FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1921, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY.

KAPUNGA COW-TESTING ASSOCIATION. FOR SEASON 1920-21.

LINSEED. Linseed is a crop that cannot fail to make the strongest appeal to the progressive farmer; it has to be recognised that the demands of these times no longer permit the pastures of the courttry to remain the sole resource of the live stock of the Dominion. The land prices have increased, possibly inordinately; these lands must be made use of to their utmost limit. The value ot the live stock of the farm has kept pace with that, of the land. There is with us the imperative call to maintain that stock in the highest efficiency; the means of securing that efficiency is correct feeding. Those who have the best interests of the men on the land at heart have unfortunately to admit that the sole reliance on the pasture fails to supply the greater demand that is now placed upon our live stock, and this very specially applies to milking cattle. The cow is selected and bred for greater production. We cannot, however, claim that the feeding of the animal has been in even reasonable proportion to the larger demand that is now made upon its bodily resources. Let us accept the position; the more productive cattle have to be nourished more generously. This means the use of concentrates, and the chief of all concentrates is undoubtedly linseed oil cake. That such a system of feeding must come is undoubted. We can grow the linseed. It is for these all sufficient reasons that this crop must assuredly take an important place on the farms of the. Dominion. We have now the use of the oil cake very obviously before us. There is an assured market for the oil in New Zealand and in oversea countries. With this we have the established oil and cake mills of the New Zealand Cattle Cake and Oil Company, at Auckland, already in work, where every pound of linseed that is produced will be purchased. Let our farmers support those mills with a greater acreage in linseed. The area in this crop last year was 5,046 acres, and of these acres, 5,011 were in Canterbury. —Advt.

Recent discoveries or cattle tick in parts of the North Coast of New South Wales, which have been regarded as clean, are causing alarm. During the past 14 years the New South Wales Government has spent nearly £500,000 in its fight against this pest on the North Coast, and it is estimated that the amount required to carry on the work during the coming season will be £120,000.

As for the relative merits of superphosphate and ground rock phosphate, Mr.' Wilde, of Lincoln College, in a recent address at Christchurch indicated that the former should be more profitable for districts with leas than 30 inches of rainfall. In areas over that amount, ground rock phosphate would probably prove more suitable. At a clearing sale not far from Masterton, last week, a pure-bred Shorthorn bull sold for 255.

About 80 per cent, of the wool offered at the last Dunedin auctions was quitted under the hammer, and it is estimated that 10 per cent, has since been sold privately, leaving 10 per cent, still in store.

In the Waikato district last season the quantity of milk received for butter was 09,897,5401b5, and for cheese 50,861,8241b5.

The average annual yield of butter per dairy cow in New South Wales is 1161 b to 1221 b. In 1919 there were 720,000 cows, and the yield was about 74,000.00Q1bs of butter which was worth £8,500,000. About 40,000 persons were engaged on the dairy farms, so that the total value of the production, if divided equally between them, would have given a gross income of £212 10s each, out of which they would have had to pay rent of land, cost of herds, plants, factories, carriage and taxes and maintain themselves and their families.

A southern newspaper reports that representations have been made to various freezing companies to open their works again to deal with the excess of fat sheep now flooding the market. At last week’s sale at Addington there were thousands more sheep than were required, and prices slumped, good wethers fetching only from 15s to 21s. The position is %orious from the producers’ point, of view. The manager of a proprietary freezing company said that most companies would not care to buy further ewes or wethers, having large enough commitments on their hands already. In view of the probable nature of the market many wethers now held by farmers would be heavyweights, and these particularly were not desired. The companies could not offer any better prices than the butchers.

The travelling reporter of the Wairarapa Age says:—During past few weeks various offers have been before directors of cheese companies in the Wairarapa for this season’s output of cheese, the offers varying from 10|d to Hid per io. and it is understood that only one small compna-y in the Carterton district has sold its output. Several of the companies communicated with buyers stating they were prepared to accept Is per lb, in the hope that an immediate offer of ll£d would he made. They now find that all answers for selling outright have been closed tn them, and many ar# regretting that they failed to

accept the highest offer. “As the prices offered were abnormal prices, and as there is a tendency for everything to recede to normal conditions,” said one keen dairyman to the writer, “it looks as if those who tenaciously stick to the consigning policy are likely to regret their conservative attitude.”

Highest Lowest Herd averages, individual individual yield. yield. No of Test ’’est Test Name. cows. Dys. fat. Dys. fat. Dys. fat. King, A. E. 29 203 170 229 232 138 89 Johns, H. 30 247 186 2&G 273 247 124 Schumacher, A. 30 282 273 298 370 279 157 Rothe K. 38 273 264 266 481 257 160 Dagg, R. D. 36 268 266 344 362 114 92 Webby, B. L. 58 259 210 289 281 190 96 Hol lard, S. J. 20 264 249 335 357 187 112 Hey. B. r. ", 251 253 277 365 115 108 Bcheuber, J. 22 274 293 281 373 109 143 Gwyn, C. 29 248 164 266 241 91 McIntosh, D. 27 144 141 152 197 149 107 Hooper, H. 33 251 275 259 360 165 136 Doyle, J. G. 3 258 275 265 346 254 231 Morris. R. J. 63 154 190 204 269 106 125 Ricketts, H. V. 26 223 155 270 210 178 96 Powell, L. 39 254 209 292 294 147 109 Mellow, R .C. 30 196 188 200 301 204 114 Sadler, W. R. 29 139 117 140 161 105 91 Symes, J. D. 29 253 203 265 376 158 175 Rowe, C. W. N 4 154 175 175 216 153 153 (Decimal points omitttd.) lays. Teat fat Association averag (herd) 230 216.30 Association averag (cow) 331 216.07 Herd average (highest) 274 293.16 Herd average (lowest) 139 117.16 Highest individual cow 266 481.02 Lowest individual cow 138 89.44