FARMING AND COMMERCIAL

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 253, 24 September 1929, Page 5

FARMING AND COMMERCIAL

PIG MARKETING. ASSOCIATION’S ACTIVITIES. At tho annual meeting of the New Zealand Co-operative Pig Marketing Association, held in Hamilton, the chairman (Mr S. 11. Judd) in moving the adoption of tho report and balance-sheet, referred to the . gratifying support accorded tho association last year. The quality of tho pigs on the whole had shown improvement, although thero were still too many pigs that, although passed as primo quality, had not been finished off with grain or some hard food and so tho fat was too soft and not sufficiently streaky. Of the 13,400 porkers handled 89.4 per cent wero classed primo, and of 28,000 baconers 9.4 per cent were .classified prime quality. During tho season the association received 435 baconers over 1801bs in weight. There was a market for these in the United Kingdom and there was no difficulty in selling them, but he wished to point out that it was not advisable to bring pigs to this weight, as tho 'valuo por lb was quite considerably less than for baconers up to but not exceeding 1801 b, because, firstly, :the Government export bonus was not earned on any pigs over 1801 b and also because as a rule the market valuo was approximately id por lb less than for the smaller weight pig, making a lessened value per lb approximately Id per lb. Complaints hod, continued Mr Judd, been received from tho United Kingdom recently about fishy flavour in tho meat, and he thought that the probable cause was either the use of whale oil or fish meal in the fattening pen. Farmers wero warned that neither of these should be used to feed pigs within two months of killing, and that if this complaint became at all common it would absolutely kill the export trade. Either of these foods was quite good for store pigs, but must not on any account bo used for topping them off.

The reports from the United Kingdom regarding quality continued to be satisfactory. Smithfield reported that if the grading and quality remained as at present they would soon be in a position to get a premium over other brands, just as Canterbury lamb had over other New Zealand lamb, but they must finish off better with hard feed. A certain percentage of carcases were still too soft in the fat. The bacon curers had the same complaint—lack of hard feoding in a proportion of the carcases; otherwise they said they are well satisfied. The quality on the wholo was right and the typo of carcase was right. They should try to retain it by not introducing any more breeds of pigs into New Zealand, and so falling into the same mistake as the British farmers with their 27 breeds of pigs and consequent numerous cross-

breeding and big variation in range of typo of carcase. Tho action of the Government in having a high protection duty on all classes of grain and grain offal suitablo for fattening pigs undoubtedly, said Mr Judd, was tho causo of high prices and was why farmers did not uso meals and grain more extensively than thoy did. “If we could buy them at a reasonable figuro I am sure that tho ordinary farmer would use them extensively, and not only improvo the quality of tho meat, but produce far more pigs on the same quantity of skim-milk, as it would bo utilised, in conjunction with cereal to far greater advantage. In my opinion this imposition of protective duties and consequent high prices for foodstuffs far more than counteract the id per ]b. export bonus. If both wero eliminated wo could produce better pork at a higher nett profit.” The chairman then referred to the steps to bo taken for the association in its prosent form to go into liquidation, and for a new company bo bo formed. The association resolved to go into voluntary liquidation, and liquidators were appointed with authority to form a new limited liability company to take the place of the present organisation as recommended. It was stated that tho present executive would bo appointed provisional directors of tho new company pending the statutory meeting to bo hold shortly, when they would be permanently elected. Tho .following resolution was passed:— “That this association finds it is severely handicapped, in the export trade in bacon pigs by the excessive price of grain and grain offal suitable for finishing pigs. This is caused by tho heavy import duty, and results in failure on the part of farmers to top off their pigs. The association therefore strongly urges the Government bo remove tho duty on grain and grain offal suitablo for pig food.”

Dairy farmers in South Taranaki are experiencing trouble with a cattle disease in the nature of 6pinal paralysis. Cows develop tho symptoms of milk fever, becoming staring in the eyes and staggering. This goes on for a couple of days and finally tho beast goes down. With milk fever, tho beast goes down in a few hours. Where tho disease is of a spinal nature, however, tho animal does not respond to the usual treatment of milk fever —that of blowing up the udder. Tho remedy is said to be a specially prepared injection over the spine. One farmer near Hawera recently lost three cows by the disease and others have suffered similarly. It is usually tho best-conditioned animnls that are stricken, the poor ones not being affected.

