FARMS AND FARMERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 November 1933, Page 8

FARMS AND FARMERS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

(By

“Rouseabout” )

FARMING IN BRITAIN.

NEW ZEALANDER'S IMPRESSIONS.

Impressions of farming in Britain, were outlined to a “Taranaki Herald” representative by Mr. J. J. Patterson, Manaia, who returned recently after a holiday of six months spent in England and Scotland. In general farming practice he found that New Zealanders had little to learn from the English, farmer, and, in fact, in some aspects the colonial was more advanced, especially as regarded milking methods. Mr. Patterson was astonished to find in some localities acres of thick ragwort. The methods of eradication were most haphazard, and in the majority of cases it was merely cut down when it was at the flowering stage, resulting as often as not in a fresh seeding. As a general rule the grass pastures were not equal to those of New Zealand and. in pasture management the standard of efficiency was much higher in the Dominion. Mr. Patterson was, however, impressed by the manner in which hay stacks were finished, and nowhere had he seen better. He saw no Jersey cattle, and Shorthorns seemed tQ be the, favourite breed. Holsteins arid Ayrshires "were also greatly fancied' In the dairy classes he was not over-impressed with the quality.

As an instance of the .price some farmers were securing for their milk, Mr. Patterson mentioned that one, with a herd of forty tubercolosis tested* cbws was obtaining sixpence per. pint from some customers and the balance was sold at four-pence per pint. There was considerable tubercolosis in the herds in England and milk from guaranteed free cows brought a very good price indeed. of the farmers were leaseholders aiid the rent for dairy land would range from £1 to £1 10s per acre. Labour was . cheaper than in New Zealand and general overhead expenses appeared-to be much lower. The relehser system in machine milking was found to be little understood and for the most part the old fashioned bucket plants were in Use.

Stock prices were found to be very high in comparison with New Zealand values. At the Carlisle market dairy cbws brought exceptionally good prices, £25 being paid on one occasion for a newly calved heifer and £2 10s for the calf. Fat lambs brought up to £1 18s, and pigs up to £4 and £5, With heavy pigs in the vicinity of £lO. Three year old bullocks at that Lime were fetching about £lB. With the cows no guarantee was given, and every animal sold appeared to be taken at the buyer’s risk. A feature of the sales was. that the animals were invariably in very good condition. Good farming land could be bought for £l4 an acre, ,and Mr. Patterson thought that a young man with a little capital wbuld have h better chance of making a success at Home than in New Zealand. All things considered, the British farmer cbuld not be regarded as badly off, and in some respects hb was on a better footing than the bfew Zealand farmer. However, the British farmers were not very optimistic about their markets.

Cropping was apparently very profitable and the returns per acre would, bn the average, be regarded in New Zealand as highly satisfactory'. Potato growing was extensively canned out in soine coiintrys and big areas were under cultivation. In Durham Mr. Patterson met a family who had 200 acres in potatoes. They anticipated a crop of 10 tons to the acre, and although tho market was very low they hoped to obtain £4 a ton. Fly in Swedes aiid club root was very seldom encoiihtered and, • in fact, the crops seemed to be singularly free from disease. Some farmers grew peas in considerable areas and the return was highly satisfactory. One farmer inforined slr. Patterson . that he had sold his crop of several acres for £l4 an acre as it stood, the purchaser doing his oWn harvesting. The price, it was stated, was nothing unusual and i up to £2O an acre was frequently paid.

. THE FRESHENING DAIRY COAV. Not all cows are allowed to go dry for a, sufficient length of time to put them in good shape for another long period of milk production. In most large herds, and in purebred herds, the cows are given a good chance to rest and flesh up before freshening, but Jpss experienced dairymen often allow the cows to milk continuously, under which method they have no chance to recuperate, and aro thus handicapped at Calving time. Authorities state that a cow will give more milk if she is, dried off for a period of six weeks before, calving than if she is milked continuously. The explanation, of this lies in the fact that milk production is hard work, and the cow gets no rest from calving to calving unless it is provided for her by drying her off. It is sometimes said that the effect of milking continuously is to weaken the calf, but Eckle’s observations do not bear out this statement. Injury to the cow rather than the calf is likely to follow. Probably if a cow is very thin and in poor condition the calf may be weakened to some extent, but the maternal instinct and the nature of the cow’s body is to take care of the foetus first at the expense of the dam. It is too much to expeef that the double burden of milk production and the foetus can be undergone by the average, cow up to the time of freshening without injury to herself.

The disadvantage of continuous milking without drying off is that when freshening has occurred the cow will start off on a lower level of production, and will maintain a lower level than would otherwise be the case. Her body does not get a chance to flesh up, and the lack of a rest does not give her a chance to get into condition for heavy milking again. . The result is that she does the best she can under the circumstances. Un-1 der average conditions the cow should be dry at least six weeks, and if she is run down in flesh two months will not bd too long. Some cows are much more persistent milkers than others, and are, therefore, more difficult to get dry. Ordinarily by milking only once a day for a time and then once every two days the yield can be decreased so that after about two weeks it will decline to about a pound a day, and milking may he omitted entirely. For a few days the udder will fill up, blit if the milk is not drawn it will be reabsorbed into the system again, and no harm will result. With more persistent milkers, and those which are yielding more heavily, the amount of feed should be reduced.

THE PIG.

ECONOMICAL ANIMAL.

