FARMING YEAR

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 270, 11 August 1938, Page 8

FARMING YEAR

Department’s Annual

Report

LIVE STOCK LOSSES Nutrition And Management Problems Agricultural developments in New Zealand during the year ended March 31 last are reviewed in the annual report of the Department of Agriculture which was presented in the House of Representatives yesterday. After referring to the phenomenal development o, live-stock farming since the door ot opportunity was opened hy refrigeration, the report states that the Dominion has now reached tt stage in intensification of farming when the increases in live-stock production have raised problems of animal husbandry which must receive greater attention than has been paid to them in the past The losses in flocks and herds were too serious to be disregarded. “It has been my policy since assuming office to build up the advisory services of the department rather than promote fresh regulations and increase the inspectorial work,” says the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. W. Lee Martin, in a preface to the report. “I realise that regulatory action is often necessary, but guidance and instruction are more potent forces in the furtherance of agricultural and pastoral efficiency. Wherever possible I have also promoted the establishment of farmers’ advisory committees to work in conjunction with departmental officers in different projects. I regard this procedure as a fixed policy of the department.” Farm Dairy Instruction.

“Plans have been completed for the Inauguration of a system of fam dairy Instruction on a national basis. Up to the present 38 farm dairy instructors have been employed by the departmen* and paid proportionately by the dairy companies and the Government. The Government's costs have been approximately £9OOO per annum. Under the national scheme the total cost will be between £-16,000 and £47,000. The industry will bear 60 per cent, of this amount and the Government will find •10 per cent. The scheme for the appointment of 77. officers, 35 of whom will be new appointees.” After referring to his visit to Australia last May to attend a meeting of the Australian Agricultural Council at Canberra, Mr. Lee Martin says: “Australia will in future be a formidable rival of New Zealand in certain lines of primary production in which our Dominion has enjoyed preeminence, but I am convinced that the two countries have so many interests in common that competition must be accompanied by co-operation, both in marketing our produce and in the solution of production problems of similar origin. The interchange of information and ideas will receive every en- . epuragement from my department, and I hope that it will be possible in some cases to have this effected by temporary loans of specialist officers." “Generally, the greater the effort toward the breeding of animals of high production, the greater is the problem of nutrition, but because of the abundance of feed, little attention has been paid to this aspect of animal husbandry,” states the Acting DirectorGeneral of Agriculture, Mr. E. J. Fawcett The quantitative production of feed lias given rise to uneasiness only in abnormal seasons and in certain districts, but it has been taken for granted that quantity and quality have run parallel. This is quite understandable in a country where stock are not housed in the winter months and the farm is capable of supplying in bulk at least the fodder required to carry stock throughout the year. Seasonal changes in pastures have not been subject to comprehensive analyses from a nutritional viewpoint in the same way as studies have been made of the composition of artificial foodstuffs which are needed to supplement farm-grown fodder in countries with less favourable climatic conditions. But the time has arrived when this work must be done on a scale in keeping with the importance of animalproduction in the Dominion. “Coincident with the problem of nutrition, we must pay adequate attention to breeding and management. The geneticist has already shown that the methods of ggnetical research and the results of genetical investigation can be applied to stock-breeding, and one of the first requirements in New Zealand is an analysis of the characteristics of our various ’classes of stock. Analysis must precede synthesis, and a more complete knowledge of the material must be gained before there can be any marked improvement. The problem is one for co-opera-tion between the breeder and the-biologist. Experimental Breeding. “Experimental breeding work with farm animals is too expensive to be undertaken lightly by the private individual, and. moreover, it is somewhat embarrassed by conventional breeding systems. It is more profitable to procure animals of an established breed than to develop new strains, for, as definitions go, anything new epnnof be purebred and, therefore. as a rule, does not command the market price of an animal whose pedigree is generally recognised. The State cannot afford to neglect the services of the geneticist, and the breeder without the help of genetics cannot hope to achieve the highest success. The extent of the usefulness of genetics to the breeder will be decided by the amount of support the breeder gives to research in this direction. “The proper management of animals cannot bo divorced from adequate attention to feeding, but there are also several non-nutritional factors which must be considered if stock are to be maintained in a healthy state. The provision of a shelter or housing, the necessity for hygienic and the maintenance of clear pastures by rotational grading ire some of the points which have been emphasised by the instructional services of the department, and. when we are considering new lines of investigation into animal husbandry, we must at the same time be careful nqf to neglect cardinal principles based on past experiences. Campaign of Research. “The iuaugurqj,ton of a more extensive and intensive campaign of research into all aspects of animal production and management must be preceded by a plan of attack and a concention of the organisation thyt is to carry"out the work. We have the nucleus of sgph an organisation in connection with the work which has been planned in connection with the outbreak of facial eczema. This investigation is being carried out by a team of research ami field officers whose work is being co-ordinated under a committee of management, which includes both experts and representative farmers. “The investigation is the most comprehensive that has ever been made into tiny single farming problem in New Zealand. The scientific workers include veterinarians, chemists. bio-chemists, plant research officers, ami field officers. ; After each officer had placed his aspect of the work before the committee of management. a general programme of research I

was drawn up, anij is now being carried out.

“There is no reason why the principles of organisation employed in these two specific problems shoulfl not be extended to embrace a general campaign designed to reduce the stock losses which are occurring in various parts of the Dominion. The central problem of maintaining a healthy animal population is too complex to be dealt with t>s' °ue particular line of investigation. Il necessitates the organisation of groups of scientists aud experts who have specialised in different aspects of the problem, but whose knowledge and talent# are co-ordinated and directed along particular lines of research requiring their attention. “When a general scheme of research is decided upon the question of discovering the problems for investigation and the dissemination of the findings of the research workers must also be considered,” Mr. Fawcett continues. “I’here must be a continuous link between laboratory and field work and the farmer. The facial eczema campaign again provides the basis of an organisation which will keep this link intact. The farmer is the first to discover the problem, the field officer is able to group its ramifications and report back to the team of specialists, and when knowledge or information of value is discovered by research, then the field officer’s duty is to see that it is both disseminated and put into operation in general farm management. Ntßurally it would be impossible to have :i staff of field officers large enough to give each farmer individual instruction, and his work of spreading new knowledge must bo supplemented by a publicity campaign. “Central control with the addition of committees of management comprising both experts and farmers, the organisation of scientific workers -nto groups instead of isolated tin’ts, and the linking-up of research with tee farm, are the essential steps toward th< elimination from our pastoral activities losses which are not only impairing efficient production, but also threatening to set back the main source of national income.