FARM & DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1919, Page 11

FARM & DAIRY

News and notes. Every farmer should realise that certain insects''are "his erieniles, and that others are his friends, and should know which is which when he sees them. Pastures must bo sufficiently stocked to ensure thorough grazing, they must be suitably sheltered to give shade, and the occupants must'not be subjected to any sort, of disturbance. Often milking machines have been declared impracticable when the trouble was not ;with the machine, but with the way it was cleaned—or, rather, not cleaned. With summer coming on, special care must be given these machines.. In spite of food hardships, the prolific pig "increased in numbers last year in Great Britain 'by nearly 250,000. Cattle and sheep seem to have been more sensitive to war conditions and have dimihisjhed considerably. Mr. McCann, South Australian Trade Commissioner in London, has been :sippoiiited manager to one of the largest meat companies in South America, and will leave London to take up the position at the end of November. Two world's records for sales of Shorthorn calves were established at the Aberdeen sales recently, when a 10-months-old bull was sold for 5300 guineas and a heifer for 2000 guineas. •In -order to relieve the congestion a Hull the authorities have taken over two aerodromes to accommodate 80,000 bales of Australian wool, of which the .West RWing mills are unable to accept delivery... ,_,Sp..crop pays better for thorough hoeing .'than potatoes, .and the drier the weather the better it.pays to hoe. The greater Dart, of,tlw work can be done 'wrth'a^ffi>r£g : b.'o'e,; anil'if ,a horse-hoe of the proper type .is jroperly us&l very little han'3 r w ( dfk is "necessary. At BranWoo'd, in Bs"sex (Ens:.), there is a Farm Tractor School with about fpO. pnpils ; The instruction is spread over sis students from the school readily find places all over the". United Kingdom.' ■'"- ' "" ■' •■ ■'■ A'cool'drink of Water is quite as refreshing to a horse as to his master during the "hot weather. ' Make Some provisions whereby the team can be' given'''a bucket of water in the middle of the forenoon and afternoon. • Prolificacy-is always to be sought for in a sow, not only in respect to the primary consideration ■ of a numerous progeny, but in virtue of the fact that the large litters are usuaiiy more uniform in size and fatten more quickly than those of small litters. ' Lambs, especially fat lambs, which are rightly regarded by the farmer as very valuable assets, should be well looked after as regards a sufficiency of good food at weaning time. The lamb must first be well fed through the agency of the,ewe, and as soon as support is needed apart; from this it must be promptly 'supplied. 'lt must be borne in mind that fertilisers cannot and will not take the place of'cultivation and good seed. They are not stimulants, but are direct food materials, afld applied judiciously and economically, either to make up the deficiencies of farmyard manure or in speci-lised-intensive farming goad results will follow. ..It is a mistake to allow horses which have been working hard all day to drink heavily immediately on returning to the stable. A big drink of cold water is very apt to cause a chill to an overheated horse,, apart from the fact that it tends to wash a lot of food out of the stomach, undigested, this sooner or later causing colic. . • . - J_ Pefhaps no long-woolled breed has made such progress in., recent year 3 m England as the Romney Marsh. For some time past the exporters have been constantly kept busy trying, to supply demands from all quarters of the globe. It is an important proof of what can be done by advertising, but; more important still, the breed has given the 'greatest satisfaction under, many adverse B cpuditions, and so repeat orders are usual .and, not tha. exception. - A record sale of Jerseys was held early in.,August,,at. Mt. ICisco; New York (U.S.A.). Sybil's Gamboge, a recently imported Jersey biill, sold" for £13,000, : and following this fifteen of his progeny were ..sold for a total of £8905, or an average of £593 12s. The purchaser was Mr,. L. V. Walkley, of Connecticut, who bought six- of the daughters of this ;sire. This considerably exceeds thp previous record price of £IO,OOO paid for Noble of Oaklands in 1010. Sybil's Gamjboge, was bred:-by the late Charles Mouj.rant, of Jersey. Mr. W. M. Cazalet, a. well-known breeder.of Jerseys in Kent (Eng.), disposed .of the, greater part of his herd 1 byl auction on August 7. . The championI cow at- Cardie Show, Jolly Berna Lass, sold, for 169. guineas, .the next highest price being 110 guineas paid for the 1000-galkm.cow, Bonnie Louise. A two-year-old bull, Marionette's-Lad, realised 80 guineas. At a sale at Guilford, a beautiful cow, Letitja.Sth, was sold for 135 guineas. , The;. constant demands of crops and .