THE LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 25, 30 January 1926, Page 24

THE LAND.

MILK FEEDING FOR PROFIT

The object of the farmer i= to make mmiey. It is not to produce the- greaU'.-t quantity of product possible, but rather to produce it in such an economical manner that he will make the greatest j,rofit. Tiic problem of profitable farming is a complex one. and holds many uncertainties. A number of the factors may ppcm quite beyond the farmer'? control, <->r may take years of organised effort to vicl'l him fair rcuirns. The men who are able to cut their cost of production the loucst, without reducing cither the amount or quality of t hr> product are. the ones who will have tiie inoet left for profit after expenses are paid , and they are the most successful. The cost of production i* equally important with the quantity of the product or the price received for it when it comes to determining profit-. The failure of pasture has been little realised. Men have thought that when cows were on pasture they were well fed. The green glamour of grass in the spring invokes a simple faith that it will live forever. But the pasture experiment conducted at the University of Illinois (says an American exchange, from which this is an extract), plainly shows the failure of pasture during the last two-thirds of the summer, and this agrees well with common farm observation. Our grass crop is practically produced in three months, when the factors of nature are so combined as to make the greatest growth. Hut these natural forces of production go almost entirely to waste on pasture at tliU time because it does not withstand heat and dry weather. Therefore, cows on grass pasture, instead of being well fed at this time of greatest natural production, in reality often suffer the worst of any time during the year from lack of feed. Any dairyman can readily see and realise the difference between the cow filling herself easily in twenty minutes' grazing, and her struggles to do the same in twenty hour?. When we have seen tlie deficiency of grass there is often the endeavour to make it up without any thought of the cost or of saving land and labour, or supplying exactly what the cow needs to produce a liberal flow of milk and keep in health and vigour. The dairyman is driven to look for a pasture that is a pasture. A real pasture is the dairyman's self-feeder. We would use it for twelve months "in the year if we could, but can expect the cow to harvest her feed in the open only half of the year. For the cow's yearly production she must be well during this bare pasture period. There is an advantage here beyond all the savings mentioned, and affecting the whole life and production of the cow. For in many cases the cows lose flesh and reduce their milk flow on short grass in the dry weather. They do not regain either loss in the autumn, and they are thin and in poor condition for the winter. Under such treatment t':ey never come up to their natural ability, and the loss in production extends over a much longer time than the two to four months of short pasture. It is evidently fatal to the best interests of the dairy to allow the cow to fail in the milk during the summer, and in consequence of the failure of the pasture to become low in condition until the coming of the in the following spring. The fair question Is what is the remedy? The reply is the liberal provision of forage crops for the summer and autumn, with fodder and root for winter. The summer crops and forages are maize, millet, lucerne and carefulivfed turnips and Chou moellier. There may also be the supplement of the stack of silage. In the late autumn and winter there should be the ample reserve of good well-saved hay and roots On the modern dairy farm the herd will consist of eo«- 8 of high capacity. Will be of the first importance to feed them o maintain that capacity and the provision of those crops Jill aiur" th« maintenance—'-Adelaide Chronicle." AYRSHIRES IN THE HOMELAND. The prestige of the Ayrshire cow ■tends high at the present time anion* the dairy cattle of the world, and no" Where is she seen to so good advantage as in her home land on the green fields of the Lowlands of Scotland. For two years in succession the breed has attained to tiie highest distinction at the Greatest show in Britain—London Dairy Showdefeating every other breed for its aliround excellence as a dairy animal. Many years ago Scotsmen prided themselves on haying what was regarded as a show Ayrshire—an animal with a narrow client barely sufficient for the action of the lungs, with a tipht vessel of a particular shape, no matter whether or not it produced milk, and with, in the vast majority of cases, teats which could hardly be eaugkt in the milking operation. Now happily this is all changed. Some of the people who were so much in favour of the narrow-chested sort are now quite enthusiastic in their endeavour to produce the utility sort—cattle with grand wide frames," deep in the rib, and having sound constitutions capable of withstanding the strain of a big flow of milk. Milk recording has wrought about a mighty change. Some thero are who still believe in the cow with the shapely vessel, and there are not a few such in the country which can ooast of the finest constitutions and can snow good records at the end of the season. I n the vast majority of cases, !mv eVer - l !' e Sba l >e of the v " sel not ft uC as of so much importance and dn h ; ing, ° f a fine silky texture, Holstem breed and the Red Pol", HerdJjjh are not »„f^&?, hardy, can live well on a very moderate diet and gives a large flow "of mill of excellent quality. Economicalh le t the cow for the poor land, as' s]l " can find her Urhjg where other breeds would pensli. The great essential " save M> Gilbert McMillan, ex-president of the Canadian Ayrshire Association "is to have a cow with the productive machinery in correct ratio to the driving force; or, in other words, where the productive ability is backed by sufficient

