FARM EXTENSION SERVICE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11453, 2 March 1931, Page 2

FARM EXTENSION SERVICE

THE SAFEST DEVELOPMENTS JN FARMING EFFICIENCY. V

(Contributed .by'tho Fields Division and Plant Research Station.)

Recent developments warrant iitton-tion: What forms efficiency'in grassfStniing? ; What' itro principal, moans' ot" Scouring' this efficiency t

; At this juncture; some 'ebrisideration may well be given to fhqse two questions ,hecau!?o. of certain facts Which affect tho position., In the' first place the position to-day is materially different from wliat; it was live years ago'—different even from ; what it was two years ago. This is: re- , flqcted in tho: fact that what some of the more progressive fafmers wore contented with •‘live years?' ago would far from satisfy-them 1 to-day. They, have 'baited thri fruits of nOw moth-* ods and materials which have, been evolved, and they have definitely .established the superiority in practice of the innovation. The second point is that’these "innovations of"proven value are not being adopted by some, and this is so because they arc. not fully understood. This statement does not aim to give full understanding. It will at-least partially have served its purpose if it directs attention to the advisability of becoming fully informed about what constitutes grass farming efficiency. In the third place tho whole matter may well be considered now because in many instances tho grassland work done during flip next few months will have an important influence on the degree ‘ of'' offidxfjiicy secured during next season and possibly during many following Seasons.

WHAT CONSTITUTES GRASS 4 FARMING EFICICIENCY ?

Let us first consider what constitutes grass farming efficiency. Unfortunately if is not always recognised "that as a rule as many as lour components go t° the making of grass farming efficiency. These are: —•

(1 ) The greatest quantity of growth which is consistent with. quality and equality of growth mentioned below. (2.) The quality of the. growth. (3.) The permanence of sward. (<|‘) Greater equality in the rate of growth throughout the year.

RELATIVE NEGLECT OF QUALITY

AYhile the quantify of growth from pastures is of such obvious and basic importance that it calls for every attention that will b;nig about economic improvement, it is highly desirable to remember that other matters also deserve close attention. AYhile there is room for greater attention iti respect to quantity of growth, yet relatively in the past, other matters have'been neglected mainly'because they were, not so obvious in tbeir bearing and so well understood. Quality of " growth ,is one of these matters which relatively has been, neglected. Differences in quality brmg about differences in feeding value. Recent work has thrown much new lio-ht on'the matter of quality and fins shown that many long accepted beliefs are without foundation. For instance, it* lias shown trial/ IOOIn-s,. of" herbage from well managed Yorkshire fog or Brown top may he markedly superior in nutritive value to lOOlbs of poorly managed ryegrass of cocksfoot. These results are m direct contradiction'of the widely aecoptod jidea rtihafe •certain pasture species are intrinsically inferior in nutritive value. Those results indicate that Yorkshire fog, for instance, is not always and necessarily to be considered as rubbishy .feed. The investigations which gave those results went further in that they pointed to tho conclusion that the stage- of growth at which pasture is utilised determines the feeding value of a given weight of the pasture more than do theJ species which Con.-titnte the pasture. Otlicr work shows that the rertihty of the soil which so •frequentlv is vitally influenced by topdressing has an important bearing on tho nutritive value of feed from grassland. So that the position may bo summed up by saying that quality ot feed ffrom pastures is determined more by topdressing and utilisation methods than by the botanical composition of the pastures; that good quality results from voung, leafy, rather than from the maturer “stemmy” growth; that the feeding and the stage of grow in Of the plants J affect quality ■ 'more than docs the kind of plant.

POSSIBILITY OF PERMANENCE

MUCH INCREASED.