EMPIRE’S FARMERS,

IMPERIAL UNION SUGGESTED,

Tho Dominion secretary of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union has received a communication from tho general secretary of the National Fanners’ Union of Scotland (Glasgow), suggesting tho establishment of an Imperial Union of Farmers, tho object of which would bo to develop tho agricultural resources of ' tho Empire at Homo and in tho Dominions. United action would bo taken for tho promotion of agricultural interests, and every effort would bo made to awaken public interest in Empiro agricultural products. Tho proposed Imperial Union would consist of representatives of farmers’ organisations throughout tho Empire with a central council in Britain. Tho main objects, it is stated, would bo:—To establish agencies throughout Britain for tho better distribution of produce; to eliminate unnecessary competition between Empiro countries; to regulate and control surplus production; to stabilise quantities and prices and organiso transport; to establish central stores or distributing depots when thought advisable; to negotiate with Empire manufacturers where mutual action might bo considered helpful in forwarding tho interests of farmers and industrialists; to adopt united action and co-operate with Homo and Dominion Governments for tho promotion of agricultural interests; to awaken public interest in Empiro agriculture in order to encourage consumers to ask for Empiro produce and fight foreign competition in every legitimate way; to en- 1 courage persons connected with farming who found themselves forced to emigrate, to go to the Dominions rather than to foreign countries. Tho New Zealand Farmers’ Union passed a resolution, two years ago, in favour of a convention of farmers from all parts of the Empiro to study tho causes of tho difficult position of tho farming industry, and consequent drift to the towns, with a view to formulating plans for joint action to onsuro a fair return to the farmers for their labour and invested capital. Farmers’ organisations throughout the Empiro were invited to discuss the project and submit remits dealing with farmers’ finance, taxation, labour conditions, standard of living of rural and city dwellers, the final objective of tho convention being to modernise farm life and to make the industry moro attractive to the human element, and profitable to capital as an investment. Tho matter of calling a convention of British farmers was brought before the notice of Rt. Hon. L. S. Amery, during his visit to New Zealand, with tho purpose of getting such a movement started. Early noxt year a party of British farmers will bo visiting New Zealand, and a small conference has been arranged to discuss farming matters of Imperial interest while the party is in the Dominion. This conference perhaps may provo to bo tho forerunner of larger Imperial conferences in the near future. Endeavours are being made to get representatives from farming organisations in Australia to attend the conference, which will be held in Wellington.

LONDON MARKETS.

HIGH COMMISSIONER’S REPORT.

Tho Department of Agriculture has received tho following) cablegram dated September 21 from the High Commissioner for New Zealand, London: — Tallow. —No auction this week. Markot quiet, but steady and prices unchanged. Wool. —Sales continue with good general competition. Values remain the same as opening rates. Hemp.—Manila market somewhat irregular and business quiet. Closing values “J” grade October-Dcccmber shipments, £36 10s. Sisal market quiet, but steady at last quotations. New Zoaland unchanged. Only little offering, but buyers holding back as prices considered too dear compared with Manila. Sales reported in fair, £3l 10s. _ Nominal comparative closing values: highpoints, £35; fair, £3l 10s; common, £3O 10s.

Tow. —Second grade, £22; third grade, £l7 15s. Stocks in England at August 31, 88 tons against 86 tons same time last year.

WOOL v. SILK.

INTERESTING INFORMATION FROM LONDON. Following is an oxtract from a letter received by Messrs M. A. Eliott, Ltd., from their London wool brokers: —“There is no doubt that artificial 6ilk has taken tho plaoe, mainly in tho finer counts, of a great quantity of wool. Before art. silk was produced in great quantity and at the low prico it is to-day, practically all underclothing was mado of fino wool (56s and above). Gradually art. silk became more plentiful and cheaper, and, what is more, better in quality. It seems that tho first step in the displacing of woo! was by mixing it with art. silk, but to-day, much of the underclothing worn I by women (and to some extent men) •is j mado of pure art silk; some little time ago many ladies’ dresses were mado of all wool taffeta. That cloth has now been largely superseded by silk. The use of silk in the making of cloths where the coarser wools are used has not yet become serious. Men’s clothes, overcoats, etc., are still mado of wool in tho coarser qualities, lienee the greater firmness in these qualities as compared with 60s and over. It seems to us that it must now bo taken for fact that silk has become, for certain things, a very serious compel'tor with wool; but fashions change very quickly and provided that woollen clothing can bo produced at an attractive prico the natural qualities which it possesses will, we think, always give wool an advantage over any artificial material.”

One of the most important features of the operations of tho Agricultural Department during the past year from the grassland viewpoint has been the very clear demonstration over many parts of New Zealand that the greater part of perennial ryegrass at present sown in the Dominion is perennial in name only, according to the annual report of the department. Hundreds of lines that have been sown at Palmerston North have shown that the true perennial ryegrass is harvested in certain areas. Its groat superiority over what may be termed temporary ryegrass, or false perennial ryegrass, clearly necessitates a complete change in ryegrass grown for seed, and tho system of certification whereby genuine mother seed can be guaranteed is being put into operation. The substitution of the present temporary ryegrass by true perennial seems destined to effect a very groat improvement in pasture establishment, and may relatively provo to be second only in importance to top-dressing itself.

