THE LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1923, Page 20

THE LAND.

CAIRY SHORTHORN ■ CHARACTERISTICS. Head feminine in character, long and | f.ncls cut, horns curved and small at j hi ..■", sorehead broad, eyes large and of | p-Uk- expression, nostrils wide and ex- j ] aiisive, nose clean, throat clearly de- 1 I,r-1. N'ei-k lenn, but not weak. Withers not too ivid.-. Shoulders flat and sloping. broad and deep, not running ; light at girth. I Barrel Jeep and well hooped. 8.i.-k broad over loins, the top lino being straight from withers to tail. Hips wide apart and light in 'bone. Hump long, broad and level, with tail fine and neatly set in. Hindquarters wide, tho legs when \ iewed from behind straight and Without signs of nearness when walking. i Idler ivel! carried, thin-skinned, with ! pronounced milk veins, large in capacity i not fleshy or split up between the quarters I. extending high up tho back, hanging almost perpendicularly, and running well forward in a lino with the j beily, teats of good and even size. ■ squarely placed aud wide apart, milk I veins about the abdomen tortuous and highly developed. F-scuteheon even and well defined. (there being an absence of coarse hair j between its upward growth and the j downward growth of the ordinary coat), j high and wide horizontal markings in I addition to vertical being of importance. ! Skin, thin, mellow, flexible to to.ich, and carrying a good coat of hair, patchy j or .ml: colours being avoided. ' ! Flesh level with an entire absence of i Carriage and action in walking easy and agile. General appearance symmetrical. DAIRY COW FAT TESTS. The owner of a herd of pure-bred dairy cows should know why the individual butterfat tests of their milk vary from day to day and even from milking to milking, and these changes occur although lie may keep them under even conditions of pasture and of general treatment; yet for a given period there is often a difference of two points between their high and low yields of fat, according to the test. It would appear almost incredible that people who aro associated with the handling of dairy cows should not have lenrned early in their experience that these animals are nervous, sensitive and temperamental, and that their maternnl instincts are necessarily highly developed and assertive. Climatic conditions and changee exert a profound influence upon dairy cows. To the presence of strangers, new sights, sounds and odours, seasonal changes in the temperature or quality of their drinking water, shifts from one pasture to another —to all theee and other factors well-bred dairy cows are more responsive than we can well conceive. Probably no farm animal approaches fhe highly specialised dairy cow in the delicacy of some of her vital physiological processes. She is reactive in an extraordinarily higli degree. She is largely a creature of nerves, which control the organs involved in milk-mak-ing. The play of bent. cold, lierht. darkness, ruin, drought sound, sight nnd odour nijnn her HPrves, and the influence of maternal instincts upon her he''avir>ur and functions, must inevitably be expressed in variations in her butterfat output from day to day. regnrdlcKs of the kinds or amounts of feed which she consumes. The lesson that observation should irsfH U Hint tlio dairyman who knows his business will manage his dairy cows linf as T"nchinoe hut no evenedino-lr sensitive, changeful and feminine individuals, with some of the inscrutable idiosyncrncies that distinguish femalfls of a well-known higher species. THE SOW V. THE COW. Let us compare the value of the produce of a small holder's cow with the produce of a sow in twelve months. A vow will, as a rule, produce in this period one calf, which, with twelve months' good feeding, may yield 3501b of meat. On the other hand, what will the sow contribute towards the nation's food supply by producing, say, sixteen pigs in the year, assuming that they are of an early maturing variety, and are fed for twelve months? Eight of them would have twelvo month's' feeding, and eight of them cix months' feeding, or an average for the lot o r nine months' feeding, as against the ralf's 12 months. Sixteen pigs at an average of nine months would dress l")01b each dead weight, or a total of S4oolb, all from the /iroduce of one sow, as against 5701b from the produce r.f the cow in the same period. It must be remembered, further, that three breeding sows can be kept for the cost of one cow. The reprotluc , capacity of a pig is. of course, immensely greater thnn that of any other farm animal. Horses will reproduce themselves to the extent of 50 per cert to HO per cent annually, with a maximum not exceeding 100 per cent; sheen rnny give 125 per cent., with a maximum not exceeding 200 per cent: while cnttle will reproduce their kind to the extent of fiO per cent to 75 per cent annually, the maximum not exceeding 100 per cent. The pig's percentnire of reproduction at two litters in the year or, say. 1G in all. is ifiOO per cent, and it may be as high sb 2000 per cent. CULTIVATION OF SPRIHG AND SUMMER CROP. Land that has been previously broken Up for rape or turnips, etc., should be cultivated as often as circumstances permit. Every stroke of the cultivator that the land receives will materially increase the yield of tho crop. Thorough cultivation is an ally to manure, therefore the more cultivation one can give his land the more use will ,be made of the manure applied, or of that which is already in the soil. It is not sufficient thnt the lanil should receive a fair ploughing mill afterwards a stroke of ilie discs, cultivator or harrows. This may suffice in some instances, on the I:_■. 11 fr classes of land, for example, but cm land of a stiff nature, or inclined to lie -our. or foil! with mud, the more cultivation one can s ivo Uie :>etter will be the result. During the process of ciilt:vatinn tlie snil i- pulverised and mixed up, and becomes thoroughly

