FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1918, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY.

At a sale of 110 head of Friesian cattle at Crewe, England, the average price obtained was £ll3 17s (id. The imported bull, Roland, made 2000 guineas. Jlr F. B. Maclean, Gicnaiwe, Ai-nagli, Ireland, has sold an ejgkt-weeks'-old .Shorthorn heil'er call, «f the Clipper strain, at 200 guineas, uid to be tlie record price for a heifcr tttf of that age. At a recent sale in Englni of .Jerseys from Mr Carson's herd, 25 cows and heifers £B2 5s Gd, and two bulls £l7O lj3s Cd. The top price for females was 170 guineas for a three-year-old heifer, and others made 100 guineas and 155 guineas. Mrs Putman, a Yorkshire breeder of Frieaians, who was the runner-up in the bidding for Esko Hetty, has purchased from Mr Percy Ford a two-vcar-old Friesian bull, Routh Dutchman, bred from pure imported stock, and the price is said to bo £2500. Mrs Putman recently refused £12,000 for five animal" in lier herd. The Live Stock Journal that the Heieford bull upon Shorthorn females produces a class of animal of a desirable kind and uniformly good, and in the Midland counties this cross is considered one of the best rent-paying beasts. When, however, the cross is taken the reverse way, a Shorthorn bull upon a Hereford female, although there comes a useful animal, it will be altogether different in character, and nothing ,ise so reliably good. In the twenty-sixth volume of Thornton's Shorthorn Circular, a summary of sales is given since 1910. That year the average obtained for the 5548 "animals sold was but £36 7s sd. In 1917 0564 Shorthorns were sold for £7B lGs 6d apiece and the auctioneers of Britain raised over half a million ef money—to wit. £510.257 Is Gd—less the usual commissions. The average »r I3IS is likely to be even higher. It is a simple thing to suggest that ill the better grooming of cows lies a source of economy, but its truth any man can prove for himself (says The Ijive Stock Journal). A clean body aids digestion and assimilation. That is, the cow that is kept clean will use the feed given her to so much better advantage than she will live on less and do better than she could if hide wera dustclogged and her sweat pores stopped up with dandruff. The Live Stock .Toifrnal records the sale of Mr F. B. May's Friesian herd, at which the champion (for the United Kingdom) cow for milk production, Eske Hetty, realised 3500 guineas, the buyer being the Olympia Agricultural Company, Yorkshire. The same buyer also purchased Rojrth Blossom, at 1700 guineas. All but five lots out of 33 sold realised over 100 guineas, the cows and heifers averaging £4lB 14s Bd, and the bulls £l2O 15s, or an average of £382 12s 3d for the herd of 33. Eske Hetty's, milk record was 24,1301b of milk in 305 days. An Ayrshire cow, Townhead Maud 2nd, bred in Scotland, has had a wonderfill show record in South Africa. She won first and championship at Bloemfontein Show in 1015; first and championship at Johannesburg in 1010; first and championship at Maritzburg, 1910 and 1917: first and championship at Durban, 1917; special prize for butterfat test at Maritzburg in 101G; first prize in the milking competition at Durban Show, 1917, with a mure ot 245.S points against all breeds, her daily yield being (li gallons milk testing 4 percent butter-fat; first prize Durban, 1917, for the best dairy cow of all bleeds; and one of the first prize group at Maritzburg and Durban Shows, 1917. There have been, it is true, instances recorded where animals have shown a resemblance to a sire other than their own. to which their dams had previously been mated. Professor Cossar Fwart's experiments with Zebras ana horses failed, however, to prove the theory. As the theory is more strongly held in the case of animals teavim? more than one young at a birth, such as it is a pity that Professor Lwart did not extend his experiments in that direction. Soipc New Zealand sheep-breeders will'agree with the Southdown Society's action, others will not. It has been found that merino ewes, used for br&?ding halfbretis, ana agc.m mated with merino rams, have thrown their merino progeny pure. No doubt however, stud breeders would rather be on (he safe side. If has been satisfactorily established, says the Live Stock Journal, (a) that crushed oats can be fed with safety to young calves at three, four, or five weeks old; and (b) that as a substitute for whole milk, crushed oats, along wttli separated, skim, or buttermilk, gives quite as good results in the rearing nf calves as ordinary meal mixtures, and j at a smaller cost. This cannot be too often impressed upon New Zealand dairy farmers. There is no better country in the world than New Zealand for growing oats, and if they would make a wonderful difference to the growth and value of the calves, but would provide a good local market for oats and that lost by the extended use of the motor. No calf mixtures are as cheap or butter than crushed oats.