SHELTER ON THE FARM.

PRACTICAL MAN’S EXPERIENCE.

Iho following article from tho Co-opera-tor demonstrates the value of shelter on the farm. It is written by a farmer who has been interested in tree planting for the past thirty years. Tho artielo goes very carefully into tho values of the different varieties planted and gives tho jiresent day farmer a lot of valuablo information that will cnablo him to avoid making mistakes in planting unsuitable kinds and so saving labour and expense and, above all, time, which is a big factor in providing shelter for the stock, as tho sooner it is provided tho sooner will tho extra profits from tho herd bccoino available. This applies equally to tho valuo of tho timber, too.

Tho writer started planting thirty years ago, but did not tako it up extensively until 1910, when 700 pinus insignus and muricata wero put in; each following year some thousands of trees were planted until to-day every waste piece of ground on the farm, as well as the creek Banks, are covered by healthy well grown trees. Besides this a number of shelter belts have been planted whero necessary. Ihe bulk of the planting was carried out between 1910-1913; since then only an odd thousand or so have been put out to fill in odd cornors.

The property had' some patches of shelter bush, which, as everybody knows, rapidly deteriorate as it becomes exposed by the falling of tho surrounding bush. Various varieties, mostly pinus insignus, were planted in and around those small pieces of bush, and tho shelter so provided has had a "wonderful cflcet on tho native trees.

A little over 25 per cent, of tho pro- ! porty is now planted with forestry, but to show tho valuo of tho investment outside the propsectivo timber valuo, which must be very great, over double tho amount of stock is now being carried in contrast to the number glazed before a single tree was planted. Topdressing is, of course, responsible for part of this improvement, but it is clear proof of tho value and necessity of providing shelter for tho stock. Then in courso of time and at no very distant date, judging by tho wonderful growth of tho plantatidns, one must add the actual timber value of the trees themselves.

The worst winds are from, the south and the west, tho latter prevailing. As most of the writer’s creeks run north, it was not a difficult matter to get shelter from tho west, but in some instances it was necessary to use level land to provide breaks for the southerly winds, but it is preferable that the shelter belts should run as much as possiblo north and south as this allows the sun to get at the paddocks. If planted east u.nd west there would be a certain amount of pasture that the sun could not get at, especially during the winter months. We have found that a certain amout of draught through the plantations was beneficial.

We found that our plantation of Gums on the north side, with a Barbery fence through it, gave perfect shelter to a distance of 12 and 14 chains from the strongest winds. Pinus Insignus, while giving quite as good shelter for a certain distance, not being so high, did not protect the stock for anything like the same distance. We found that of all varieties the Pinus Insignus was tho easiest to grow for several reasons; for instance, they were the easiest to keep clean, the percentage of losses was tho lowest, and owing to thoir rapid growth required fencing from stock for a much shorter period. Approximately 5 per cent, would cover tho losses in planting this variety.

We found that where well grown trees are planted that it was seldom necessary to cut tho fern, blackberry or other growth around the young trees. As the trees got up it is a good plan

