FARMS AND FARMERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 February 1940, Page 9

FARMS AND FARMERS

HEMS OF INTEREST '

(By

“Rouseabout”)

FARMERS AND THE SHOW WHY THE LACK OF SUPPORT? The laudable efforts of the West Coast Agricultural, Pastoral and Industrial Association to promote the interests of farming in the province have not met with the success that they deserved. This was only too evident at the 18th show of the Association, last week. A few sheep and lambs —a large proportion of the sheep came from Canterbury—were practically the only exhibits that came within the definition "A. and P.” It is certainly surprising that in a province better suited to dai'ryng than to any other form of farmng, there should be no cattle and no pigs exhibited at the annual show. The only cattle in the show, apart from the steers provided for the steer riding competition, were a few nice quality young heifers exhibited by members of the Boys’ and Girls’ Agricultural Clubs. In this fact there may be hope j for the future. These young people, when they grow up, may be enthusiastic show supporters, but the danger is that when that time arrives, the West Coast A. and P. Show will be a thing of the past. This apathy faf West Coast farmers is attributed to various causes. The show is held at a time when the dairy farmer is busy. This aspect of the question affords support for a Winter | Show, instead of a late- Summer Show in Greymouth. But so far as Greymouth is concerned, the main obstacle to a Winter Show is the fact that it needs a more than ordinarily large building for its accommodation. Another reason that has been advanced for the failure of the West Coast Show is not that the farmers are apathetic but that they are not wealthy enough to support shows. There is no doubt some truth in this, for it is a fact that, in the main, the exhibitors of agricultural and pastoral shows are the better class of farmers. The poorer farmers cannot only not afford to exhibit, but they seldom possess stock of the requisite quality. However, all West Coast farmers are not so poor that exhibiting at shows is beyond their means, and many of them own stock quite worthy of the show ring. One is, therefore, forced to the conclusion that the apathy of the "farmers has a good' deal to do wjtb the failure of the show, and that more and continued enthusiasm on their part would in time give the West Coast a show of which it might be proud. There may be some farmers who are of opinion that such an end is not worth the effort, on the ground that] A. and P. Shows do not help farming but only provide a cheap form of advertising for a few wealthy breeders of stud stock. But this is a shortsighted view. Even if some breeders support shows merely for the sake of advertisement, the fact remains that show ring competition does help to improve the quality of breeds by promoting rivalry among breeders, and that thi simprovement spreads in time and benefits the farmer who is only concerned with raising stock for the market. . There is no doubt, as the Mmistei of Agriculture (Mr. Lee Martin) said recently, that- there are great possibilities for farming in many parts of West Coast, and those who look beyond the immediate future are convinced that the West Coast, if its prosperity is to continue, will have to develop its farming potentialities more and more as its’.resources of coal, timber and gold grow steadily less. But West Coast farming will not develop to any appreciable extent so long as the farmers themselves are more or less indifferent to the improvements and developments in agricultural and pastoral sciences. Shows are a source of assistance to scientific farming.

SWAMPS AND BOGS.

MAY BE NATURAL ASSETS

There is good evidence in many countries to support a request recently made by Miss L. Cranwell, botanist of the Auckland Museum, for preserving the natural condition of certain peat bogs of Southland and Stewart Island, bogs which she has described as “natural reservoirs.” It is now recognised in the United States of America, Canada, and several other big countries, that the draining of so many large areas of swamp and other water-holding areas was a blunder. Not only did these schemes destroy the feeding and breedingplaces of water-fowl, but they lowered the subsoil water-level of adjacent lands, which consequently became parched during periods of dry weather. Therefore during past years many of the “reclaimed areas” have been restored to their original conditions of swamp or water. That was why,- a few years' ago, members of the Forest and Bird Protection Society emphasised the folly af a proposal to drain the Washdyke Lagoon, the peaceful home of many waterfowl, in South Canterbury. DEMAND FOR FARMS. BOOM IN BRITAIN . LONDON, January 12. A boom in the sale of farms and agricultural estates has begun in Britain. Insurance companies, Cambridge colleges and financial corporations, as well as private purchasers, are buying up, or looking for, farming properties, partly as a lock-up investment for a class of investor seeking tangible assets. The fact that farmers also enjoy the unique option of paying income tax on rental value, and not profits, is attracting a lot more working capital into the industry, in consequence, says one of the leading firms of estate agents in the country, “prices of agricultural land are hardening.” A well-knbtwn London firm has a client who is anxious to put £150,000 in good dairy and corn farms. Another Midland firm of agents reports that the ranks of farm have been considerably augmented lately by business men. “They believe,” the firm states, “that agricultural land not only affords some protection against inflation, but is a security not likely to be materially damaged by war in this country.” Suffolk farms are now in demand. Two large estates round Bury St. Edmunds which have been in the market for years are about to change hands. A 3000-acre . estate near Louth, Lincs., was sold for £42,500, and over £17,000 was given for 48( acres near Wellington, Salop.

