FARMS AND FARMERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 October 1928, Page 4

FARMS AND FARMERS

ITEMS OE INTEREST

(By

"Rouseabout”)

RESEARCH AND FARMERS. AN ALTERED OUTLOOK.

The last 20 years has seen a complete change in the attitude of the farmer toward agricultural research and a no less remarkable change in tlie outlook of the scientist. There was a time, not so long ago, when a farmer would win the approval of his fellows in the market place by deriding the scientist for a futile theorist. The scientist was quite as convinced that the farmer was a blundering fool. To-day all that is changing and there is to be found generally an easy tolerance on both sides which allows a free exchange of opinion between those who till the land for a living and those who work in the laboratory with test tube and crucible. The great majority of enlightened farmers have come to realise that the scientist, when he is kept on the right lines by practical advice, <pan help materially to invent ways of increasing the output of crops and livestock and also means of reducing losses through disease. The work of Rothamsted in experimenting with artificial manures and giving proved advice about their use must alone have helped the farmer to the tune of many million pounds since Lawes and Gilbert laid down their classic plots in 1839. In another sphere the work carried on at Cambridge University has now given the farmer a sound and economical basis

for rationing the feed of his stock. There are plenty of such instances of quiet, plodding research work continued year after year, the results of which are gradually being made use of in farming practice without anyone marking particularly on the changes. The better understanding now established is perhaps chiefly due to the

guidance of the agricultural officers. They have succeeded in translating the findings of the scientist into everyday practice. Also, an ever-increasing number of farmers have the advantage of a college education of some kind, and so they are naturally more ready than their fathers to appreciate the possibilies of new methods. A new force has come into the sphere of agricultural research with, the advent of the Empire Marketing Board. It has now been arranged to subsidise certain kinds of research work that are hindered by lack of funds, and which properly endowed promise to yield useful results. The research stations established in Britain are, of course, financed by Government grants, though perhaps not so generously as those in some foreign countries. The .extra assistance now available for the development of special lines of work is likely to prove especially fruitful. Once the general spade work of fundamental research has been done, concentration on particular lines will give the practical results that the farmer looks, for.

A most interesting piece of research is now being undertaken by the Rowett Institute, near* Aberdeen. Here an experimental stock farm has been established with facilities for testing and applying under practical conditions those results of research in stock feeding that appear to be of economic value. One investigation is concerned with the mineral content of grass land. This promises to lead to definite information that will be of importance to all farmers. In such cases there is every reason to think that the herbage may be deficient in minerals, the natural salts having been carried away in the bodies of the countless animals which have grazed there. At the Rowett Institute a great number of herbage analyses from grazing areas at 'Home and abroad and

the chemical results show that there are marked differences between the mineral contents of good and poor pastures. Common salt has, of course, been given to stock for many years, and .they generally appreciate this, but research has shown that something more than sodium and chloride may be lacking. At present, feeding experiments with sheep are in progress to . find out whether the supplementing of poor pastures by mineral feeding will give a noticeable improvement in the rate of growth and general well-being. Already there are on the market several makes of mineral licks, put up in convenient brick form. Proved advice about such matters is what the farmer wants. He himself has not the means to carry out reliable tests Animal breeding is another subject that needs thorough investigation. Very little is yet known about sex determination, sterility, inheritance of milking qualities, improvement of wool and many other' breeding problems that are of the greatest interest to the farmer in his business. A start has been made on the investigation of these problems at Edinburgh and at Cambridge. There are other research activities that are being assisted by the Empire Marketing Board from its annual income of £1,000,000. The claims of the younger countries in the Empire overseas are perhaps even more insistent than ours. Fortunately all agricultural research, whether carried out here, or overseas is highly valuable and contributes to the common fund of scientific knowledge that is accumulating for the benefit of the farmer. SOIL ACIDITY.

In connection with the change of the trade name of “acid phosphate” to the original term “superphosphate,” approved by the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists and by the National Fertilizer Association, the attention of the United States Department of Agriculture has been called to statements occurring in department publications o£ twenty or more years ago to the cause of acidity in certain eastern soils. Dr. Henry (’,. Knight, chief of the newly-organised Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, says this belief, current about twenty years ago, is not well founded, and that modern research has shown that properly manufactured superphosphate of recent years contains no free acid, and that Iho evidence of fertiliser experiments by the department ami by several State agricultural experiment sta Hons shows that superphosphate is not a cause of acidity in soils, and in most cases does not change the reaction of the soil appreciably one way or the other.

