FARM & DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1919, Page 11

FARM & DAIRY.

NHWS AND NOTES. It is no fault of an animal to say that it was produced by inbreeding. Rather it is a monument to the skill of a master breeder, and an indication of virile prepotency. The feeding value of lucerne straw, where not allowed to get wet, is estimated at about 50 per cent, of the value of good lucerne hay. It is said to be especially good feed for horses, store cattle, and calves.

When sinking the well the direction of surface and underground drainage should be considered, to the end that the water supply may not be contaminated by the sink drain, cesspool, or other sources of filth.

A company has been formed in Paris, under the title of "Comptoir Australian Produce," with a capital of $20,000. The company proposes to import meat and other foodstuffs into the Continent, also wool, skins, etc. Most of the cheese factories have reopened again, but owing to the backwardness of the grass this spririg October milk cheques will be smaller than usual'. It is- anticipated that advances of about Is 8d per lb will be made for butter, fat in the early part, of the season. If well saved and properly taken care of, bean straw is distinctly useful upon the farm. Most stock will eat it readily when once used to it, but it should be introduced into the bill of fare gradually. It can, if need be, be utilised as bedding for all kinds of stock. There is a concerted movement in America to elaborate the training of a type of mechanic who shall also have some knowledge of farm requirements, sufficient to enable him to give a farm implement its required setting, as well as to repair it. The breeds of dogs that have given the best results in war work have been collies, sheep-dogs, lurchers, and Airedales, and crosses of these varieties, while in several cases Welsh and Irish terriers of the large type have done good service.

The Suffolk breed of sheep is noted for A high percentage of lambs. The Suffolk Sheep Society (England) has published a 30 years' return, showing an average of 133.0 per cent, from flocks 'good and bad alike; 150 per cent, is a very usual average. ) K'""' "The sire is half the herd or flock." So far as it relates to purebred herds, where each sex has an equal influence, n is true, but where a scrub herd is to be improved by the purebred sire, then the sire becomes more than half the herd, because all blood line improvement must come through that sire. "Le Matin" states that France is threatened with a serious shortage of food in the near future, and during 1920. The assured supply of wheat and grain is only one-eighth of requirements and the country looks to Great Britain and America for help, otherwise the food crisis may be greater than during the war.

Mr. Lawrence Phillips, younger brother of Lord St. Davids, has' given £IO,OOO to the University College bt Wales, Aberystwyth, for* founding a pla«<brceding institute. He .also offers £IOOO a year for 10 years towards the maintenance of the institute, which is intended to foster the study of agriculture and soil fertility in Wales. It is an easy matter, says a writsr in the Live Stock /journal, to tearii young horses to submit quietlv to having their heads handled. All that n required is to handle the head and cars occasionally for five minutes or so. Mos't young horses that have not been spoilt or rendered nervous *by rough treatment do not naturally object to their heads being touched. If they do at first evince any objection, this is easily overcome by a little gentling and the exercise of some patience. The Marlborough Express contend* that the average butter-fat yield per cow in its province is higher than the average for the Dominion. The average f«* the Dominion, yery joughly computed, of course, is 1611b, while the average best season for nearly 60:) cows supplying t l '.; Waitohi Dairy Company (Marlborough) was 2211b. Several herds averaged over 3001b.

The ruling price's of rabbit skins are causing quite a flutter, according to the Marlborough Express, among those interested in tlie extermination of the destructive little rodent- Prices as high as 10s 3d per pound have been realised for isolated lots. Some days ago the Blenheim Branch t>f the Farmers' Co-opera, tive Association sent away a consignment of just over a ton of skins, and the returns are showing that the total proceeds of the shipment will be in the vicinity of £IOOO. It is stated here that it is at the suggestion of the buye'.-s at Home the freezing companies have decided to abandon the practice of cutting carcases of milt-, ton and lamb to facilitate storage. The buyers object to the severed carcases on account of the rough edges shown at the cut. These are liable to turn black when frozen, and so materially detract from the appearance of the meat.

The United States Bureau of Animal Industry has issued an interesting report on meat production and consumption during 191,8. According to this, the total dressed meat production, including lard, for 1018. wu.* 20.120,500.0001b, as compared with • 10,317,300,000 in 1017. The export in 1918 was 3,000,000,0001b, and in 1917 1,760,000,0001b. The number of cattle slaughtered in 1918 is estimated at 51,750,000, against 13,723,000 in the previous year. | Small-furred skins can be successfully tanned by the following process: —Mix three heaped tablespoons of powdered alum, one of borax, and one of salt, with enough water to make a thin paste. Spread on skin till well-eovercd. but not too thick, and then fold, flesh side inwards and roll up. Put away in a cool place. In 24 hours repeat the application, and in another 24 hours sprinkle the skin thoroughly with water and take in both hand? and work and rub well to make pliable. Be careful, as it ■will tear easily. ' '" An excellent whitewash, lasting almost as well as ordinary paint, may be prepared for outside work as follows: Slake in boiling water one-half bushel of lime and strain. Add 21b of sulphate of zinc and lib of common salt, and '/sib of whiting, thoroughly dissolved. Mix with skim-milk and apply hot. If white is not desired, add enough coloring matter to produce the desired shade. The coloring matter used for whitewash should be dry; colors mixed in oil cannot be used. The quantity of color needed will have to Jbe ascertained by trial, keeping in mind that the shade will be deeper while wet than when dry. \ellow ochre will make a cream color and brown, reds, and various shades of green are easily obtained. A returned soldier, who had oppor. tunities ,while in London to see something of the distribution of frozen meat in the big city, has been giving the Manawatu Standard some particulars of his observations. In the course of his inquiries he visited Smithfield Market. [ and saw both New Zealand and Argen£jae mutton exposed fw salt. H& was

shown some fine," plump carcases of wether fr °n» New Zealand, which he was astonished to learn Were being sold at from 2d to 3d per lb below Argentine muttofl, which was by no means as good and which had a skinny appearance.