strength and capacity to ensure standing the wnnr and tear of a long life. It 13 i-ar-ir-r to attain this with a small cow. I Inn ;i largo one. other tilings being equal, will be proportionately better, and the demand to-day i> for a good, large cow." It is interesting to recall the different ■stages in the transition of the Ayrshire. Some thirty years ago or so, Mr. John Syieir, of Newton Farm, Scotland, conducted an inquiry into l"ie condition of ihe Ayrshire breed of cattle in relation to the prevalence of tuberculosis. Mr. Speir concluded that n? that time some Sii per cent of the Ayrshires in Scotland wore affected with the trouble. This set people thinking, and action was at once taken by individuals to get rid of the trouble. It was realised that animals must be bred with strong constitutions — having frames with plenty of room for the play of the lungs, and capacity to make the best use of the food provided. The improvement has been constant and persistent, until now the best herds in the county may lie regarded as practically free of the malady. Indeed, most of them are regularly tested, and if an animal should show symptoms of the disease it is discarded, no matter how good a milker it may have turned out.— "Breeders' Gazette," U.S.A. VALUE OF MILK RECORDS. The existence of milk records assists the herd owner in selecting the heifer calves from his best milkers to be retained for coming into the herd three years hence. But milk records are also invaluable in the selection of a bull. Like begets like, and we know that the father and mother exert an approximately equal inlluenee on the dairy qualities of the offspring. Seeing that the bull that fathers the herd has some ."id sons and daughters in the course of the year, whereas the cow has only one or two. it follows that the hull is far more important than any individual cow. A bull that is to be useful to the dairyfarmer must carry a guarantee not only as regards the outward appearance and the constitution of his offspring, but also as regards their milking ability. FIGS IN AMERICA. The United States of America has by far the largest pig population in the world, having in 1924 66,130,000 pigs. Large, however, as this figure may seem, it is more than 2.000,000 Ipjs than the pig population of the United States in 1923. This fact alone is of importance to pig breeders and fatteners in the Commonwealth, as it bears out the various statements which have come to hand showing that in the United States the pig supply is not only diminishing, but there is every likelihood that, whatever the supply may be, it will to a large extent be absorbed by local consumers, and thus opportunity will be given to develop an export trade for bacon and pork products with Great Britain. For many years very large quantities of American bacon and pig products have been imported to England. ENCOURAGING BIG LITTERS. If a gilt or sow of mine has fourteen teats. I do not hesitate to leave thirteen youngsters with her, provided that none of them are suffering from any very glaring complaints (remarks a correspondent). Unequal milk distribution is often caused by a gilt having some of her youngsters taken from her. Henc e when she farrows for the second time a certain number of her teats have never been in use before, and milk will always flow into those teats which have had the moat use. A great point often overlooked in rearing large litters is the necessity of feeding the sow. from two days after farrowing, in proportion to the litter she has to rear, steadily increasing her ration as soon as there i = the slightest sign of the youngsters ; <lra<r<jino; her down. Plenty of fresh. I green grass, a certain amount of irreen fodder (beans, peas, and tares) and mangolds will ho found to help the milk supply tremendously. The better the condition of a pig within reason, the better chance she has of doing her prospective litter justice. A great" deal has been said of late about sows with an exces3 of fat. A sow in reasonably good condition makes a far better mother than her thin and scraggy sister, who is far more likely to lie upon her young through awkwardness and rushing about than her perfectly contented sister. CHOU MOEIXIER AND ITS MINERAL CONTENTS. In these days the mineral content of the focxl of the domestic animals of the farm is receiving special attention at the hands of the investigator, who is interested in the many problems that are associated with animal nutrition. It is a well-established fact that the deficiency of certain mineral constituents in the herbage of the pasture. or in the ration that is supplied is unmistakably manifested in the arrested growth of the young animal, the weakness of the bony structure of the adult and in the cow there is the lessening of the milk production for the season. The addition the ration of steamed bone flour to supply the deficiency of phosphorus and lime has been recommended and adopted with a certain measure of success. It is, however, not altogether assured that the direct addition of minerals is in the best interests of the animal. It is simply a medicinal treatment. The nutrition of the animal comes through the natural food, and that is from the plant. It is in the investigation of the problems of the correct feeding of animals that institutions as the Harper-Adams Agricultural College are of the greatest value to the live stock owner. At that eolleee it has been demonstrated that Hiou moellier is a plant that may well be prominent where cattle'and sheep are reared and pigs fattened. On the dairy farm its dominance should be assured among all the crops that are cultivated for the maintenance of the full capacity of the cow in milk. The first claim for the preference for I hou moellier is its content of 20 per cent of lime and 12 per cent of phospl.onc acid. That content Ls better appreciated if it is compared with o7°r PS - That plant llas but ° P" cent ot lime and the same percentage of phosporic acid. Of dry matter Chou moellier has 15 per cent and 2* per cent of protein. The has 11 per cent of.the first and 1.1 of the second. Ihe residual ash of Chou moellier is

