RURAL RIDES

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21808, 13 June 1936, Page 10

RURAL RIDES

CONDITION OF DAIRY HERDS (By H.A.M.) A satisfactory feature throughout Canterbury this season is the condition of dairy herds. This has been very noticeable to the writer in his journeyings around on country where dairying is a sideline as well as on the heavy lands where it is the main activity. There are more reasons than the good feed season for this position of affairs. With the extremely low prices ruling for milk and butterfat in the last two or three years there has been a tendency to reduce herds, and this has enabled more hay to be saved and at the same time has allowed the cows to be better pastured. Previously a good feed season did not always secure such a result, as in times of good prices the herds increased in size and over-stocking reduced the feed resources. It was not, of course, that the actual milkers increased in number, as they cannot be produced in a season, but there was a greater saving of the younger cattle and rearing of heifers. This policy during the depression was much reduced, and as a result winter feed resources correspondingly improved, particularly in the saving of hay, and in a smaller degree of ensilage. Several satisfactory deductions can be made from the present state of affairs, an obvious one being that dairy husbandry is being more skilfully conducted. The day when turnips and oaten straw formed the winter stand-by for cows is passing, and it can be expected, now that such an excellent nay and ensilage fodder as lucerne is being grown by many farmers to increase the winter feed resources, that dairy herds will continue to receive a better standard of winter keep. Frankly it is not before time. It was predicted a year or more ago that if a revival occurred in the dairy produce market there would be a distinct scarcity of heifers. This position appears to have arrived. For anything showing quality and near the drop, offered at the Addington market, there is a very satisfactory level of prices ruling. Purebred heifers sold there the other day made up to £ 15 15s and young grade cows to £ 12. These prices were not due to much extent to the improved butter market, but to the local winter demand for milk. They' indicate, nevertheless, that dairy farmers are hot being tempted to reduce their herds by the good values. There appear to be good grounds for assuming that the present revival in the Home butter market is not merely a flash in the pan, and breeders of yearling heifers in mixed herds would be wise to make a point of keeping the best of them for dairy purposes.

Lucerne for Green Manuring The note in this column last Saturday on the success of blue lupins for green manuring prompted a North Canterbury farmer to discuss with the writer the usefulness of lucerne for a similar purpose. He pointed out on his farm a rather poor field of lucerne which had rendered excellent service for some years, but was now becoming too thin to be economical. He confided that when he used to disc it he got a great growth afterwards. He did not then realise that in the process of discing he had helped to kill the stand. All legume crops, such as lupins, lucerne, tares and peas, if ploughed in, make excellent green manure. Why more of this work is not done is something of a mystery, as except for the land being a little longer out of action, green manuring is about the most economical form of enrichment existing. One should hasten to say that a general practice of ploughing in of crops is not recommended, but where lucerne, for instance, becomes thin, and progressively subject to the encroachment of grasses and weeds, it is a big mistake to bother with it for the light cuts it produces. A ploughed in crop adds an enormous' amount of nitrogen to the soil, and a succeeding crop of cereals or potatoes should be heavy. The writer saw an experiment some years ago in which the cut off a quarter acre of lucerne was ploughed in on a similar area, and the resultant potato crop was a record for the farm. The roots are naturally the main source of enrichment of the soil. Lucerne plants might show up in the subsequent cereal or potato crop, but they would not be harmful. Many farmers are disinclined to plough in even the thinnest of stands, as they always provide some feed when other growth is scant, but it is not good practice to occupy the ground with them.

North Canterbury Conditions In 15 years or more of travelling through North Canterbury the writer has rarely seen the country in better winter shape than it is this year. Feed appears to be abundant and there are numerous sets of oat

sheaf stacks about, which flockowners have not yet commenced to chaff. The winter so far has given no occasion for recourse to supplementary feed, and with the good bottom growth that has taken place in the conditions prevailing it is unlikely that there will be handfeeding for some time yet. Inland the weather has been much more stable than along the coastal areas. The heavy fogs which have prevailed in the city and towards the south did not extend beyond the Weka Pass to any extent. On Monday, as an instance, whilst a cloudless sky prevailed on the northern side of the pass the coastal area from Waipara to the south carried a bank of fog thick enough to compel motorists to switch on their lights in the afternoon. The conditions are something of a change to those of a year ago, as it is exactly 12 months since that the heavy snowfall occurred. The fall, it may be remembered, followed as it was by a succession of frosts, lay for an unusual length of time. It made tillage work impossible for some time, and rendered June sowing out of the question. This season the months of May and June have been in marked contrast, as the mild conditions have enabled a tremendous amount of cultivation to be undertaken this last six weeks.

In discussing the question of the influence of these conditions on the wheat acreage the writer was told by a North Canterbury farmer this week that an increase in the acreage on previous estimates is certain. He pointed out a field which he had marked out for a green crop on account of the wet autumn, but he was commencing in a few days to drill it in wheat. This changeover was not isolated. Tillage work had not been held up in the northern part of the province to anything like the extent that it had been further south, it appeared to this farmer, but he considered that even in his part the favourable conditions would have an appreciable effect on the area of wheat sown.

Wheat Sowings In all parts of the province where wheat was drilled during May it appears to have struck well, and where showing through the ground it is looking strong. This is a satisfying start-off. As showing the advantage of a well moistened seed bed snow was lying heavily on the ground last June, and the subsequent wheat growing season was one of the best on record. The sowings this month will be made under equally favourable conditions, and judging from reports and discussions with farmers it seems fairly plain that there will be some recovery on the acreage forecast of eight or 10 weeks ago. Even then, however, it is by no means certain that last season’s acreage will be reached, in which case a short crop would appear to be inevitable, as it can scarcely be expected that last season’s exceptional yield will be repeated, and, in any case, more wheat will be wanted as a result of the reduction in importations.