Pigs multiply more rapidly, mature more quickly on less food .and produce more digestible flesh than any other animal. The increase among cattle is estimated at 80 to 90 per cent, per annum, sheep 100 to 150 per cent., and pigs from 1000 to 1800 per cent. It has been amply shown that pigs produce more edible flesh from a given quantity of food than other animals. 7 lt requires 131 b. dry matter in the form of food to secure a gain of 11b. of flesh in cattle; in a sheep it takes 81b. to 91b. for a gain of 11b. of mutton; but in the pig it only requires from 41b. to 51b. to produce 11b. of pork. In killing, sheep dress 55 to 60 per cent, dead weight, cattle 60 to 65 per cent., and pigs 75 to 80 per cent. The pig scores again, in that the carcase contains more edible meat in proportion to bone than that of any other fleshproducer.

THE SOW AND LITTER. The piglings should not be at a standstill; they need to be fed and managed that they progress from birth onwards. They should have the appearance of a well filled silk stocking. It is not to be concluded that food needs to be furnished to them directly they are born, as a matter of fact, they require very little but the milk of the mother for the first two oi- three weeks, but the feeding of the sow from farrowing onwards must be such that is calculated to maintain her in good milking condition so that there may be no shortage of nourishing food for the litter.

Success in pig-rearing depends very much on starting the young ones well, and the healthy condition of the sow that is rearing them is the chief influence on that start. A check on the quantity or the quality of the milk by illness or by feeding the sow on inferior or over-heating food quickly arrests the progress of the young pigs, a check in their development very quickly becomes apparent. When this happens it is a slow process to again induce healthy progress, and not infrequently very marked checks are never fully made up. Just notice the well-nourished mother, see how she keeps up her condition as well as that of her young ones. The liability to disease of the sow and ,the litter is greatly reduced when she' is in a healthy condition; proper feeding and treatment take an exceedingly prominent part in maintaining her in that condition. The young ones grow' twice as fast for not having a poor parent that is handicapped by the indifference of the owner. The mother and her young require a liberal and a satisfying meal, they will then carry a shining coat, coll up, sleep and quickly grow and fatten. The sow, while she is rearing a litter, should be considered the sole source of nourishment for her young, and catered for accordingly, for before the weaning process commences, even though the youngsters have, and may be reasonably encouraged to begin to eat, the milk of the mother needs still to be sufficient in quantity, and of good quality. To ensure this she requires to be liberally and carefully fed; her condition and feeding should be constantly studied. In these days, now that the profits of the farm have to be very carefully conserved, greater attention should be observed in the business of pig-breeding and rearing. If these lire to be attended with success, the points .requiring strict attention are the selection of the breeding stock, liberal feeding, clean keeping and ample exercise, then the pig of all the animals of the farm will respond most generously.

INOCULATION OF CLOVER. The great success attending Dr. Thornton’s investigations into the inoculation of lucerne at the Rothamsted Experimental Station has caused the Bacteriological Department to turn its attention to the possibility of inoculating clovei’ to see if more rapid and extensive growth could be obtained, especially on those soils where it does not thrive naturally. Strains of the appropriate organism have been obtined from various localities in America, Holland, Germany, and Sweden, and their effects on the host plant have? been studied; some are morb efficient than others. Some of the selected strains have been supplied by Professor Stapledon for use on the Welsh hills; results are already distinctly promising, and fully justify the further search for better strains. The search for a more efficient strain of the lucerne organism is still going on, and it is encouraged by the discovery in the laboratory that some cultures which had been carried on for

a long period without apparent change suddenly broke up into new forms. These are being studied in the hope of finding among them strains: which are either more efficient in healthy soil conditions or more resistant to soil acidity than the forms already possessed. In the laboratory considerable attention has been given to the problem of finding out why nitrate of soda,: which benefits non-lcguminous plants/ should be detrimental to the forma-! tion of nodules on the roots: of leguminous plants. Experiments both at Rothamsted and elsewhere have shown that, nitrate 'of Soda in small doses reduces the size of the nodules and in largei- doses reduces their numbers, and the problem is to find out how this happens. Previous work in the department has shown how the nodule bacteria get into the roots of the lucerne plant from the soil; the

iii st step ib LiiciL uie pidiiL roots, mi—mediately after the formation of the first leaves, exrete something which apparently stimulates the bacteria in the soil around the roots. Next the bacteria secrete a substance which causes the root hair to curl; then at the bond, where the cell wall is now weakened, they make their entry. If,

however, sodium nitrate is present in the soil, the curling is prevented so that bacteria cannot enter. The action of the nitrate is either on the root hair or on the substance secreted by the bacteria; it is not a direct effect on the bacteria because it stops the action of the secretion even after the bacteria are removed. Further in-

vestigations' on uiese i enitti nutne secretions are proceeding. CONSUMPTION OF BUTTER. .New Zealanders have eaten more' butter since the onset of the depression, according to the Agricultural

I, j Department’s report. It would be ini teresting to kno f w whether the people have cut down in other directions. At any rate, the result has not been serious since laterly statistics show less malnutrition and a healthier population generally than in more prosperous years. The annual consumption of butter in New Zealand is 371 b per head, which is the highest recorded rate in the world. No doubt the reason for more butter being eaten in spite of.lighter purses is: its cheapness. The lowered' cost factor has also been responsible for an enormous expansion in Great Britain’s consumption of butter. Low. prices, unwel-

come as they are, have saved the markets from a ruinous glut of supplies. Producers are considering a local marketing scheme, but in proceeding should be careful not to overlook this sensitive factor of consumption. Purchasing power is not as elastic as it used to be.