-live-.-stock do. not leave much time for the improvement and beautifieatioa of home surroundings. -Some farmers, however, seem to find time to plant treds, attend to the vegetable garden and orchard, trim the hedge, and do other I odd jobs. This work makes the house in which they live appear like a .real home, and it is usually quite as noticeable thait their crops' and favru do not suffer in consequence. -•',-- When beginning: to give a foal cow's milk do so most gradually: If it is suddenly given a full meal indigestion and troublesome results, will be sure to occur, but if given in small quantities, and often, there should be no complaints. When once accustomed to a cow's- milk there will be few or no dangers, in feed- j ing more liberally: Jerseys' are as popular as ever- in the United Sta tcs, where- Gamboge- Crocus; a cow of good type, and dairy capacity, sold for £2020 in September. This is claimed ns a record for Jersey cows, though two others have.been sold- during the year for £2000." At the same sale, a young sou of Sybil's Hamrjoge,, which itself .sold for £13.000, reached £I2OO,- A total of 32 head averaged £350 16s: ■ . ' A record sale of Suffolk sheep at Ipswich on August 6 is reported. The leading pen of ten shearing ewes, bred by' Mr. H. AV. Baking, of Tho.rpe-le-Seken, were sold for £500;-and 240 shearling ewes from the same stud averaged. £l9 lis 7d. The next best pen of ten went for £37, £32,- £3O, £3O, £25- each. There were a number of Scottish breeders bidding, and one-of these, Mr. W. W. Hope, gave top price, 300 guineas,, l for a ram lamb, by -Marshal Foch, bred by executors J. W. Eagle. Other big prices were- 245 guineas, 200 guineas, 180 guineas, ■ 180 guineas, 150 guineas .and 135 guineas. *, - An Ayrshire cow, Bloomer's Queen, bred by.'J. Deubler, Pennsylvania broken the four-year-old record .with 17,7841b milk, 7201b fat. ;Het average for three younger classes «M lfi.BOaib milk, ilo7lb buttu-fftt Tks

sire of Bloomer's Queen is Garclaugh Bloomer's son, a son of Garclaugh, Bloomer 2nd, which has a record of 12,%91b milk, 491b fat. His sire is a son of Auchenbrain White Beauty 2nd, which cow averaged,-13,0001b milk, 5.401b fat over three lactation periods. There are now .iu. Australia 1.100,000 bales of wool, the property of the British Government, This ; i5...w00l of the last clip, arid, some from tin: previous .clip, which -Great Britain has no?, yet been able to move. It is estimated that the present clip, which has also been sold to Great Britain, will bring the total up to about 3,000,000 bales, or, roughly, 430,000 tons of wool. Advice has been received from the director of raw materials (Sir Arthur Goldfinch) that Great Britain has extended for twelve months the freight contract entered into for carrying the wool from Australia to British", and, in the case of a certain proportion, to European or American ports. In view of the great quantity of wool to be moved and the difficulty of obtaining shipping, Sir John Iliggins, chairman of the Central Wool Committee, thinks that Great Britain would do very well if she moves the 3,00(1,01)0 bafes'.at tho end of 1920. The present clip is the last sold to Great Britain under the present contract. In spite of. the Avar. Great Britain has. maintained her herds of cattle and increased her sheep.. The loss in pigs has been small. / line of fifteen four-year-old steers reaKsed the exceptionally high price of £34' 10s' per head at the Addingtqn stock sale last week, tlie price being claimed as a record for the yard for a lino of the class mentioned. The steers were entered by a Banks Peninsula grower. ■■-A Sussex (England) farmer had a remarkable experience in pig-breeding. From two Sussex sows "he obtained in ■one week no fewer than thirty-eight pigs. A few days before another sow Of the same breed had a farrow of fourteen. • ■■-..-...