FARM & DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, 1 May 1920, Page 12

FARM & DAIRY

N.Z.'S PRESTIGE. UNDERMINED BY THE MEAT TIIUST. The precarious position of New Zealand meat 011 the Home market was emphasised by Mr X'. Stubbs, who recently sjtudied tho position in England, in a talk ;o a Times representative this week. The country's most dangerous competitor, said Mr Stubbs, was the enormous American Meat Trust, operating in England under the name of Swifts. Along with the other great Chicago packers Swifts were raaki.ig strenuous, efforts to secure the control of the English market. The methods they adopted were acting very detrimentally to the prestige hitherto maintained by New Zealand mutton, which had suffered greatly owing to the lack of shipping space caused by .the war. The American exporters, moreover, suffered from no such disability, as they were powerful and wealthy enough to have shipping space always assured. While he was in London Mr Stubbs paid several visits to Smithfield markets, the great clearing house of meat imported into Britain. Here it was handled by a huge army of butchers despatching it to the various retailers in London and the Counties. Wonderful as the organisation was now lie was told that the market was not the hive of industry it used to be, and this was; due, apparently, to (the general industrial slackness in England. Owing to this slackness, and tho time taken to discharge it, New Zealand meat was fast losing its name on the English market The space-saving, but nevertheless wasteful, method of cutting carcases for packing had greatly affected the minds of buyers. After transport In this fashion the meat was often badly battered, and its looks therefore Relied its quality. Again New Zealand meat carriers often lay weeks in the stream, and weeks more at the docks while unloading was is progress, while the Americans shipping Argentine produce, generally managed to pack their meat well and' here their organisation helped them greatly. At Smithfield market Mr. Stubbs saw the finest display of meat ever seen in England. It was a shipment of River Plate earcases, of such magnificent quality that its equal had never, probably, been arranged and transported by Swifts, ['who charted a special steamer for the occasion. £very embellishment and trick of the trade which could be used to its adventage was employed on this shipment. When tho display was thrown open—the gate was built of two immense porkers—it made an enormous impression on English buy ers. Compared with it the badly paekad New Zealand meat made a very poor showing, and though this particular shipment of Argentine mutton was merely for display purposes, it had an immeasurable effect on buyers and the general public. It was this lack of commercial energy which was losing New Zealand its Home market for its produce. It behoved this country to make every possible effort to uphold its dying reputation. Otherwise the Meat Trust would add another market— greatest in the world—to its already numerous conquests. WARNING AGAINST LUCERNE. "If you don't want lots of trouble, don't sow lucerne. Along the middle of June, when the corn needs cultivation the most, we had to stop and cut the darned lucerne. It was in Ibloom, three feet high. We had to haul in twenty ! loads of hay off it. "In July the folks in town invited lis to spend a week attending the chautauqua. I suppose they were glad when they got my post card announcing that we could not come, because we had to cut that blamed lucerne patch again. Gee, but it was hot hauling in that hay! "Worse still I was fool enough to go to work and sow five more bushels of lucerne seed. The oniy rest I'll get hereafter from hauling lucerne will be on rainy days. . "It got to rain again in September and about the first thing I knew was I that darned lucerne was three feet high and all in bloom; it had to have another hair cut. "Then Barnum and Bailey's circus came'"to town, and barned my buttons if I didn't have to miss that circus for the first time in forty years. I got mad, and then turned the pig, cows and calves into it; and still the blamed stuff kept growing to beat the cars. They could not keep it down, they got fat on it. ''But still this lucerne hay that we sweat so cuttin' and taekin' makes mighty fine stuffin' for the cows these cold ground hog days. Everything on the place eats it • except the hired girl, and she ain't been here long."—Oklee, Minn., Herald, U.S.A. Tn a bulletin issued by the University of Nebraska the following important points are mentioned, and are worthy of recollection by farmers:—The essential points of a good dairy cow are indications of constitutional' vigor, food capacity, development of the nervous system, good blood circulation, and the ability to produce milk abundantly. Well-distend-ed nostrils and good heart girth due to breadth and depth of chest are the best indications of that quality of health and vigor commonly referred "to its constitution. Croat length from shoulder to hip bones, together with great width and depth of barrel, indicates well-developed digestive orgaqs, which enable the cow to consume and digest large quantities of food. A good dairy cow is active and intelligent. Large bright eyes, set rather far apart; a broad well-dished face, and a spare and angular form are good I indications of nervous temperament. A good circulatory system is necessary to carry the digested food from tho abdominal region' to the udder. The milk veins should he largo, tortuous and branching, entering as many large wells as possible. The digested food Is converted into rfiilk only after reaching the udder. A large udder that is soft and pliable, but not flabby when empty, and well-developed forward and - attached rather high behind, with teats of medium size and squarely placed, are the best indications of a cow's producing ability.