NEW ZEALAND LAMB IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY In an interview recently, Mr. T. A. Duncan, chairman of the New Zealand Me-.:t Producers’ Board, said he would like to stress again to the farmers of the Dominion the vital importance of further improving the quality of fat lambs.

As the mating season is at hand, he said, It is opportune to impress upon farmers the necessity for using the best rams procurable, thereby maintaining and improving the quality of lamb and mutton exports. Mr. Duncan pointed out that this has particular reference to the selection faf Southdowns, In the sale of New Zealand ilamb to the British Government, Down I carcasses in the North Island obtain | a premium over ordinary crossbreds. I All Down cross lambs are not, howlever, eligible for the Down grade, on account of poor conformation and breeding. “The selection of good Down sires,” said Mr. Duncan, “crossed with good types of ewes, is in my opinion, the best way to ensure getting the greatest percentage possible into the Down grade. This, of course, should be coupled with good feeding. “The premium which this Dominion has always secured in the United Kingdom over that obtained by ether exporting countries, is due to quality, and every endeavour must be made to see that this premium is maintained or increased.”

BARLEY FOR PIGS.

CAUTION NOT TO OVERFEED A retired Taranaki farmer wlio has successfully farmed pigs for many years has suggested to the “Taranaki Herald” that a word of caution to those who are using barley for pigfeeding may save loss. The point he is most emphatic on is that it is quite easy to overdo the amount of barley added to a. pig’s daily ration. “Barley,” he said, “is not a complete food. It is the finest possible addition to father foods, but pigs do not thrive on barley alone.” Asked as to the amount of food required by a pig, he said that the animal’s appetite was the best possible indicator. “Pigs should never be given more fofad at a time than they will clean up” was his formula and that meant that food should never be allowed to remain in the trough between regular feeding times. In his experience he had found that pigs were the greatest money-makers in Taranaki farming and had also learnt that food must be given regularly and in moderation. He also was convinced that pigs thrived better on a varied diet and for that reason he advocated that barley should _be regarded as an addition to the diet and not the whole diet.

If pigs were given too much barley he had found that while they would eat the fofad they would not thrive so well as when they were given barley as a supplement to a diet of skim milk and roots. It sounded like an anomalous statement but he said that pigs which were well fed, but not thriving would often show a great improvement in general health and development if the amount of barley which they had been receiving daily were cut down by half.

GRAZING AND LIMING.

