48 



THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



good deal depending on the situation and 

 facilities for the carriage of produce. 

 The returns obtained by individual 

 farmers from their dairy herds are also 

 very variable, but the general averages are 

 high. The following instances may be 

 quoted as examples of the returns ob- 

 tained by dairymen in the Shoalhaven 

 district during the past month. From 30 

 cows, Mr. C. Lamond, of Worragee, 

 separated 2,1601bs of cream, sent to the 

 factory, where l,0881bs. of Inittev was 

 manufactured from it, equal to Olbs. per 

 week per cow. Being paid 9d. per lb. for 

 butter, this farmer realised 6s. 9d. per 

 week for each cow, or £1 7s. in 28 days. 

 From 52 cows, Mr. R. Shepherd, of 



Belong, obtained 4,0701bs. of milk, pro- 

 ducing l,8031bs. of butter, equal to a 

 weekly return of 6s. 4^d. per cow. 

 Besides this, Mr. Shepherd churned a con- 

 siderable quantity of butter for home 

 use. Mr. P. Manning, of Pyree, had still 

 better returns. His 28 cows yielded 

 during the month 28,5741bs. of milk, 

 which produced at the factory 1.1081bs. 

 of butter, which at 9d. per lb. gave a re- 

 turn of 7s. 5d. per week, or £1 9s. 8d. for 

 28 days. The average return for these 

 three herds for the month is £1 7s. 5d. 

 per cow. Generally speaking, the all- 

 round returns from a dairy herd on the 

 South Coast is £12 per cow per year, and 

 they get little or no feed except pasture 



Selling Cattle by Live Weigitt, 



As you are doubtless well aware (writes 

 the subscribed to I lie Farmer), I 

 have long taken an active part in trying 

 to establish in this country the up-to-date 

 system that prevails in America of selling 

 cattle at a price per cwt. — or lOOlb. (cental) 

 as the case may be— live weight. I have 

 also, in season and out of season, advo- 

 cated the use of the weighbridge as a 

 means of accurately ascertaining the value 

 of cattle. It was a most singular and 

 suggestive fact that farmers would not 

 sell hay, potatoes, or any other farm pro- 

 duce worth, say, £4 per ton, without 

 having it accurately weighed, or measured, 

 while they are content to go on selling 

 their cattle, which, in many cases, were 

 worth £40 per ton, live weight, by the 

 haphazard, and altogether inaccurate, 

 system of guess-work. But, as the result 

 of my exertions, and those of the late Mr. 

 Wesley Richards, a great change has been 

 brought about in thr opinions and practice 

 of British and Irish farmers in this re- 

 spect. In 1887 the Government passed 

 the Markets and Fairs (Weighing of 

 Cattle) Act, which decrees that at every 

 market and at every auction mart at which 

 cattle are sold there shall be erected a 

 suitable weighbridge, 1)y way of giving 

 facilities for farmers having their cattle 

 weighed ; and, as a matter of fact, the 

 great majority of fat cattle now sold at 

 the auction marts in Scotland are weighed 



on the weighbridge, and their weights 

 recorded either on a blackboard by the 

 weigher, or by the finger of a dial, in 

 presence of all the spectators, just 

 before the animals enter the auction ring. 

 To my certain knowledge, also, the stock- 

 feeders— particularly in Scotland— now 

 pay particular attention to the weighing 

 of' cattle as a means of accurately ascer- 

 taining the value of their cattle ; and, as 

 a matter of fact, they rarely, if ever, when 

 referring to the price of cattle, quote 

 prices except by the live weight cwt. 

 It has been a matter of great satisfac- 

 tion to me to see this accurate and 

 scientific system of estimating the value 

 of cattle gradually replacing the old, in- 

 accurate, unscientific, and purely hap- 

 hazard system of guess-work which 

 formerly "prevailed. My interest in this 

 matter is entirely disinterested, for I am 

 not in the i-emotest degree interested in the 

 making or selling of weighbridges ; and, 

 although an occupying proprietor on a 

 small scale, I am not in any way depen- 

 dent on farming. My object in taking up 

 the weighbridge matter has simply been 

 to help the farmers by showing them how 

 to buy their store stock and sell their fat 

 cattle on a rational and scientific basis. 

 When, therefore. Major Tennant, the 

 assistant secretary of the Board of Agri- 

 culture, stated in his last annual report 

 that "There is certainly no evidence to 