Permanence of sward has widely been recognised as of paramount importance,, but until fairly recently, the outlook as .regards improvement ,iu this direction did not, sec in hopeful. On the one hand, , it. was keenly realised as' most desirable that, pastures should persist without serious deterioration. On the other hand, it was felt that, in many instances tho pastures could not be i rid peed to persist without serious deterioration. ,Ilist how to remedy'the weak position was not at all ejear • until recently what i s implied in tho, “strain” conception was tried and established as providing a suitable solution, especially when judicious strain utilisation" is linked up with appropriate topdressJngj The 'conception originates in the fact that] plants which are of the same kind and to which the sanio name, is ap r plied differ Considerably' from oho aftother. Field trials have shown during recent years thajt, in the case of certain important pasture plants such as ryegrass, cocksfoot and clovers these differences between plants of the same name are of great" economic significance. For instance, what is known "commercially" as "perennial ryegrass proves to consist, both of, strain’s which'' are so' persistent as to justify fully the application of the term “perennial” to them and of other strains which, when, they are not allowed to reseed, 'die out so quickly as to make the term “perennial’ ’absolutely misleading when applied to them. - These latter .'strains at times are not even biennial, let alone perennial.. ■ Tb .tho'se'' latter strains so: definitely temporary in habit jnay be attributed much of the lack df permanence in pks'tulvs experienced in til/* past. ' ; V ' ■< Perennial ryegrass has been cited as exemplifying strain variation, but within other pasture of importahcQ.- sucli as cocksfoot and cloVers, strain variation of j outstanding economic -significance . has .beijn discovered.' Detailed accounts, df the nature and importance ; of strain differences" -in ryegrass -and red . clover imvo. been widely published in .the Journal of Agficulture, and elsewhere. In. the. February; issiie. of the Journal, the white clover strain position is described by Messrs. "Levy and Dav Iqs,' Ayho haAb carried out strain ij*. VestigAtjon in the' Dominipii, Ifyo'm fcheir work, and. froip ojb]ier work carried out over seas ’ "it can be said definitely that in thq future, in- mimy important' instaiiops, • *•’ pastures will ■ 'fnuph more ■ germpnoptly remain free • liDotrr . serioush dete'idbratibn than ;in •' the past,' provided’ the' best use is ma"de of , the - new . material and tho knowledge ; regarding. ’ J straiinri end top.'dr.essing which, has ' been, made 'avaik/bip. :• ; -J, : : : ' _ - >■> •“

A FUNDAAIENTAL MMEAKNESS -IN ’v ' , ■ • ' ’ In Now Zealand live-stack fafihinja any give ; n 4 supply . Of feed produced fairly evenly throughout .tlie. year ps a rule is of deddedlyymbre value than tho spjno weight of food produced ■ pipincipfilly irt ft rolativoly few months.'.

Against this must be set the characteristic of pastures which constitutes the,in groat natural weakness a# a rfol 0 source of Hive-btpek 1 rations. This weakness lips, in the fact that pastures naturally produce' the [ greater portion of tlioir wliole annual growth within a relatively few. months. It lias heett found at Alarton, for. instance, under good management, that 70 per cent, of the total growth of grass occurred in approximately four months—mid-September to mid-Janu-ary. i ' : Jn fairly recent times new ways of coping with this seasonal weakness of grassland have . been introduced, but there remains, ipiicli 'scope fdr profitable extension of their practice. Having considered what constitutes efficiency in grass' farming, there remains fpr consideration the methods of securing it. ‘ ;

METHODS OF SECURING EFFICIENCY—STRAIN VALUES.

It has long been known that the quality factor is governed to an important extent by fertility, which embraces not only soil composition but moisture and warmth. The modern addition to pur knowledge regarding the quantity of growth that may be obtained from pastures lies in the.role that “strain” may play. Given similar conditions some strains are annually more productive than others. Later, strain will hp referred to in another 'connection.

AUTUMN TOPDRESSTNG AVITH PHOSPHATE'S FOR EFFICIENCY

Generally it has not been fully appreciated how important is quality in horbage and even now the means of securing quality are but poorly practised. “'Quality'comes from maintaining leafiness. The extra vigor that topdressing normally gives, if properly controlled, will give extra _leafili’ess. Hence, topdressing properly 00-ordinated with other practices begets quality. Autumn, rather than spring topdressing facilitates proper control of the extra growth stimulated by topdressing. This brings us to the ’point that, because of the present financial position of farmers, some are contemplating the omission of autumn topdressing, and so it will be of value to indicate a considered opinion on this point. On January 10th last, at Palmerston North, a grassland conferenceconsidered, among other things, the value of autumn topdressing. One conference was attended by leading grassland workers representative of Canterbury Agricultural College,'Cawthron Institute, Department of Agriculture Massev Agricultural College, and thJ Plant Research Station. The following statement was adopted as the unanimous opinion of the conference:—

V*ln the average heavy autumn application of phosphates oip dairy laml.rosults'.in a lowered maintainanco cost per pound of butterfat, and ovepy endeavor should he made to ensure an adequate provision of topdressing .this autumn.