to cut out the lower limbs to givo more freedom when ploughing-, mowing or top-dressing close to the plantations. We tried Muricata and Maritama . Pines, but the latter wore not a success. Planted in 1894, then felled in 1924, i they made indifferent shelter and made , | poor firewood, also being dangerous I with open fireplaces as they spark badly. We only put in a small plantation !of muricata in 1910. They made good I shelter, but a number died out. Pjnus I Insignus were planted in the gaps and I aro now much bigger trees, j We make it a practice to keep • the ; young trees fonced for four or five j years. We find this sufficient since wc j have dehorned all our stock. Prior to ! this it was necessary to fence for at least two years longer. ' We have two plantations of Cyprus. We planted 2000 Macracarpa in 1921. I These are doing very well; another lot I was planted only last year. Owing to ! these being very much slower in their j growth, it is necessary to keep the rough herbage cut from around them for lat least four years. We planted a few lof these in 1896, and we felled ono of j these last year, from which we split 200 I posts and a great number of battens, j Wo planted eix *Majostica 30 years ago, all of which have boon felled and used for posts and battens, which are showing to last in the ground very well. It may only bo a coincidence, but tho posts split from the limbs appears to be lasting better than those from the trunk. This applies to the Macraparpas as well. We have odd specimens of Lawsoniana which we have used for telephone posts; there aro lasting well. Those trees require good fencing as cattle Bhow a preference for them and soon mako them very straggly in appearance. In 1896 we put jn a number of Red Cedars, but they are not satisfaefory, becoming top heavy and liable to get blown down in heavy gales. Gufhs. —We have tried out about fourteen varieties. Of theso wo had belts of Macarthuri and Obliqua, but these do not appear to last, possibly not having ago enough. Wo tried some from older trees, but they only lasted about six years. Of Ovata we only planted a few, but they have made the most rapid growth of anything in our plantations. Fastigata and Regnans aro really tho only other varieties that have done any good with us. Bluegums planted over 50 years ago mako excellent posts, but wc found them very difficult to split. Blasting powder only seems to blow out jagged pieces instead of splitting the log. We planted a further lot of these in' 1914, which did well for a few years and make first-class rails, but tho aphis has nearly killed them all now. (The insect known as tho ladybird, is said to bo the antidote for this trouble.) Larches are apparently not worth planting; at 35 years old they aro only 15ft. high and 12 inches in diameter. Oaks. —These made rapid growth, but were not a success as posts. Redwoods, planted 1921, havo done no good. Douglas Firs, planted in 1921, have done well, but they aro not recommended as being worth planting for shelter purposes. Wattles. —We havo tried 17 varieties of these, but they aro not good ns shelter, being very easily broken by tho winds. With our number of varieties it is possible to havo somo of them flowering all the year round. Planes and Poplars.—These aro very beautiful, especially in tho spring and autumn, but outsido this are not of great value to the farmer. Of native trees the Puriri is about tho only one worth planting that has a quick enough growth to bo any use. Our 25-year-old trees are 18ft. high and over 12 inches in diameter.

The Pinus Insignus make about one inch in diameter and six to ten feet in height per year when young. They appear to keep this growth as far as diameter is concerned,

but not so in height. We have trees 43 years old, four feet in diameter, but not 200 ft. high. While there inay be a slight loss close to the plantation in the feed value of the the shelter afforded the stock outweigh this, and is not really noticeable, as is proved by the doubling of tho original carrying capacity of our farm. *Cup Majestica, a variety of C. Torucosa, not known in this district.

THE COW’S SKIN. DECEIVING TO EYE. For some years it has been a fairly general belief that a yellow and an oily skin, particularly in a Jersey cow, was an indication of high butterfat production ability. Mr A. 11. Humphreys, a herd-testing officer, has his doubts on this point (says the Live Stock Bulletin). He says that, at the beginning of the season, he endeavoured to pick out t.hc best and the worst producers in the different herds which he had to test. Ho had little success. One dairyman for whom he was testing showed a young Jersey cow with an exceptionally rich, yellow skin. Both he and the dairyman agreed, lie says, that she should be a high-producing animal, but their judgment was shattered when tho Badcoek bottle proved her with a 3.4 test, and the following periods with a 3.5 and 3.6 test respectively. The same dairyman pointed out to him a largo cow showing Friesian typo strongly, appearing anything but a promising tester. Both he and the dairyman concluded that sho was one of the poorest testers of the herd, but sho tested 4.1 per cent. After this, he said, he gave up trying to guess the test of cows. He found that it was a fallacy to rely on the judgment of the eye, and much better to rely on the Babcock bottles and scales.

AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION. FIGURES FOR TEN YEARS. £121,000,000 EXPORTS. Though tho return from Australia’s agricultural industry showed a drop of £14,000,000 for 1927-28, pastoral, dairying and factory production showed substantial increases, according to statistics made available by the Commonwealth Statistician, Mr Wickens, says a Sydney paper. The figures are contained in a statistical bulletin, which gives a comprehensive survey of primary and secondary production during tho past 10 years. Although the area under crop in 192728 was a record, amounting to 19,219,394 acres, tho value of production, due to adverse seasons, was only £84,256,000, a drop of £1 2s lid on the average return. Owing to similar seasonal conditions, the number of sheep fell from 104,267,101 to 100,827,476, but better wool prices made the year one of the best in the history of wool production. Wool accounted for £75,634,000 of the total production of £125,000,000. The dairying production showed an increase of £3,380,569. £52,000,000 PLANT. The agricultural, pastoral and dairying industries employed 422,619 persons, and the value of plant used w’as estimated at £52,000,000. Exports from tho three industries amounted to about £121,000,000. Though tho number of hands employed in factories decreased by 3000, production increased, and amounted to £416,994,009, the value added in process of manufacture being given as £167,402,772, an increase from £347 to £361 an employee. Additional capital invested in factories totalled £11.000.000. Tho average production in all recorded industries amounted to £73 9s 6d a head of population.