In a recent number of the Country Gentleman is an account of a family of thresher-men in Wisconsin, consisting of father and son, who have added a considerable number of improvements to the threshing machine originally purchased by them 17 years ago, until'to-day they consider it to be 100 per cent, more efficient. They employ only two men besides themselves; they threshed 147,042 bushels of grain during the 1918 season', over 80 per' cent, of which.was oats;. and they averaged 2410 bushels per day of 10J working hours, threshing for 95 different farmers, the greatest distance apart of threshing jobs being eight miles. About on-ethird of the threshing #as from the stock—the balance being Stackthreshing. CAUSES OF FAILURE WITH •LUCERNE. Failures lucerne may be due t.i it stiff clay, ill-drained soil; soils in Which Stagnant water may remain for long pHviods nearer to the surface than, say, 2ft (iin or 3ft, are not suitable soils,' as a rule, for lucerne. Neglect to supply lime to the soil. A dressing of lOowt lo one ton of iihe ground limeston*, applied to the surface several weeks, of, letter still, months, before seeding, is advisable on most and essential on many eoils. Neglect to supply fertilisers is 'another frequent cause for failure with lucerne. Lucerne' is a heavy cropper and, consequently, a gross feeder. On light tsUlls the previous turning under of a fair amount of good quality vegetation which will rot quickly and form humus is advisable. On poor soils after liming, and still some timo before seeding, a dressing ofphoaphatio guano would be advisable, and with the subsequent working would be distributed throughout the soil, and a percentage would have been converted into plant food ready for the young roots by Seeding time. Then there is the question of soil inoculation,' whi»h ifl sometimes overlooked. This is the distribution of some 3001b or so of soil per Rcre, taken from a well-established lucerne paddock. Most soil's probably possess the bacteria which affect lucerne, but many do so only to a very limited degree, and many, perhaps, ail of flic plants will pine and die out before these are in sufficient numbers to do the needful work, viz., the fixation of nitrogen.

DAIRY HERD MANAGEMENT.

There is a question as to how long the cow should be.milked after, breeding. Most dairy cattle-raisers in America milk their cows as long as it is profilabl'i to keep them producing, and this is r» good plan, says a journalist of that country. In the case of the young cow With her first calf, however; it is sometimes a good plan to milk even after she has ceased to produce profitably. The reason for this is that the first lactation period is likely to have some effect on the later one§, causing the cow to have a tendency to dry. up early or late, as she is milked early or late at her first period. Six to eight weeks of rest should be allowed cows between calving. Notwithstanding all the advances which have been made in relation to the breeding of dairy cattle, the varieties of cattle With which most of us are acquainted still produce about the sadvs per cent, of milk solids as they did 2a years ago, although, of course, in every breed there are individuals which do much better or worse than the average animal. Among tint feeds commonly used in feeding for milk and butter-fat records in U.S.A., ground oats, wheat bran, gluten, hominy, cotton seed mcai. oil meal, and molasses feeds are •favorite concentrates, with good maize silage; mangolds, and alfalfa and clover hay furnish the desired bulk and succulence. Feeding is just as important as breeding in bringing out a winner. Skilful feeding consists in giving the cow just .enough of What she likes and needs. Each animal presents a different problem to the feeder. The ration must be regulated to meet the demands of her production and flesh condition from day to dayThe entire care of a dairy bull must be with the view of keeping his vigor and getting poWor at their highest point. In addition to the proper kind and amount of feed, he must have sufficient exercise j in order that hi* system may be kept active and vigorous. The dairy bull has mueh the same large digestive capacity las a cow, so that When he redches maturity he has the digestive powers to lay on fat readily. This excess fat usually shows him up, makes him hwy, and he loses his procreative powers Unless he is compelled to take enough exercise to keep down his condition Tne f'eed of the bull, like that of the cow, needs to be of a bulky character demarks our correspondent, whose writings [arc always interesting to BnLsWsj, but should not be too coarse and watery as, for instauce, a heavy silage ration that would develop too much middle, which in a bull injures his vitality, making him slow and clumsy. Clover hay should form the bulk of a bull'* ration, in addition to a small amount of roots, silage and straw. With this kind of feed, a bull may require very little grain, eveept when he is doing heavy service. At such times: three or foirf pounds per day of bran, oat?, and oil meal would prove ample. If clover, or alfalafa hay could not be proc-rad; timo. thy or bhie grass hay will give gOod results, but a little more concentrates, preferably bran, will have to be fed. As a bull has a large body to maintain, he requires considerable total feed,