aerated. This sots free the elements ot fertility, or at least opens up the coil so that they are available for the roots of the crops. Any practical farmer knows from experience lhat even a good class of land will not grow good crops without proper cultivation, no matter how rich ,-mU ;-oil may be in plant food, while an inferior soil will often grow fairly good crops, providing tho tillage is all That it should be, simply because the plant food in v well-cultivated soil is rendered available for the crop instead of being locked up in tho turf and ciods. : PLANTS REQUIRE FEEDING. "The eye of the master fattens his ■ cattle" —so says tho old tale; to this there may well be added " the man who makes farming pay fee.is his plants." In this statement there is expressed truth that lies nt the roots of ellicicnt crop-growing. All soils that have long been under cultivation are depleted, in varying degrees. Sonic of them are incapable, if fertilisers are not applied to them, of producing crops that in quantity or quality are worth growing. If inferior seed, which is very often used, lie planted or sown in impoverished soils, profitable yields cannot be expected under average economic conditions, even if the season he exceptionally favourable, the best of cultivation practised and harvesting successfully accomplished. Plants, like all animals ana even more so the specialised domestic animals of the farm, require generous, intelligent feeding in order to produce merchantable grades and uniformly large yield of grain, foliage, fibre or root crops. On many farms the inferior seed used is committed to poor soils, and whether the season he good, medium, or bad. tho resultant plants are carelessly cultivated and similarly harvested. As they are inferior in quality, tho matured crops fall automatically into low grades, and hence realise minimum prices. No system of marketing, even if it be that of a controlled commodity, can ensure a fair clear profit to the growers of inferior crops. It is clear, therefore, that it is after all a production problem; it is actually a fertility problem. Practically all soils that have long been cropped are deficient in certain plant food elements. Plants in these soils grow weakly and slowly on unbalanced, deficient, or inadequate rations, and they have a low resistance to insect and diseaso attacks and climatic hardships; they can only yield low-grade products. Where they are fed liberally with fertilisers, plants from improved seed grow rapidly and robustly, they are high in their resistance to insects and diseases, endure most ordinary climatic hardships, and return large "yields of high quality. The most profitable types of farming everywhere are based upon soils and methods which will give to plants an abundant, balanced ration. Those who would feed their plants must apply green, animal, and chemical manures to their land. PIG FEEDING. This is a question, that if it were to be fully treated should be divided into several sections; but the feeding of the breeding stock is the first consideration._ There are many things which it might be good to feed, but not economical, and the problem is how to feed breeding sows economically and yet to keep them in good condition so that they will be fit to bear and rear large thrifty litters. The system of feeding should be to use, as far as possible, the crops which are grown on the farm in preference to buying feeding stuffs, for the pig is the chief farm scavenger, and on mixed farms is kept mainly for the purpose of utilising waste foods of many kinds that could not be turned to better advantage. While rearing litters sows should be liberally fed on foods which are rich in nitrogen, in order to induce a full flow of milk, and it is advisable to give them a barge variety in order to stimulate the appetite and cause the mothers to eat as much as they can digest and convert into milk. In this way large, hoalthy litters are raised, and up to the time of weaning the sow will require a surprisingly large quantity of nutritious food. During the period of gestation also, due care must be given to the feeding of sows, but they must not be fed so liberally as to fatten them, and it must be remembered that they have a tendency to grow fat while with young. It may be observed, however, that the notion is somewhat prevalent that sows should be kept in a very lean condition up to tho time of farrowing. This is a mistake; the sow wants to be so fed that she will be in fair thriving condition, neither too fat nor too lean, so that she will produce a good flow of milk and will not look miserably starved as many do after farrowing. The sow must be allowed plenty of exercise and regular, nutritious feeding to keep her in good healthy breeding condition, and she may with advantage be allowed on a pasture and preferably where there is a large proportion of leguminous plants as clovers or lucerne. This kind of pastumge is highly nitrogenous, and is freely eaten, so that the sow which has access to it requires but little hand-feeding to keep her in fair condition. When on pasture there will be no occasion for feeding roots or vegetables, but two light feeds per day may be given of any ground grain products, mixed if possible with separated milk. If the pasturage is poor, or if very undesirably the pig confined to a pen. roots or vegetables should be freely given, for a bulky ration is very essential, nnd less likely to be injurious than too much concentrated feed such as grain, either crushed or boiled. Pigs will also thrive best in clean Rurroumlings, nnd on clean feeding. A dirty trough is an abomination. . SHORTHORS PRICES IN ARGENTINE. The Lα Josefina herd of Shorthorns belonging to Air. Pedro T. Pages, one of Argentine's leading breeders, and at present occupying tiie position of President of the Argentine Rural Society, sold well recently. The 40 cows and" heifers averaged -22J.5 dollars apiece. Top price, was paid by Mr. Rogue Quinteros for the two-yew-old red and white heifer Orange Blossom of Joselina 16th, >by the international champion Camp Hero out of Orange Blossom of Jose:.na sth, by the imported Dainory Landmark. The opening bid was 1500 dollars, and several breeders were nibbling up to 5000 dollars, but from here onwards to SflOO dollars it was a competition between Mr. Arriolo and Mr.