This considered and authoritative statement calls for no comment.

CONTROLLED GRAZING ESSENTIAL. Rut topdressing by itself will not necessarily give. quality. Indeed, if not suitably .linked up with all that is implied by the words “controlled ’glazing”, "then 'topdressing nifty load to lack of quality. Hence it becomes particularly important to know what is involved in' controlled grazing... In: practice, controlled grazing moans the arranging of grazing in such a way that, the paddocks under stocking produce the minunnun possible amount of stemmy woody growth. No hard and fast rules governing the details , of controlled grazing can be rained. The general aim is the avoidance of rank and woody herbage To eliminate woody herbage as niueli as is practical it will be necessary on many farms to erect additional fencing. Fortunately, in many instances, not a great <leal of additional fencing is immediately necessary. Indeed, as a rule, much" improvement could be effected without any additions to the fences already in existence. Often all that is needed to bring about substantial grazing improvement. is more skilfully planned arrangement of grazing. Rut the possibility oi the -.need- of additional fencing should ho considered now, for time and care Should be given to the planning of'the location of any new fences. : In the majority of instances also, ehsilago from.-grass is a valuable aid in. the securing of controlled grazing —a point it is of considerable importance to have* in mind well ahead in order that the possibility of pits mav be explored.' . The practices which give quality oi growth aro also the ones of most importance in practice for the securing of as much evenness <>r‘equality of growth throughout the year as is possible. Hence no separate ’ consideration of this aspect is necessary.

PERMANENCY THROUGH STRAIN;' There remains to bo considered the matter of permanency. _ The most important recent development in this connection relates to strains of pasture plants as distinct from species. The position may be illustrated by saying that it is not enough for the efficient farmer to say that he desires’ a given weight of perennial ryegrass or of cocksfoot di; of' white clover ih the ‘ seed mixtures. It is of the utmost importance that he say'also just what strain or typo of ryegrass or cocksfoot or white clover is to Tie vised. The striking evidence that is available in support of this view may bo readily obtained on. application to'the officers of! the'Fields Division of the Jbepartmeiit of Agriculture. The fullest possible value will often hot’ be 1 obtained from the use of good; strains Unless such use is suitably linked up with topclrossing. - '“■ ■- x ■ • • i H ARMON> r OF THE WHOLE i ■ • ESSENTIAL. 1:A * From the outline just given it will bo seen that hmew conception of. wliat constitutes grass farming efficiency lias gradually been evolved ; It is well to remember'th at efficiency comes only from harmonious co-ordination of the Various practices that go to 'the making of grass farming. There U nothing rhally .UoiV'ih' the ideas Rebind any of individual practices—ibpdressing is- a well-bred ally; ensilage was known to Julius the mdrits ! of coh trolled grazing ’ wbre iMiig extolled An 'Engl and . during the reign of -'Gobrge ITR If hot cnrlier ; die valuo of fstrniU in plants lias long received close attention froln the grower- of pastures. ' What, is new tor day" in <mr. coiieeptibn ‘of grass' farßiiug- efficiency I ’i’s Hid mapnor - these e'ephrato ’ ‘ideas ,or practices aro/etu-pioyed'/'iiiT-thd consthhction •'of 'an Offlcieiit' system of management, whieh; taken as a to many; particularly dufingvthe present ’ difficult'" ‘times, the sooner ••? all grass'farmers |jdedme acquainted with

this now friend the.better it will' ho individually and ' nationality’... • " 1 , Summed up, grassland efficiency, cbmes "from \ : v ■ . "' } (1.) Judicious topdressing m which autumn uso of phosphates . occupies aii important plane. ' (2.) Careful attention to strain as tvell as species iii th,o purchase of pasture seeds. Because of an incomplete appreciation of:, its real . value strain is the matter which is. most likely to bo .uicgle’eted. ‘ '' ’ (3.) .sloro effective .utilisation of growth than generally is obtained. Some hold that - utilisation ’ is: the weakest • side of our. grass. farming to-day, and . in': certain': cases 1 this •is 'truck -oyon if it?' is hot true' 1 of all farming. One of the most attractive features ,'pf improved utilisation ’is that usually, it calls for Very little outlay,': and often., forkßcr outlay; all,