SEASON'S PROSPECTS.

Waipa Post, Volume II, Issue 53, 17 October 1911, Page 4

SEASON'S PROSPECTS.

SOME NOTES FROM FEILDING. The general tone of the conversation of farmers who were in town on Saturday, says our Feilding correspondent, was strongly optimistic. Mr J. Morrison, of Tokorangi, speaking from the point of view of the sheep farmer and the grain grower, said the season promised very well. The lambing return, so far as he could gather, would be nothing extra, but against this there were very few losses amongst the ewes. This he attributed to the fact that the spring was a mild one, and as there was not much grass in the autumn the ewes had not put on much fat. Then on his own farm he had kept the ewes moving before lambing, and this he believed to be a good practice to adopt. At the present time there was abundance of grass, and he could safely say he had never had a better season. _ It was good all round the district. Mr Morrison is now ploughing to put in rape and turnips, and he says the land is working beautifully. The autumn SQwn crops of oats are promising an excellent harvest.

Good Days for Dairymen.

Dairymen are having a good season. In many cases the farmers lost cows at calving time, but this was attributed to the fact that the feed was scarce during the autumn, and the cows were in poor condition. It was suggested the dairymen had to learn the lesson .that if they do not provide a scrap of winter feed they cannot expect them to do well.

A representative farmer from the Colyton district said the sheep men there had had a very good lambing season, though there appeared to be some dry ewes. This was, perhaps, caused by the absence of rain, and the consequent slackness of feed in the autumn. Very few ewes had been lost. Ploughing operations were proceeding apace, and the land was very workable, though it could do with more rain. Grass was plentiful, dairying was prosperous and the cows were looking well.

The Kimbolton district, reported a farmer from the hills, is backward. The grass is coming away now, but it hung back for some time. When they had rain the weather got cold and retarded the growth. Some ewes had been lost, and the percentage of lambs was below the average. The ground was ploughing up all right, but it would need a good deal of rain during the summer. Last year the dry weather brought the turnip blight, and farmers did not want a recurrence of that. The autumn rape crops having been spoilt, some hoggets were lost. However, a good summer would make things right. A farmer from Sandon said : " The season is a good one for grain - growing. The farmers mostly are putting in wheat, oats, an J grass seed. Crested dogstail and rye are the principal crops being put in, and some small area of cocksfoot. For ploughing I never saw the ground in better condition. It is pulverising like ashes. This is accounted for by the dry summer last season, which sweetened the soil and loosened it. On the sheep paddocks some excellent percentages have been registered. I think the district will go 100 per cent., and I know of one man who got 134 per cent. Very few ewes have been lost, and likewise very few hoggets."