RELATIVE FEED VALUES UNDER DISCUSSION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22669, 21 June 1948, Page 4

RELATIVE FEED VALUES UNDER DISCUSSION

SUPPLEMENTARY CROPS

Supplementary crops %vcrc not entirely the answer to farmers’ feed problems because they must depend largely upon their pastures, said Mr. H. DeO. Chamberlain Fields Division instructor to the Department of Agriculture, Gisborne, in an address at the Gisborne Veterinary Club’s farm school at the showgrounds.

On the Gisborne flats, said Mr. Chamberlain, it seemed curious that 1 farmers should be short of feed in the way of good pastures. There were peaks of the year when farmers were faced with an extreme flush of feed. That feed could be controlled by saving as much hay as. necessary to carry over the dry period which invariablv followed. Much could be done to spread the growth of pasture longer into the dry periods, he said, at any rate on some parts of the farm. It had become a practice in other parts, and probably in Gisborne, for many farmers to have one standard mixture made up to cover the whole of the farm. It would be preferable if some pastures were kept for grasses that would take the heat and dryness to give a longer spread of grass growth throughout the year.

Roots a Good Backlog

On the question of Supplementary Crops, the title of his address, Mr. C'wmbe'-lain said root crops, if used with discretion were a very good back log to the dairy farmer as well as the sheepfarmer. On the flats there were dry spells year after year and invariably many of the dairy farmers found themselves short of feed. That was largely their own fault, Mr. Chamberlain considered. They could and should grow lucerne, wnich was worth tbe eTort because it meant they had the feed when they needed it. It was an casv cron to grow and was down for a long time. If farmers were tempted to graze lucerne it did not lessen the life of the stand so very much. Even if the stand lasted five years the cost was little compared with that of bran brought in every year. Lucerne was the best supplementary crop as it gave the best, longest and surest results and feed of the highest quality of all. There were other green feed crops and one of the most important was the Kale group. There was chou moellier and thousand-headed kale. With the two varieties of chou moellier it was important to ensure that farmers bought the variety they wanted. One was suitable for cattle and the other for sheep. Kale the Finer Type in Group

Kale was the finer type of that group and it suited either sheep or cattle and was probably more suited to. a wider range of land. Root crops were the mainstay of the sheepfarmer with even a little flat land. , . Where a hill farmer could work up a bit of ground with the plough or giant discs mangolds were no good to him. Turnips or swedes could be grown, not without trouble, on the East Coast in particular. In one case brought under his notice the farmer had cultivated just before sowing and the seed bad gone deep before the soil had consolidated. Most pf that type of country was deficient in lime and required about one cwt. to the acre to get the crop started and preferably a dressing of phosphate as well. Swedes and turnips were the mainstay of the farmers on high country, continued Mr. Chamberlain. At times farmers were caught and were unable to cultivate until late in the spring. It was then dubious if they would get full value out of kale or mangolds and wanted a crop that would grow quickly. Few were available such as feed barley as distinct from malting barley or Japanese millet. Black barley or Cape barley were the best of the barleys to plant for that purpose as they would grow und&r almost any conditions and there was no limit to the amount of[illtreatment they would stand. They would provide feed when it was wanted quickly and do that within a short period Numerous Grazing Days Japanese millet was quite a good crop but had no large claim to fattening qualities, Mr. Chamberlain said. It was not as good as barley, but uid produce a good crop of feed quickly and had a large number of grazing days. In the winter a good catch-crop was black barley, oats and vetches. Vetches was not much use grown on its own, but if grown with oats it was sustained by the oat crop and held up off the ground. Mr Chamberlain said he was not preprepared to say much in favour of pumpkins due to the fact that they were so poor when compared with other crops. Farmers should think before they grew pumpkins for feed. Their only advantage was that they grew big heavy-weights in Gisborne and were easy to grow. He said his denartment'was going to carry out detailed trials on pumpkins in relation to other .crops. In conclusion, he said the agronomy division hoped shortly to produce a type of lucerne that would stand grazing to a higher extent than the present types and it would be a last, ultimate blessing, in his opinion, to a district such as Gisborne, with its dry periods. Questioned concerning the value of maize as a feeding crop, he said it had a high feed value and produced excellent bulk, but he thought there were other crops that could produce as much feed and much more quickly. He had not considered Italian ryegrass in the course of his address, hut it would prove an excellent combination with oats.