BACKWARD SEASON

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20920, 27 September 1939, Page 13

BACKWARD SEASON

WAIKATO FARMING DRIER CONDITIONS PREVAIL Fat cattle show little change, although steers are occasionally a shade cheaper. Small entries of store cattle make unchanged money. Dairy cattle are usually firmer. Fat sheep are cheaper. Light entries of store cheep are in fair request. Fat pigs are generally firm. Store pigs are dearer Conditions are drier throughout the Waikato, but still to date no ' actual warm spell has been experienced and pastures have been slow in making growth. The season altogether has been a very backward one and the only compensation has been provided by the comparative freedom from disease. The incidence of milk fever was not above normal levels, while there was not the same degree of trouble from grass staggers. Dairy production received a bad start and has not as yet made up the leeway and at the present time it shows no sign of catching up to last year’s leveL It is yet too early in the season, however, to forecast how the total production will compare with that of last year. Price movements have shown little alteration in the Waikato stock market since last review, values remaining on a firm level in all but the fat sheep department. All departments have been well supplied, but no difficulty has been experienced by the trade in absorbing the supplies forward. Most of the major bull fairs have now been held and on the whole values have been very satisfactory and in many cases better than generally expected. The annual bull fair of the Waikato Combined Breeders’ Association last week experienced a stronger market than many vendors anticipated, although the bulls of two of the four breeds represented met with rather a disappointing demand in comparison with the other two breeds. Outlook For Beef It seems apparent that the peak period for beef for this year has now passed and any future change will probably be to the benefit of buyers rather than vendors. Quotations for cows and heifers have remained constant at the central yards, but there has been just a slight change in buyers’ favour in the ox section. While values for ox have slipped back a little, there has been no distinct weakening in the market and vendors can rely on obtaining for some weeks yet values approximating those ruling at present. .Cows and heifers have suffered no recession of values- but it will not be surprising to see values for these come back

just a shade. The market for store cattle will be tested at the Morrinsville yards on Friday when 500 grown bullocks from Tokomaru will be on offer. Taking current prices for fat cattle into consideration, values for stores should be on a satisfactory level from the vendor’s point of view, but there are no great quantities of feed in the Waikato at presept and this may prove a limiting factor.

Shade Easier for Sheep Fat sheep have been easier throughout the Waikato during the past three weeks, but the first distinct drop was experienced at the central yards yesterday. The poorer quality of the sheep compared with a few weeks ago is one explanation of the slacker interest, but in any case values usually begin to fall away at this time of the year and the present slight recession of values has occasioned no surprise. Vendors have apparently quitted the lines of good wethers that they had been holding back and fewer wethers have been shown at the saleyards during the past few weeks, in most cases the quality of these being of a lower standard. Ewes have been coming forward in greater numbers and the position at the central yards during the past fortnight has been in marked contrast to previous markets when wethers predominated. Ewes consequently have been lower in value and inferior sorts have been selling considerably cheaper.

Store Pigs Dearer The confidence in the market for pig meat has been indicated by the recent animated demand for store pigs, which have shown a sharp rise at all centres. Weaners at Frankton yesterday sold to as high as 33s and slips to as high as 38s. No information has been received from the Government as to their programme for the production of pig meat for export, but it is widely expected that the stress will be laid on the production of bacon pigs. A steady trade has been experienced for fat pigs throughout the district, although buyers have sometimes been able to acquire their requirements on a slightly cheaper basis.

Banishing Grasshoppers A new plant discovery by a Seattle 1 botanist will, according to ni Ameri--1 can journal, banish the grasshopper menace and save American farmers many thousands of dollars aimually. The plant is Darlingtonia Chrysamphora. It looks like a hooded cobra just about to strike, and gobbles up grasshoppers by the pound. An alluring open mouth, full of delectable honey, irresistible to grasshoppers, is the plant’s death-dealing weapon. If these plants are grown alongside a cornfield, no matter what hordes of grasshoppers appear, they never get far enough to work havoc among the corn. So greedy are these plants that during the winter they have to be fed on small pieces sausage once a month to keep them alive. The Darlingtonia belongs to a genus of insectivorous plants (in-sect-eating plants) and this particular species is found in the mountain swamps of California. The leaves are from 3 to 30 inches long, and are formed pitcher-shape, the fixed half of the leaves forming a lid decorated with an attractive crimson and green tongue-like appendage. The leaves are hollow and fascinatingly coloured and covered with honey glands, so that insects are lurred within them and then drowned in the liquid secreted at the hollow base.