LAND, STOCK & CROPS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 155, 12 April 1930, Page 9

LAND, STOCK & CROPS

NOTES AND COMMENTS. (By “The Tramp.”) There are indications that the production of butter this season will establish a new record for the Dominion. Already the exports lor the first six months of the season show an increase of over 3000 tons •on the ligure for the corresponding period oi last season. Cheese gradings are now on the increase, and it is expected that production for the season will at least equal that of last season, if it does not actually exceed it. The butter grading figures are remarkable,and for the first two weeks of last month show an increase of 40,000 boxes on the corresponding period of February, 1929. Due to the favourable conditions, butter production so far shows no signs of the customary seasonal decline at this time of the year. It is probable that production of butter for the current season will total 90,000 tons, as against 81,656 tons last season and 62,557 tons for the 1926 season.

Mr F. J. Far fell, of Hamilton, who lias a larm of, 160 acres at Horotiu, nas within a period of nine years increased the carrying capacity from H 3 dairy cows to IiOO ewes. During the winter of 1929 ;Ur barrel! carried IUUO ewes and 50 head of cattle on grass with the addition of some hay cut oil Hie farm the previous season. Early in the spring the cattle were removed, and 100 in-lamb ewes were added, thus making 1100 ewes in all. These ewes were lambed bn the farm, and 1000 oi the lambs went off fat just after Christmas. Mr Farrell will again winter no fewer than 1000 ewes and some cattle, as he has again cut a very nice paddpck of 17 acres lor hay. f ile secrets of Mr Farrell’s success are: (1) Small paddocks, (2). regular top-dressing with superphosphate, and (3) frequent chain-harrowing of pastures. Th? pastures are kept short and clean, and the fertility is maintained by regular top-dressjng. Other cases could be cited as evidence of the great strides made in this oountry— cases of dairy farmers maintaining a cow per acre the year round—blit even this one will suffice to show that New Zealand is not lagging behind in the matter of agricultural development.

The question as to what age a cow should be turned out of the herd is one that has suggested itself to every breeder of cattle, and it must be decided differently (says an English authority), according to the conditions under which the stock is kept and the purpose for which they ,gre bred. In a herd of beef cattle it is sale to say that it pays to keep a cow as long as slie will breed a calf, as the calf, as soon as it is born, is worth as much or more than the cow herself. There is a general principle that it pays better to buy young stock than old cows. Allowing this to be true as a general rule, there are exceptions vvliicl* a man must take into consideration, and not go blindly along and say because that is the rule money cannot be made outside it. Old animals can seldom be fattened at a profit even if their flesh was as valuable as that of a young one, because it requires so much more time and feed to do it. But their flesh is not equal to animals in their prime, so there is a loss both in the quality and in the cost of production. Old cows that have been milked until their life force is exhausted make very poor and low-priced, as well as expensive beef. When a cow has reached 12 or 14 years of age it hardly pays to fatten her if she could be had for nothing.

Some important advice to farmers on the growing of ryegrass was given by Mr id Bruce Levy, Government Agristologist, at a field day for Feeding and district farmers held on the Feilding Agricultural High School s farm, “Merry Hill,” when he conducted visitors over the Agricultural Department’s experimental plots and explained the trials being undertaken to determine tlite value of ryegrass strains. The plots on which the experiments are being undertaken * were sown in turnips jn 1926, oats and tares in 1926-27, temporary pasture in 192728, swedes in 1928-29, and last spring were sown in ryegrass. Mr Levy pointed out the characteristics of each type and their progress under the same conditions. Ryegrass which would not respond rapidly aftei the field had been cut for hay was not of much use, he said. Fifty per cent, of Maniatoto ryegrass was fairly good, but the remainder was pseudo-peren-nial. The question of palatability was an important factor leading to the identifioption of various strains. It was held in the South Island that Hawke’s Bav ryegrass was not so palatable to stock as the southern strain. That had been brought out very markedly indeed under grazing trials. At Marion, where 86 strains of ryegrass came under investigation it had°been found that stock sought the'South Island ryegrass and did not persevere with the Hawke s Bay variety. That was a definite fact. However, the stock always consumed the short-lived type first and the extent of their grazing was a certain indication of which was the true peienjxial and which was merely the annual type. Thus the tivo classes could be distinguished from the point of v len of their appeal to the palate, block, would, however, eat and enjoy the Hawke’s Bay type. . A line of AYairarapa grafs winch Mr Levy pointed out was, he said, represented mainly by a dominant Italian type. Consequently be could not recommend the strain, as the risk of much of its not being true perennial was too great. It would perhaps be about half and half. The Marlborough type ,he said, contained both good line! " bad ryegrass. However, it contained a lair mixture of tio Hawke’s Bay line, and generally where that was sown the pasture was fairly <>■00(1 Judging from results obtained at Palmerston North, about 60 per cent, of the Hawke’s Bay plant could be eliminated, so that while the type was good, it was capable of turthei development and improvement. The speaker commented on the tendency, of the weaker type of ryegrass to rust, which was of tremendous value in determining its proper character at this time of the year. AY here rusting occurred a serious loss was caused to autumn production, riom trials which had been conducted over a period of three ytfars it had been ascertained that ryegrass showing flatness, as against uprightness, vigour, and greenness, would not last.. The Hawke’s Bay ryegrass was marked for its erectness, while the southern strains were noted, for the interlacing of the heads. Any of the old pasture rvegrasses sown many years ago came out fairly well in type. It would be found that there was less fibre in the Italian ryegrass than in the true perennial, while the former de\ eloped quickest after being sown down. Under strict rotational grazing, the eondw-

lions called for a persistent type of ryegrass. Air Levy weitt on to state that there were two important, periods for the top-dressing of pastures. It should be carried out at such a period as would give the pastures the greatest benefit when they received their stimulus from the autumn rains, pushing growth well on into the winter. The next period of importance was July-August in order to promote early spring growth. It was in early spring production that ryegrass stood out preeminent. If manorial treatment was applied at the wrong time it would merely have the effect of increasing the peak of growth and would not impart permanent vigour. One of the weaknesses of Hawke’s Bay ryegrass was that it. opened a little in the autumn, allowing the establishment of annual plants, but that could be overcome by proper manuring.