On the Land

New Zealand Tablet, 4 March 1915, Page 59

On the Land

' / • GENERAL. - ? 'i n The number of steep grazed in Victoria averages ft 12,500,000 a year. , ° . The average Commonwealth export of wool for the five years ended 1911 was about ' £26,000,000. For every pound weight of Australian wool clip used up in Australia, upwards of 701 b are exported. The European countries now at war carry over 116,000,000 head of sheep. Of this number Russia has over 48,000,000, the United Kingdom 29,000,000, France 16,500,000, and Austria 13,500,000. Some idea of the tremendous development of the cheese industry in South Taranaki may be gathered when it is stated that the total export of this product - from the Dominion twenty-five years ago was valued at £99,626. Patea’s export for one month only (December) was valued at £176,716. A correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writes from Woodgrove saying It looks as if Canterbury will be short of good milling oats this season. Buyers are moving through the country in search of good lines, chiefly Cartons and Algerians. I have sold a fair sized line of oats at 4s 6d per bushel on trucks Hawarden, which seems a satisfactory price/ ‘ I hope every farmer who has any land to spare will put it down in wheat next year.’ This advice came from the Right Hon. W. F. Masse}’, who spoke at the Masterton Show, and his remarks were received with applause. He recounted the arrangements made by the Government to cope with the shortage, and said he had every reason to believe that they would be quite successful. - Five years ago, during harvest, two immense heads of wheat were found amongst a crop grown from imported seed on the farm of Mr. C. Rudd, Greendale, Canterbury. These were saved by the workmen and given to Mr. Rudd, who, being somewhat struck by the _ largeness of the heads (one of which contained 112 grains), resolved to try and cultivate enough to test it as a milling wheat. After five years’ careful saving of successive crops, Mr. Rudd now has 25 acres of “this wheat growing on his Greendale farm, besides which he sent a small quantity to Lincoln College to be tried in one of the experimental plots. The wheat is heavily bearded when green, but most of the beards fall off on the grain ripening. The chaff assumes a reddish tinge, and is velvety in appearance. The wheat promises to be a prolific yielder. At Addington last week there were much reduced yardings of stock as compared with previous sale, and generally prices all round showed a recovery. There was a fair attendance. * The late rain evidently had the effect of improving the demand for store sheep, and both ewes and lambs sold at advanced rates. Fat cattle were firmer, and fat lambs sold at Is to Is 6d per head better. Fat sheep, especially ewes, were also a little firmer. Fat Lambs—Best, 17s to 19s 6d; others, 13s to 16s 6d. Fat Sheep. —Prime wethers, 20s to 24s 6d ; others, 18s 3d to 19s 6d ; prime ewes, 18s 6d to 25s Id : medium, 15s to 18s; others, 8s to 11s 6d. Fat Cattle.—Ordinary steers, £7 15s to £9; extra steers, to £l3; ordinary heifers, £5 15s to £8; extra, heifers, to £9 17s 6d ; ordinary cows, £5 to £8 2s 6d; extra cows, to £ll 7s —price of beef per 1001 b, 28s to 375. Pigs.— Choppers, 70s to 955; extra heavy baconers, to 725; heavy baconers, 57s 6d to 665; lighter baconers, 47s to ,55s —price per lb, 5d to 5Jd ; heavy porkers, 36s to #,los; lighter porkers, 30s to'34s— price per lb, skl to s|d; medium stores, 24s to 28s; smaller, 18s to" 235 ; weaners, 3s 6d to 8s 6d. There were average yardings at Burnside last week. The fat cattle forward, consisting principally of cows and heifers, totalled 233. On account of export buyers being temporarily out of the market, prices to-day suffered a drop of 15s to 20s a head. Prime bullocks sold at £l3 to £ls ; extra, to £l6 17s fid; medium,

£lO 10s to £ll 17s 6d; light, £8 10s to £9 ss;, cows and heifers, £8 7s 6d to £10; extra, to £ll 17s 6d. Fat Lambs.— were penned; the principal proportion of which were unfinished,-many pens being only forward conditioned stores. There was a full attendance of the trade, but bidding, for all but very prime lots, was much less buoyant than has been the case of late; and prices for plain quality suffered a drop of over 2s a head. Prime quality sold at prices slightly . under those of last sale. Prime lambs sold at 19s to 21s 9d'; extra, to 22 9d; medium, 16s to 17s 9d. Fat Sheep.— The yarding of fat sheep was 3020, the greater number consisting of ewes of medium to prime quality, with a fair proportion of wethers. Export buyers were fully represented, and operated to the extent of their limits. Nevertheless there was a drop of Is to Is 6d a head on previous week’s rates. Prime wethers sold at 24s 6d to 26s 9d ; extra heavy, to 32s 3d; medium weights, 22s 6d to 23s 9d ; prime ewes, 24s to 25s 3d; extra, to 27s fid. Pigs. 95 fat and 140 stores and weaners were penned. Porkers and baconers met with good competition, and for these prices showed a decided improvement on the unsatisfactory values ruling at ‘the last few sales. Stores and small sorts, on the other hand, were neglected. ’ THE COMMERCIAL COW. The commercial cow, remarked Mr. H. W. B. Crawford, at the annual dinner of the Renfrewshire Agricultural Society, while always in demand in the sale ring, might not carry so much beef as to make her so pleasing to the eye as the broad-backed, smoothtopped cow, which might be reckoned to give at least 200 to 300 gallons less milk each lactation. Some men were willing to have the latter cow because she was worth £5 more when fattened off, but it did not seem to occur to them that the cow that gave 200 gallons more milk each year of her life was much the more profitable animal, even if she should be worth £5 less at the end of her milking life. Moreover, it had not been his experience that the big-milking cow giving about 1000 gallons was any shorter lived than the cow that gave not much more than half that quantity. Cows of this kind, when given sufficient food, and intelligently handled and milked, lived as long,' and looked almost as well as the 600 gallon or moderate milking cow. GIVING A DRENCH. Though a simple procedure to the practised hand, drenching is often a matter of difficulty to the ordinary horse-owner (says the Australasian). As a rule, the head is held too high, which tightens all the muscles of the throat, preventing the proper closing of the windpipe, so that the medicine goes down the windpipe. The gullet, it must be remembered, is above and beyond the windpipe. The head should only be raised enough to have the back of the tongue with a slight fall; and with a quiet horse the left hand can hold the head in this position. A drenching-bit is by far the most convenient way of administering liquid medicines. A horn is often employed. The inclination to swallow should be induced by giving the drench very slowly only just a little at first, to get the palate and tongue working in unison. If a disposition to cough is observed the head should be immediately lowered. Then the attempt should be made again. Some horse-owners like to have the head raised by mechanical means, so that both hands are free for regulating the quantity of drench. This is easily performed when a drenchingbit is used. Without the bit, the head can be raised by passing a rope through a ring in a cross-beam, and looping the rope round the upper jaw. Then the horn or bottle can be inserted at the side. -