- -. With sorghums it is safer to cut and hand-feed the crop,,.owing to the formation of prnssic acid, which is liable to occur when the crop receives a check and Wakes a second growth during a prolonged drought. The poison is very volatile, and soon disappears if the crop is cut and allowed to wilt for a few hours. Tt is officially announced that the Canadian Government has decided to pool this,year's Canadian wheat crop. The j selling'is to be entrusted 1o experts, and /the minimum.price is to be 7s SJd per bushel. Anything realised above that price is to.be pooled and distributed to the farmers pro rata. An ordinary flock-ewe, a Lineolri-'Rom-hey cross, belonging' to Mr. E. j. Bennett, .of Orini, according to the Wa'ika'tp Times," has shown a remarkable propensity for growing Wool. As a two-tooth, at eleven-months, old-, sho grew a fleece of 1(U inches, and at present, as a fourtooth; with a lamb at foot, she. is cairy•jng a fleece measuring 13J inches. j. - The Agricultural Gazette, England, re--commends spraying potatoes with I per I gent, solution of either Burgundy mixture or Bordeaux mixture to prevent | potato, blight. The most successful treatment was found to be spraying with [a 1 per cent, mixture before any disI case appeared, then using a 1% per cent, mixture in about a fortnight if the dis--1 ease appears, followed by a 2 per cent, application if the disease becomes persistent. Many English farmers, however, use the 1 per cent, solution all through the season. ~ A milking Shokthorn cow, Countess of Heggle 11, which has been milking up to 581b per. day, and gave 39|lb at a single milking, sold for SOOgns at Ipswich, England, in July. A two-year-old heifer, Playford Peeress 111'.,' also realised SOOgns; and a nine-year-old cow, the dam' of the winning heifer at Cardiff, sold for 710gns. Mr. E. C. Fairweathcr bought these three cows, which Sir Edward Mann gave CoUgns for a four-year-,old cow. Sixty liead averaged £2OO 7s lid. ■'. . . Hugo amounts are to be offered in cask prizes for Shorthorn cattle at vari-' ous county, State, and national shows in. America this year. The total offered by the American Shorthorn Breeders' Association will exceed £12,000. and as this sum is offered on the basis of 5s appropriated by the Association to every 10s offered by the fair and show organisations, the combined amount will approach £40,000. In addition to this are numerous, special prize offers, and a great many local and county fairs have cash prize lists, so'that the total will undoubtedly be considerably in excess of <40.000.

A herd of Red 'Poll cattle at (iressenhafl, Norfolk, England, has boon under test since 1902', the milk being weighed twice-a day. 'A cow, Peggotty, which not beerajidry for three years, averaged 89481b milk, with a butter-Kit content of 5 per cent- Southgate 6th gave. USadlbmilk in her last lactation period, with a test of over 0 per cent. Poppy fith. in nine consecutive vears, averaged 10,2271b milk, and m 1914 gave 13,4401b ■Djilk. -.-- • • ~ '■"'."' Japanese, buyers have selected ten Shropshires from the McKerrow flock at Wisconsin. They are buying 100' head Of Shropshire in the United-States, .a.nd purchased three rams of the '.Senator. Bibby strain from the McKerrow flock. These buyers have also purchased for export a number of Eambouillet Merinos from the flock of-Mr.'D. Lincoln, of .Ohio. In addition to the sheep, a number of Friesland cows have been bought for Japan. . : FOUR ANIMALS FOR '£14,385. , Among man,y fme draft and dispersal sales which took place in Britain during July that of the annual consignment sale of stock from Lord Rnyleigh's Terling Herd takes .precedence. As stated above, four animals created a sensation for the British pedigree stock-breeding industry. A new price record of 5300 guineas was also paid for an imported Dutch cow, Terling Jeltje 3lst, six years. The bnyer was that enterprising breeder and owner of the Haydon Hill herd, Mrs. J. Putman. A daughter of the lmpurred cow, aged three months, made 2200 guineas, to the bid of Colonel Harrison. Mrs. Piitman paid 2fioo guineas for the yearling bull Terling Jewel, but pride of place of the male section went to another member of the fair sex in Lady Fitzrpy, who paid 3GOO guineas for the thirty-months' old bull Lavenham Janus, The eighty-two lots in the catalogue realised a total of £30,019 10s, an average of £36(i Is lOd. CLYDESDALES AT MELBOURNE. Commenting on the Clydesdale display at the late Melbourne Royal show, which' was weak in number of duality, the Australian remarks: "Without going into details, it may he emphasised that Australia badly wants gome heavy type Clydesdales, both sires, and dams, from abroad, The tendency has been tovvaxd a modification in size, and, although efforts have been made to improve tthe stock in this direction, by an infusion of Shire blood, jt cannot be said that the | true Clydesdale of to-day is as massive 1 as it should be. There is, besides, recti-

