FARMERS’ COLUMN.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 307, 12 September 1908, Page 6

FARMERS’ COLUMN.

STOCK SALE DATES. Waipukurau — Tuesday, September 15th. Hastings—Tuesday, September 22nd. Kaikora North—Thursday, September 24th. The Burnside Freezing Works ■will close down for the season about the end of the month (says the “ Otago Daily Times ”), and it has been intimated that after the 30th inst. no further stock will be received. Every effort has been made to keep the works going as long as possible, but although there are still a good many sheep in Southland, the owners are not disposed to accept the freezing price which the management is offering. The works will be reopened about the middle of January. As a result of experiments made in Wisconsin, U.S.A., it would appear that a cow reaches her best during the fifth and sixth years of her life; upto that age, if the cow is in normal condition, the production of milk and butter fat increases. As regards the length of time that a cow will maintain her maximum production, this depends largely upon her constitutional strength, and the care with which she is fed and managed. A good average cow, properly managed, should remain at her best productive standard almost unimpaired until after she is ten years old. Generally speaking, a cow may be said to have passed her best after her tenth year, though many excellent records have been made by older animals.

In the course of a conversation with a Timaru “ Post ” reporter a shepherd from the Mackenzie Country said that from a general estimate it was thought that the shearing tallies would show a total loss of about one-third of the stock. A considerable proportion of the losses might have been averted had stockowners remained passive instead of active, though it was only natural that a man would strive to succor his sheep rather 1 than sit by his fireside while they were starving. Yet this would have been a wiser policy, tor, unless black country was available near at hand, it was worse than useless to shift the sheep. They became heated by their struggles of two or three hours’ duration through the snow, and were then badly chilled, and in many instances killed by the frost at night.

At a meeting of the Board of Governors of Lincoln Agricultural College, at Christchurch, the resignation of Mr W. Street, the farm manager at the college, was received. General regret was expressed at Mr Street’s resignation, especially in view of the fact that the director, Mr W. Lowrie, had also resigned. The Board expressed its willingness to increase Mr Street’s salary very materially if he would continue in his present capacity for twelve months at least, and he promised to give the offer consideration.

Mr Nathan Straus, the New York philanthropist, has offered to present to the Austrian Government a complete installation ofmilk pasteurisation plant, similar to those he has already given to Liverpool and Dublin, and M. von Bienerth, the Minister of the Interior, has accepted the gift. The new plant, which will be erected in Vienna, will have a capacity for pasteurising 20,000 bottles of milk per hour. Mr Straus has given demonstrations of his milk pasteurisation methods in Vienna and the meetings have been attended by some hundreds of visitors, including Cabinet Ministers, professors, doctors, and leading agriculturists. His generous gift should prove a great boon to the Austrian capital, where the rate of infant mortality is very high. Dr von Bienarth says that if the Vienna plant proves a success he will arrange for an installation of similar establishments in other cities and towns in Austria.

Lampas is a common diseise of the stable horse, and the barbarous practice is that of operating with hot irons on the tenders bars of the horse’s mouth, says the “Farmers’ Weekly.” This disease affects young horses before they have their full set of teeth. Young horses, changed from green pasture to dry, hard feed in the stable, are much troubled with it. The bars of the roof of the mouth will inflame, and the horses refuse to eat the feed. The treatment should be simple. Merely give soft feed, consisting of bran mashes, to keep the bowels open, soaked or scalded oats, boiled root, etc., for a few days, and the trouble will generally disappear. It can positively be said that no other remedies need be used. In case of loss of appetite one teaspoonful to one tablespoonful of rex conditioner should be sprinkled over each feed. This will restore a vigorous appetite. Avoid burning the horse’s mouth. It I ruins the delicate sensitiveness to the touch of the reins so necessary in a pleasant, well-broken roadster. It often destroys the palate, and makes the horse a confirmed “ wheezer.” Burning is inhuman, and lessens the value of the horse, and it is unnecessary.

STOCK SALES. At the Onga Onga yards on Thursday there was a small yarding of sheep. There was a moderate attendance of buyers, but bidding was slow. Hoggets ranged from 8s to Ils, fat wetners 13s lid to 18s. Springing cows sold up to £5 16s. At the Addington yards on Wednesday there were fairly large entries of stock. For store wethers theie was good enquiry, and the supply was not equal to the demand, but prices showed practically no change. Ewes were not quite as firm as they were last week. Fat sheep and young lambs sold at about late rates. Prices for cattle were about on a par with last week’s, except for extra prime beef, which showed slight improvement. All classes of pigs sold well. At the Burnside market prices for sheep were a little firmer, prime wethers bringing from 19s to 225, extra good up to 255. Fat cattle realised prices about on a par with last week’s, best bullocks bringing from £ll to £l3 3s, best cows and heifers £8 to £lO 10s. VALUE OF IRRIGATION. A writer on irrigation in the Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Victoria, when drawing attention to the benefits and defects of a public system of irrigation, said : “ The ardent convert to irrigation during a drought becomes a back-slider when it rains. For a time, at least, there is a reluctance to submit to the order and system which irrigated agriculture requires. In semi-arid districts, irrigation, as’a rule, follows settlement. When it comes it displaces a kind of agriculture which is understood, and the labour of which suits many better than irrigation. An instance of its benefits is shown in Italy and north of Cremona, an irrigated district which has a rainfall of about 40in. a year. Irrigation there is not a climatic necessity, the land having been farmed for unnumbered centuries before any canals were built. About twenty years ago three dry years followed each other, and on all unirrigated lands there was a total failure of crops. The losses incurred by land-owners gave irrigation a new impulse. It was shown by calculations that the value of the crops ruined by drought would have paid for a canal from a neverfatling supply. Spurred on by this experience, the farmers formed an irrigation district, mortgaged their land to secure the needed money, and built a canal which cost £400,000. I visited the district six years after the canal was completed. It was a financial and - agricultural success. The interest on the money borrowed had been paid ; the payments to the sinking fund had been anticipated; rates had been twice lowered, all because the income from the canal provided more money than was needed.”