Factory Farm Concept Advocated For N.Z.

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32304, 23 May 1970, Page 1

Factory Farm Concept Advocated For N.Z.

A concept of fanning in New Zealand with the emphasis passing from pasture lands to very high-yielding crops like maize and small grains stored for use of livestock, was suggested to the Lincoln College farmers’ conference yesterday.

Dr K. J. Mitchell, direc. tor of the Plant Physiology Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Palmerston North, describes this sort of farming as storage or factory farming, but not zero grazing which he feels should be associated with cutting and carting ' grass or pasture to stock. Dr Mitchell said that cows and sheep turned cheap bulk plant material into a re- ; latively high value item acceptable in the market place, ' and he believed that this proi cess had a sound future provided it was intensified, like the change of the poultry industry from open range to its intensive production form.

There was mounting evidence that the industry was within sight of being able largely to replace plant protein with simple nitrogen chemicals in the ruminant diet This allowed feed production to be concentrated in high energy yield crops. The ceiling for perennial i ryegrass and the ryegrass- * clover association when . grazed was judged to be about , 12,0001 b of dry matter per acre per year in a good season in terms of feed into the animal’s mouth. This represented a little more than 6001 b ; of butterfat and 10 ewes per acre.

Of the world’s crops maize was outstanding for its high-' yield potential and its genetic flexibility. It was now widely used as a whole plant silage as well as feed and process grain. Yields of 20,0001 b to 25,0001 b of dry matter of high nutrient content or the equivalent of 180 to 200 bushels of grain were now being achieved in the warmer areas

of the country in a four or five-month growing season. Present indications were that breeding and improved agronomy would produce a 30 to 35 per cent increase in Its yield ceiling in the next decade, and substantially extend its ability to produce high yields in areas with cooler summers. The small grain cereals—and, -for the ruminant particularly, oats, barley and possibly ryecorn—were the cool-season complement to the maizes and had at least as great a potential for development.

Where these were combined with summer maize there was opportunity to produce 30,0001 b to 40,0001 b of good quality dry matter per year, said Dr Mitchell.

The cattle beast had been integrated into large-scale intensive handling, he said. There appeared to be no technical reason why the same should not be done with the sheep. Its greater reproductive potential with shorter gestation and easier induction of multiple births might ■ well make it eventually a • more profitable animal in I these conditions. i “In this it is not sufficient i to say that we are changing,” : said Dr Mitchell. “The change must be fast enough and big enough to ■ keep the industry ahead not i only of overseas competition • but also the increasing com- ’ petition for development re- • sources from alternative industries within this country."