LAND, STOCK & CROPS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 10530, 22 October 1925, Page 2

LAND, STOCK & CROPS

NOTES AND COMMENTS. (By “ The Tramp.”) The outstanding position occupied by New Zealand in the production of high-grade stock is shown by the expanding business that is being done in the export of stud sheep to other countries.

A recent visitor from Taranaki tells of the remarkable way in which lucerne is coming into favour in Taranaki. The success of lucerne in Taranaki has been assured 1 since heavy top-dressing has been adopted,.

The excellent condition in which the Australian trial shipment of chilled beef by the Port Darwin arrived has aroused extraordinary interest at Smithfield markets, where it is declared to be a wonderful achievement.

A common dressing used in many districts in Great Britain now is five to six cwt. of slag and three to four cwt. of kainit, and this has proved very effective both in increasing the hay crop and in improving the pasture afterwards.

If a farmer intends to twice plough his lea, the first skim ploughing should be done, if possible, in autumn or early winter, otherwise the turf will not have sufficient time to get properly rotted down before the second ploughing takes place.

Where the general average fat test of a herd is too low to meet certain desired requirements the herd owner sometimes resorts to saving the first milk drawn separately from that to be marketed. This raises the fat test in the later drawn milk.

So prolific ha 9 been the growth of grass in the Waikato this winter that one Horsham Downs farmer, Mr T. PI. Henderson, did not find it necessary to resort to supplementary feed until a week or 60 ago, when he commenced supplying the cows with hay.

Pastoralists are anticipating much better prices for their stock, the general trend of the markets being of a hardening nature. Inquiries go to show that ewes in lamb and good hoggets are in keen demand, the shortage of sheep being marked.

The fruit expert of the “Daily Telegraph” says that apples from Australia and New Zealand hold a prominent position on the fruit market, competition from American sources being much weaker this year, and the quality is as near perfection as possible.

A great variety of green crops for pig-feeding can be grown in the orchard under trees. After early potatoes have been lifted, rape or kale can be sown as a catch crop, and will come in very useful when other feed is scarce in the autumn and winter.

Silage varies so much in the percentage of water it contains, even in different parts of the same silo, and varies so considerably in its albuminoid ratio according to the kind of crop grown, that it is difficult to give any figures as to its exact feeding value.

A notable point in well-made butter is the nice granular texture it possesses. The grain of butter is often spoiled by overchuming and carelessness in working the butter. Too high a churning temperature will ruin the grain of butter and impart to it an oily flavour.