1.9 per cent as compared with 1 per cent of the swede. In earlier years when the value of a crop was measured by its bulk, preference was sriven to other members of the group of Kales, such as the thousand headed, the Jersey tree kale and Buda kale, but tests have shown that in actual trials f'hou moellier fed stock lead. At the Harper-Adams College it :s shown that a crop of 40 tons of this kale can be prown at a less cost per acre than a 20 tons crop of swedes. Chow moellier has the great advantage over swedes, turnips and other kales, for it has not so great an effect in imparting an undesirable odour and flavour to the milk and its products. Let it not be understood that Chou moellier does not impart a flavour or odour to milk, for it does so. but in a far less measure than the plants that have been mentioned. Actually Chou moellier fed with discretion to the cow has so small an effect that its influence on the milk is not to be recognised. This plant is already in appreciation in several districts of New Zealand. Its value is becoming more widely known. To those who may have the intention to try this crop, it is recommended to cow lightly at the rate of from 10 to 14 ounces of seed to the acre, the ridges to be 28 inches apart. The manurial dressing may be as liberal as possible, not less than 3 cwt of super-phospliate, 1 cwt sulphate of potash and 1 cwt nitrate of soda. This may appear somewhat excessive, but the well-manured crop grows well and the quality is maintained. It is assured that the dairy farmer will appreciate some few acres of Chou moellier for the maintenance of the milk production of his herd. THE EYE. A certain amount of sprightliness denotes vigorous vitality, and is one of the usual accompaniments and tokens of more than ordinary hereditary power, or what is sometimes called impressiveness; but that is a very different thins: from the wild, or timid, the savage, or the startled eye. Such eyes generally indicate either weakness instead of strength, or the absence of that docility which is one of the necessary conditions of economic growth. The fidgety, anxious, uneasy animal has within it a constant cause of waste not present in the placid, contented animal. There is, perhaps, something to be said for the prominent eye, not too staring, as a recognised sign of a disposition to fatten, becau-se it is regarded as tbe result of a growth of fat behind the eyeball. The connection, however, behind prominence of eye and the tendency to grow fat is not traceable in all cases, for we sometimes find incorrigably lean animals with eyes nearly out of their heads and thick fat animals wanting prominence of eye. Like most other points—and this vs especially the case in regard to points which indicate good dairy properties—the eye alone is not a sure guide to the animal's capabilities yet may be trusted ac one of the links in a chain of evidence if the other links be nor absent.

THE FEET OF THE YOUNG HORSE. The first qualification of the horse is sound, well-shaped feet, and this can only be assured when the foot of the young , horse lias received careful attention. How often is it seen that the young horse comes to the sale with one or more of the feet deformed. This is at once the cause of a depreciation in the value of the animal. This need not be. for some care while the yoxmg horses are at grass will assure the sound well-shaped foot that the horse for hard work must possess. The young horses until they are broken in for sale are often {rrazed at some distance from the homestead, but that should not prevent some inspection of the feet. That inspection can be done in the field, and when it is seen that a foot requires attention there is usually a yard and a crush pen not too far away. There is a very common mistake that is often made in regard to the cause of the misshapen foot. It is thought that the hoof suffers when the horse is reared on hard or stony ground, and that the foot does not need attention when the land is soft. The horse that is reared on the dry. hard, rocky land is the one with the sound foot. The hoof as it grows is ground down and it is shapely. It is on the soft damp ground that the foot of the young horse suffers. The growth of the horn is not checked, it is soft and breaks, the foot becomes awry. In these days of motor transport, some may argue that attention to the horse it not warranted, but he is still the worker in our service, and of all animals he is the giver of the greatest pleasure to man. Horses are not required in the large number of a few years ago, and affords the opportunity for the closer selection of those that are wanted. The horse user to-day demands the animal that will give the fullest measure of work or pleasure. The first essential is the sound wellshaped foot. It is in the. earlier years of the life of the animal that the sound toot is formed, it is then that the most careful attention may well be given to this point, or the truth of the old days will be fulfilled—"Xo foot no horse." * A man that buys a bull sired by a good bull and out of a good dam, "and uses that good purebred bull on his herd has not long to wait before he will have a good profitable herd, producing a profitable amount of milk, consuming the farm-raised grains most profitably, and producing steers and heifers that will feed out well, and cows that, when through their most profitable milking period, will cash in profitably over the scales. It is much easier to maintain soil in a satisfactory condition of efficiency by crop rotation and the application of artificial manures than to restore it after it has once been impoverished by the loss of fertilising constituents.