GRASSLAND TREATMENT Grassland which, owing to lack of time or equipment, cannot be ploughed this Autumn may nevertheless be manured during the coming Winter — it will be all the better for it when its time arrives, states N. T. Tinley, of the South-Eastern Agricultural College, in the “Farmer and Stockbreeder,” London. During last Winter a number of errors were made in the application of phosphate. Probably the most notable of these was the application of basic slag to badly grazed and tufty grassland. Even if the farm is not fully stocked it is possible to concentrate the existing stock on to one or two fields at a time so that they may be grazed bare. When this state has been, reached, the stock should be removed and the slag applied, sufficient time elapsing to allow the dressing to get washed off the leaves by a shower of rain before the field is again grazed. . It is almost equally important after the slag has been applied to keep control of the subsequent grazing and not let the grass get too far ahead' of the stock. As Professor Hanley said at an Oxford conference, “It is no good slagging too far ahead of adequate stocking.” Those who are not in a position to buy in more stock to cope with increased grass due tto applying slag should concentrate their stock on the slagged fields and make hay from some of the l others. Apart from the increase in clover and general productivity caused by slag, it has been shown at Cockle Park that slag materially reduces rushes and aids natural drainage. In some districts superphosphate may give as good results as high soluble slag- * , Lime applied to an acid soil exerts a considerable influence on the field whatever the other treatments may be. It will obviously produce more effect, however, if the previous treatment (cultivations and close grazing) and the subsequent treatment (close grazing) are correct. This is not the case with slag, since its effect is tba large'extent dependent on the subsequent herbage being correctly grazed to give the clover an , adequate chance. ’ It is well known that an increased growth of clover also encourages (by its nitrogen fixation) the growth of grasses, and if there is a chance of jthe field being ploughed, the strong- , growing clovers and grasses will store up fertility. It is a mistaken idea that coarse, badly-grazed herbage will produce large, cheap crops when ploughled up—the opposite is likely to oc[cur, since it will be difficult to get a I sufficiently solid seed bed and the ! wireworm population is likely to be (greater, the click bettie preferring to ilay its eggs in badly-grazed rather than in close-grazed herbage. It is therefore essential to graze bare any grassland, temporary or permanent, which is to be ploughed. Havling grazed it bare 1 , use- a skim coulter on the plough and plough it well, making sure that tho turf is properly buried. > Stock which are grazing- land are n'ot keeping up the fertility of it. The

material from which their bodies, their milk, and their energy are being produced is taken from the soil, which will be that much poorer unless plant food is returned to it in the form of phosphate, potash, nitrogen and possibly, lime.

RAGWORT MENACE POSITION IN N.I. DISTRICTS In view of the remarks 1 made by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. W. Lee Martin) on the subject of the ragwort menace, during his 1 recent tour of the West Coast, 'the following article by a writer in the “Dominion” is of interest: —Travels through Manawatu and' Wairarapa this mfanth, covering ,from Feilding to Wellington, 'lead to the unhappy feeling that, rag-, wort is gaining. Within, a few miles of the capital city, about Tawa Flat. I saw more ragwort than ever noted there before, and from Tokomaru to below Levin more ragwort than for tVo or three years past. In one case, on the farm of a friend, a dozen hearty clumps were found. When I asked him about it, he explained that' the chemical had been given to his sharemilker and the ragwort would be attended to as soon as the hay was finished —within a few days. It will need to be, for those clumps were in full bloom and seed comes quickly. i am sorry to see more of the weed tn the Shannon-Levin area, as this was wonderfully well cleaned up a few years ago, as a result of the zest of a very active, common-sense and conscientious inspector, now transferred elsewhere;

The prize for real neglect goes, as in past years, to the Pahiatua-Eketa-nuna district—to the owners of rich country, well settled, right along the main highway. Travelling to the Masterion ram sale I had as companion a farmer who had been through to Auckland. Observing the growth cf ragwort about Konini and Hamua be remarked: "This is worse than the Waikato. They do attempt to combat the weed there, but here there seems to be no realisation of what troubles they are building up.” , That patch by the Hamua church is a classic. When -seen last week it was as bad as ever. There is no evidence of its having been treated properly at any time during the past three full years. Is there no Noxious Weeds Act. Are there no Inspectors? Do farmers consider ragwort as beautifying their farms.— as a lovely, harmless, yellow flower? What the country needs today is not research at Ruakura but enforcement at every point, in every county. , Labour problems have nothing to do with most cases. As yet in Wellington province there is, not heavy infestation, though that is coming fast, however, if nothing is done. But there is everywhere the isolated plant. In a fair day, with a few shillings worth of chemical, one man could clean up half a dozen farms in many instances. There is no excuse or sense in leaving this subtly dangerous 1 weed to flourish as it does. The fields division of the Department of Agriculture is blameworthy, but farmers 1 and local bodies must also share the shame.