STOCK STARVING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 March 1939, Page 7

STOCK STARVING

CONDITIONS IN WAIRARAPA / AND MANAWATU COWS IN BARE PADDOCKS. POSSIBILITY OF ACTION BY S.P.C.A. (By >eiegraph—Press Association.) ■ WELLINGTON, This Day. “I have come back from the country rather disgusted with the state of things I have witnessed on small farms, both in the Wairarapa and the Manawatu,” said Mr R. A. NiCol, inspector for the Wellington Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, yesterday. “I have seen small paddocks with two, three, or four cows in them, with every vestige of grass burnt up, leaving no food at all for the cows. Not only this, but these farmers, who should more than anyone else be aware of the situation, are neglecting to feed the animals otherwise, so that they are gradually starving to death. The poor beasts may be able to pick up a little sustenance from dried-up tufts of grass, but that is only prolonging their agony. These people should be made to feed their cows on hay of bran, or get rid of them. “If they won’t do one .thing or the other, the society must take action, as the cows are starving on their feet. 1 assume that these cows are getting some water, but as all water in the country has now to be carried I have my doubts. A cow in milk requires, frorii 15 to 20 gallons of water a day. “Of course, these . people are not .farmers in the reap sense of the word, or they would provide for dry spells. How often does one see a paddock of lucerne along the country roads? I know it takes a little trouble to get it going in the first instance, but if if is planted in drills 14 inches apart in October, and kept free of weeds for a year, a farmer would soon be able to snap his fingers at dry spells such as the'one we are now going through. I was told by a dairy factory manager that the butterfat content of the milk has dropped seriously during .the past month.”