THE LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 215, 9 September 1921, Page 9

THE LAND.

B7 AGRIOOLA. FOHAGE CECPS FOR COWS. h cannnt fnil to !x? realised tiliat there is i! 2"Ofl deal to lie said for tlie jrrowinj; of forajre i rops for thp feeding of dairy raws during the moiit-lia of etimmor, ih'lh'll Mip ffraes of the pastures fails to luipplv suceii'lpiit orazlnp, a? troll a- to Ptdv'hlp fer the makins of hay or for nilitcC tuf. Xt is gratifying to olwervr that man; fanners are etina tihP Tallin "f etnitalila <;rops that lltev have ?rown for tih.i» [uupogoi others, too, fire profiting liy llu- exn,mplc of the inure pT'Ogrnssivp neiirhlnjur. and nn> making n ntnrt in tho Paine (lirriHimi.

Tl-.cTe is little d'Mibt that tho system is of iho grt-nttist vn'.iie. lmt its n.p]>!icalijlitj to any particular farm depends to n srroat extent) upon the nature of fcha Boil. On •■ crtnin farms, ns Wioso on briivy '.andi it if possible thai, olTorts in tlic direction of proving forage crops jiiiiy have to ho restricted to tares, nwxed with :i eultalule coi-oal as oats or Italian rye gra**, with, for example, irimson i-lnu"'. Still, even upon suoli

laiul, thc-e may l>p planned to come in at a suitable time. It should not be overlooked tliat the silo sta.sk provides t.he meant) of preserving those crops until they tiro actually required for use. It is not suggested that the built silo is B. necessity—that will come later.

it is. therefore, upon light land, or at nny rate upon suils that are easily worked, that fora.ge crops for dairy i-attle iiivvo their greatest utility, and where such rrops may bo grown in the greater variety. It is on suoli la.nd that it is comparatively easy to provide yreen crops for this purjioso almost th.j wholo year round.

It is now that the provision or those forage crops should be iniulc. If it be that -Tops o( oats and tnres are to be growi., the seeding ran 'be a bushel and ». half of tares with two of oats, or two bushels of peas may replace tilie tares. This crop is at its best when the peas or tares are in full flower, and the oats coming into ear, but it is usable for a i-onshieraMe ■perind after this, as the tvats do not lose their feed value as they mature. If the crop comes in too early there is always the stack silo to be niude.

There is. too. the great resource of tilie crop <*i soft turnip's to be remembered, and on the greater part of the dairy country of the Dominion . the mrnip is grown with so great a success Hint it is probaibly the most valuable of nil of the supplementary, crops of the farm.

There are many crops for forage, or for tshe stack silage that are at tilie service of the dairy farmer. Among these are maize, Japanese millet, tJlie porghums, Italian rye, and, on suitable land, the most valuable of nil, lucerne. It Is doubtful if, in the northern districts, members of the cabbage family can be recommended, as they suffer so severely from the attacks -of the aphis, It appears, though, that some of the kales escape, and this applies to the Ghou Mbellier, or marrow halo. It is a plant that yields heavily, but there is the limitation that it is made the best use of when the leaves are gathered from the stem without destroying it, and fresh foliage allowed to grow again. It is largely cultivated in parts of Europe, ■where the farms are of the smallest and the question of hired labour umknown.

The exa.ct time for sowinjr these crops and the dates uipon which fchev may be depended upon to be fit for use, must, of course, 'be determined to a great extent by the nature of the soil, the location, and the season, but the individual owner should very quickly be able to find one among them that suits his purpose.

There is no doubt that from the experience of those who , have tried the growing of forage crops for supplementing the grass of the pasture and from the results that have been published of trials of the system by individual formers, and from those that are α-iven by agricultural experiment stations, that a larger number of cows can be kept on a given area of land, if a portion of it is devoted to the production of forage crops, and a greater yield of milk is given by the oow, than when the grass of the pasture is the sole reliance of the dairy stock.

The system of the production of forage crops, no doubt, entails greater labour, it also means the liberal application of fertilisers, but it also brings with it greater returns. The recommendation that may be fairly offered is, try the Z Zj k ll on a limited scale and be glided toy the result. LINSEED AS FOOD TOR STOCK. TJie U6e of linseed in the feeding of live stock is so well established and so widely practised that few farmers in New Zealand should need persuasion as to its exceptional merits, lte value is due not only to its high content of the chief food ingredients, but also to the ease with which it can be supplied in suitable form to any class of stock, its laxative and other properties, which promote the efficient working , of the digestive organs, and last, but not least, there is the marked relish with which it is consumed by stock so soon as they become accustomed to its use. There Is no better food for young stock, and it is especially valuable for calf rearing. In Hβ composition linseed resembles the nutrient matter of milk more closely probably than any other single food that is commonly available, as the following comparison shows : —

Dry Matter Dry Matter of Milk, of Linseed. JWgestible albuminoids 21 in I>igestlble fat < 80 ::~ Digestible enrbodydrates 3S HI Ulgestihle fibre..-.-/.., — 2 Phosphoric acid 1.0 1.2 Lime ....:......• .. 1.2 0.3

The most satisfactory feature in the comparison is the excellent supply of oil (fat) in the linseed, since this is the ingredient most difficult to provide in adequate quantity in ealf-mealsj Without linseed it is practically impossible to make up a calf-meal containing more than about 7 per cent of digestible fat, which means that .•■ ich a meal will supply only lloz of digestible fat as compared with the Goz of fat in the one gallon of milk which the meal commonly replaces.

Every ounce of linseed introduced into the ration reduces this disparity by onethird of an ounce, and makes that ration more and more nearly a true milk equiv.-iVnt:

Il i not tiaimed that the oil of linsnetl v ; qual to the fat of milk in oalf reariu ' hut it is well proved by actual experic: ' -v to be eminently suitable to the young animalj and that it srives e.welfont results, ,