CARE OF HORSES’ FEET. EVEN SURFACE ESSENTIAL. Plough horses, working continually on soft ground, require attention periodically, or their hoofs grow out of proportion, and spread or crack. On farms where the horse does most of his work on hard roads or stony ridges the hoof becomes excessively worn, and should be shod to protect him from lameness. Whether for shoeing or trimming purposes it is essential that the foot should present a flat surface to the ground, and that there should be no excessive reduction of the heels or toes. All horses’s feet have different characteristics, but as a general guide it may be said that the slope of the front of the forefeet should be approximately 50 degrees. The slope may be more marked in the hind feet, which are longer and narrower. If the foot be not properly balanced the horse will suffer. If either side of a hoof be too long then the coronet will not be parallel with the ground, and this will lead to distortion of the joints. In dressing the feet no paring or slicing of the frog is required as Nature provides for the shedding of superfluous horn from these parts. Any flakes which are evidently just coming away may be removed, and any markedly ragged pieces cut off. All that

is required to correct the over-growth is the judicious use of the foot rasp on the lower surfaces of the hoof. If they be- trimmed every three or four weeks it should not. be necessary to use cutters and knife. It should be borne in mind that shoes are attached to protect the hoof from excessive wear, and should be as light as. possible. Writing on the subject of feet hygiene in the last issue of the Journal of Agriculture, Mr R. J. de C. Talbot, veterinary officer, emphasised the need for keeping the stable and stable yard clean, so that the horse is not standing continually in filth and moisture, which is the cause of diseases of the hoof such as thrush and canker. The feet should be picked out with a blunt instrument every morning and evening.

ROTATIONAL GRAZING.

WAIKATO EXPERIENCE.

Mr John Ward, Manawatu, who has a property consisting of 50 acres, by a modern system of rotational grazing produced with 32 Friesian cows no loss than 20331 b. of butter-fat per acre last, season. A series of grass paddocks are laid down in ryegrass, timothy, cocksfoot, and white clover. In addition to the usual top-dressing of phosphates, Mr Ward conducted a number of experiments. Owing to the. drought last summer conclusive results were not obtained but the tests are being continued. Mr Ward intends to further subdivide his paddocks so that the fields will each contain from 3 to 3i acres. He intends to milk 40 cows during the coming season, and will run from 12 to 13 cows to the acre for short periods. The farm received two applications of sulphate of ammonia at the rate of 851 b. per acre last season and extra phosphates were also applied. The experience Mr Ward has had so far forcibly demonstrates the value of rotational grazing. Each field was grazed for three days with dry stock. The field was then closed for 14 days and the grass was allowed to recover and produce another flush of feed from 4 to 5 inches high. This procedure was continued throughout the year. The whole farm was mowed in November. By further subdividing

(he farm the herd will not run on one field more than two days at a time, it being considered that from 12 to 13 cows per acre will effectively deal with the pasture in that time. With 40 cows on the farm, the yield per acre is expected to be increased to 3801 b. of butterfat. Farmers throughout the Waikato are watching the experiment being carried out on Mr Ward’s farm with keen interest, and it. is expected that the results achieved there will lead to the further popularity of the rotational system of grazing.

POULTRY KEEPING. COMMON SENSE. A wide diversity of methods is found in poultry-keeping. Rations are fed varying all the way from those of utmost simplicity to those which are much more complicated. Houses are used which differ very wjdely in their general plan of construction. Methods of management in use are very widely divergent in many cases, and this diversification frequently creates the idea that the care of poultry, and especially the farm poultary flock, is a highly complicated matter. Actually, however, this is not the case. The mere fact that success is attained under widely different methods of feeding, housing and management indicates that, so long as certain fundamentals are observed the actual details or methods may be very different without materially affecting the results. Where poultry is kept as a specialised business it well repays the owner to study these details of management for the purpose of securing the very highest possible return from his hens. So far as the farm flock is concerned, where the farmer is not a specialist along poultry lines, good

results will be obtained if the underlying fundamentals of successful poultry keeping are .observed. It is a thorough understanding of these fundamentals which is especially needed in connection, with the farm flocks.

Farmers can scarcely be expected to concern themselves particularly with the loss fundamental and more specialised phases of the business. Tl must not. however, be understood from this, that the flock may be neglected and good results still obtained. Success with the farm poultry flock depends, therefore, under usual conditions, on the observance of the fundamentals underlying successful poultry-keeping, and this means doing a relatively few things in the right way and doing them at flic right time. The place of poutfry on the general farm must ho definitely understood. It must he remembered that the poultry flock is merely one of the activities with which the farmer is engaged and that ho will be loiablo to devote to his flock a great amount of time. The part which poul try should play, therefore, is to lit into Urn general farm management in such a way as to utilise materials which are suitable for feeding the hens but otherwise would be wasted. {