fication of faults necessaTy, and it may be hoped that a change will be made at an early date. The modern type of Clydesdale is becoming more and more pronounced by faulty- We frequently hear reference .made; to ..the, long and sloping pastern, the want of bone volume below the knee, the preponderance of white about the legs, anil body, and the failure in size and general draught characteristics. These are the points in which improvement should be essayed. TEE'SHORTHORN. An experienced judge and well-known Scottish breeder, who has adjudicated on Shorthorns at important shows not only in Britain but in other countries, puts the outstanding points of a female of the breed as follows:—-She should have a nice head, the face shortish rather than long, clean nose, with no traces of black, prominent eyes, the horns not too long and a little flat at the root, of a yellow color, well set, turning a little forward.and down rather than up, black points,,objectionable. The. back should be strong and- straight, well-sprung ribs; hindquarters should be square and well filled, with a smoothness over the tail, the underline stragiht and well filled behind forelegs, well-shaped udder, with prominent milk veins. She should have anico coat of soft hair and a fine mellow touch when handled on the ribs. ,' Of the.. .Shorthorn bull he says:r-He should have a smart head, prominent, intelligent-looking eyes, full neck well set into shoulders, waxy horn, plenty of wavy or curling 'hair on his neck and forehead. These things denoted breeding, character. His top line ought to be. straight, well covered over the crops and middle, with mellow flesh, square hindquarters, with full thighs, and a nice finish at the' tail; full chest, straight underline, with flanks well down fore and hind. The bull mrst also have, a sound and healthy constitution, and it is very imnortant that she should have a nice docile temper, as this is generally transmitted to his progeny. The favorite Shorthorn colors are darK red and dark roan.—North British Agriculturist. GRADED MILK. Graded milk is the milk Of the near future (says the Scottish Farmer 1 ). Clauses avi to be introduced into the Corn Production Act,' which will provide for the system being introduced and worked in this country. There is to be supervision from the cows to the consumer, and the price the producer can secure'will vary -in, accordance with the quality of the milk supplied. The herd producing-3.s'per cent, butter-fat milk will be more profitable than the herd producing three per cent, butter-fat milk, other tilings being equal. Besides the butter fat and solids, other than fat contents of milk regulating the price of the commodity, bacteriological examination is to take an important place in deciding the grade in which the dairy is placed. Dirty milk-may be eliminated altogether from the menu of the human subject, and may be relegated to other uses. The idea at present is to supply in the first place a pure food free from all germs deleterious to human beings, and in the second - place to give the producer of high class milk a monetary return sufficient" to recompense him for , ability to produce the goods. The farm inspector, in reporting on a dairy with a view to grading, will be guided'by a scale of points, and if he reduces the maximum he has to show under which -.head points are lost, and the reason thereof. It is then up to the producer to bring his herd and dairy up to the standard required by the scheme or to be graded accordingly. Another point is that dSirymeh handling first-grade mill: will'not be allowed to handle secondgrade, and so on. At present the scheme is only in embryo, but the far-seeing amongst botli farmers and dairymen are already busily engaged getting the machinery in order to be ready to go ahead as soon ns the scheme is launched. Only a skeleton outline bas' been allowed to leak out. up till the present, and full details are therefore not proc'ur : able,' but the broad features or "the scheme are as stated. The dairy farmer should therefore see at once* to the sanitary condition of-his steading, the health and well-being of his stock nf milch cows,.and the most hygienic method.of handling his dairy produce, so as to be ready to take immediate advantage of the scheme of grading. The system is workings well in the LTnited States, Denmark, and other countries, and it is expected that it will even' work better hpre when its advantages are fully brought to the notice of the producer and the consumer.