," remarked a farmer to the writer. "I mind the time when I had a Shorthorn that made 121bs of butter eacll week for a long time, but we seem to have neglected that type of cow, and let them run to beef." There are a few breeders, notably Messrs Turnbull and Son (Leppertou), and D. J. Hughes (Manaia) who are obtaining great results from their milking Shorthorns.

"I made £l5O last year from pigs and calves, which was not bad," remarked a second farmer. "I am milking 47 cows, but it is pretty solid; 110 help outside the family. A little bit of blackberry at the back keeps one going. Do you know one can dig down five or seven feet and yet come across the roots. Gee whiz, if the Second Division is called up and some farms become idle what a treat is ahead of the farmers!" "What about goats ?" queried the writer. "Goats may be all right, but you require to starve them to make them tackle the berry. It stands to reason no animal will tackle that class of feed if grass is available. At present I am using a liquid that lias blotted out bot!h berry and grass. It means that that paddock is lost to me this season but that is ..heap if it cleans tip tho berry." ' Members of the Elthain County Council, at the last meeting, rather resented tile appeal of the Weeds Inspector to back liira tip in making owners of properties holding gorse to keep sa>.«e in check. Members thought that the Inspector had certain powers and should act up to these. The resultant conversation did good, in that it drew attention to the need of checking blackberry and foxglove, which are stated to be making progress in certain portions of the Eltham County. A few days ago in Stratford my attention was drawn to the grass grub. A farmer was shifting a boundary fence, and in making fresh holes he came across the grub and the eggs. The spade soon .stopped the existence of grub and eggs. To the casual glance the grub does not appear to do much harm. To the experienced eye the position is much more serious, as the grub works at the root of the grass, and presently what is nice green sward becomes a dry patch, with tufts of decaying grass. As the feed comes away this will not be so noticeable, but at tile time of my inspection, after attention had been drawn to it, it was apparent that the grub could easily become a menace to farmers relying on green fields for their herds. "I don't know what others think of the weather, but just here (Waipuku) it is anything but good," remarked a dairyman. "Abominable!" queried the writer, "Worse than that; that's mild. Last night we had heavy rain, and then this morning it was cold, very cold. That's no good for the young grass or tiie calve-i. Still, Waipuku is at a pretty high altitude and ;we must expect bad weather occasionally., but just now we are getting more than a liberal share."