TO CORR£SPoim"£JENTS. H.E.C. (Kohimaramai writes: •Re Rosebudding, are you correct in advising the wood to be left in the back of the bud. I have always picked the wood out?" —It was a former practice to pick out the wood at the back of the bud. and it is still done by many workers. In this country, and also in others, the present method is to leave the wood in. and no harm appears to come from it. In fact. more, buds are spoilt by pulling it out than are by leaving it in. but yon bud as thin as possible. 1 and no harm comes from leaving iv the wood. TE KCITI writes : -Was greatly interested in your article on budding Roses, but would like to know mor" about the treatment of stock. . 1 have a briar growing freely, which I intend budding for a standard. When d.. I cut off present growth—at time of budding or after?—lt somewhat depends; if tb.-re is a. great surplus of growth some could be cut off so as to make it more convenient fo_r budding. As a rule, however, no trimming or cutting back Is done till the spring following the budding. The object i≤ to keep the bud dormant until spring, becauee bu<ls that start in autumn are not so successful as those that remain dorme.nt till spring. It any cutting back of the stock !s done it is liable to cause the bud. to start. Another point is. if the stocks are' trimmed prior to budding i: causes such a check to the natural flow of sap that often the "bud" is flooded or smothered in an exudation of gummy sap. T. 1.-. (Kakahi) writes: "In last week's ■Star' it was minriur.ed about arsenate of lead to keep fly off Broccoli. Winter Cabbage, etr. Will you please explain how to make the mixture ready for spraying?"—Arsenate of lead can be purchased ready to mix with water. See reply to .T.D. 1 Auckland 1 in this issue. AUCKLANDER iTimarut writes: "As a constant reader of your useful garden notes I would like to ask you if you could tell mc the cause of Grapes withering up. They were quite healthy till after they ■were thinned, and. now nearly all the crop hare gone the same way?"—lt is most likely due to mildew, a very frequent trouble to hothouse-grown Grapes. It can bo caused by draughts and bad ventila-1

lion. 'Die antidote if dusting with sulphur and seeing ibat ventiliition is ample to keep the berries dr.v. but draughts must be prevented. The following is the method of using the sulphur. A handful of sulphur is thrown in/o a kerosene tin. and then mixed with a little! milk of just sufficient quantity to make a Miff paste, care being taken to remove! all lumps. Of course the milk should [not be sour. Then fill the tin with t4pWl water, taking .are that it is not too'i warm, as it would then have the effect of rurrtlitisr :hf> milk. Spray on the misjture iv the usual war. J.D. (Audklandi writes: "I want to plant Cabbages fur winter us>-. Doing so at this time, in previous years, h.ns meant tending the 9y. Is Thr-re any sure preventive to their attack?"— Ti- fly is very persistent. hikl it is difficult to say exactly what is the Lf-si prevontivp. Sonic times one ;hii:g and sometime* mother iffftnf to act. Taking nil i" gether, the most reliable is arsenate nf lead. This. ..f roiirsi-. poisons the small grub which actually rauses tho trouble. A "spreader." such n.« soap or a little spraying oil. should he used, and slightly warm water seems to suit best. When spraying do not use a heavy spray: try and cover the leaves with a film 'of poison. In addition to the spray give the plants some liquid stimulant such as a teaspoonfu] of nitrate of soda in a gallon of water. WAIXGARO (Iluntly) asks: (II "T"name of enclosed flowers: (2) by what means, if any. can I have all my Gladioli in flower at once, as at present tie lower half withers before the top blooms ..pen , .- (3) Do Hlppoastrum bulbs need to he lifted each year in order to bloom the n'XZ season?"— The white is Malva. the magenta is Agrostemma. and the red Dlpsacus. (2) You can only partly succeed by shading the lower blooms ns they open : even then it is impossible tii havp every bloom on a goo.l Fpike npen at one time. i Xo. i n fact, they flower bettor for being left for a year or so. W.G.L. (Xew Lynn) write? :"I want a hedge in a hurry. Is there any thickgrowing hedge plant which would reach a height of four fee: or over in say. a couple of years or less? The soil is fairly rich drained swamp."—Black Wattle would do so. If seed were sown now and the seedlings kept clear of ■weeds and the surface of the soil loose