FARM and DAIRY

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 31 October 1925, Page 15

FARM and DAIRY

‘ NOTES BY THE WAY. Forty years ago (says the Milk Reporter) Ovid Pickard, a penniless farmer boy of .lit, walked 5(5 miles to get a job on a farm near Marion, Oregon. He liked Jersevs, and studied them. Today Ovid Pickard is recognised as til'.; greatest breeder of Jersey cattle in the United States. His cows have smashed six world's records at one time. One of his cows, Darlin’s Jolly Lassie, has an official record of .16,4251 b milk and 1 141.281 b butter-fat. This makes her the champion of all Jerseys for all ages. World’s records in seven of the eight classes of Jerseys in milk and butterfat production are held in Oregon.

Correspondence has been passing between Mr. W.,E. A. Gill, Bloomfield Farm Co., Wellington, and the Otago A. and P. Society, in reference to securing for exhibition’ at the Dunedin Show, the World-Wide record cow, “Alcartra Clothilda Pietjp,” under New Zealand conditions. This cow’s record for 860 days is 31,312.51 b milk, 1145.241 b fat, anil if satisfactory arrangements fan be made for her conveyance, Mr. Gill will also send his present Royal Champion cow, "WilloWvale Galatea Segis.” The committee of the A. and P. Society fully recognises the eJcpeiise and risk of sending a valuable animal such a long distance. The cost of insurance in transit alone from the farm in Wellington to Dunedin and back is £25. It. certainly would be a great, attraction to the public, and especially those interested -in Friesian" cattle, if satisfactory arrangements Could be completed for these animals to be oh exhibition at the Dunedin Show. The committee hopes also to induce Messrs. H. North and Son, Ohrimi, to send in for exhibition their wonderful Friesian cow, “Sylvia Poseh. ”

IN WAIKATO. CALVES BEING KEPT. ATTENTION TO CONSTITUTION. Notwithstanding the amount of pigbreeding carried on a great many more calves are being reared this season (says a Hamilton correspondent of the Auck,land Herald). Some line-looking nu>bs can be seen on the larger farms, both of the Shorthorn and Jersey breeds. There are also numbers of Friesian calves, but they are mostly pedigree. One fact noticeable is the remarkable evenness of. the line, both in size and colour, and they present a pleasant sight on the fresh green pasture. The best calves are seen where home separation is carried out, but there are several very good calf-fearing foods on the market just now which, mixed with whey, give good results. Possibly the fact of so many calves being reared has also something to do with the reduced amount of milk being feccived at the factories, as on most farms the calves received a liberal quantity of new milk for the first month of their existence. It is now recognised that a good start on natural food is the basis of a strong constitution. With the increased yields obtained from milkers nowadays constitution is allimportant, as the higher-bred an animal is the more liable it is to contract disease.

N.Z. FRIESIAN ASSOCIATION. Some of the best records in the merit list for August are:— Mature cows.—-Brookfield Constance Paxton (A. Migounoff) 88.741 b fat; Waihi Girl (J. E. O’Rhea) 70.051 b fat; Lady ZoZo Alcartira Van Rac elands (John Court, Ltd) 70.021 b. While for the period up to the end of August, the best are: Two cows have completed their year’s test with very fine records. Coldstream Magpie Domino (G. A. Marchant and Sons) 924.471 b fat in 36.5 dfiys; Zozo 2nd of Ashlynn (John Court. Ltd.) 905.891bs fat in 865 days; Lebrina Clothilda Alcartra (Piri Land Co.) 225.851 b fat. in 129 days. This heifer is a daughter of the N.Z. record holder for all breeds, Alcartra Clothilda Pietje, over 1.145 lb fat in 365 days. Other good figures are: Pauline Pietorje Alcartra (J. E. O’Shea) 537.121 b fat in 365 days; Cluriy Hengerveld Rosebud 6th (Piri Land Co.) 516.601 b fat in 361 days. TARANAKI. PRODUCE OUTPUT IN 1877. * In an old Australian Handbook and Almanac for 1878 much information that now reads very amusingly is given. Of Taranaki it says: “The number of holdings is 745; 1016 A acres were cultivated for wheat; 71.1 for oats; 48 for barley; 596 for potatoes. The estimated produce for 1876 was: Wheat 13,487 bushels; oats 21,595 bushels: barley 436 bushels; hay 1994 tons; potatoes 2106 tons; the total area under crop being 60,575 acres; stock returns were 1825 horses; 7966 cattle; 24,251 sheep; 21,569 poultry. In 1876 1337 acres were under grain crops with an average of .164 bushels wheat, 27J bushels oats, 2.1 - bushels barley per acre; 58,020 acres were under permanent artificial grasses. ’ ’

DAIRYING OR SHEEP. Butter-fat in New Zealand cannot. Re profitably produced at less, on an average, than 1/6 per pound. Even at that price it shows a very moderate profit, and compares very unfavourably with returns shown by sheep-farming. Quite a large area 'of land now under dairying is of too poor a nature to show a reasonable return from butter-fat, and vis much more likely to show a profit lander sh cep. Bearing in mind the payable prices of wool, lamb and mutton, it is reasonable to suppose that cpiite a large extent of the territory in Now Zealand, as well as elsewhere, will change over from cows t'o sheep, thus to a certain extent checking the rise in butter-fat production. If New Zealand dairymen converted, say, 20 per cent, of their cows into boneless beef they would acquire reasonable profit from file remainder of their herds, with the expenditure of less energy. PA LTFORNIA N THISTLE. This thistle is not regarded so seriously as it. was some years ago, still if given free play it becomes a. troublesome Weed, and far more tenacious than .Scotch thistle. Regular systematic cutting will exterminate it; and it will gradually die out where pastures, are top-dressed annually and stocked heavily. One farmer who had a few patches of this thistle on his farm adopted tilie practice of cutting the thistles once a. week,, and in a verv short time the thistles were killed right out. The strong tap-root of the Californian thistle soon rots and. dies if the leaves of the plant are cut continuously. This rule might profitably be applied in combating any weed on the farm.

INTERESTING REPORT. Air. A. G. Ruston, of the Department of Agrietulturc, Leeds University, who was granted a Travelling Research Fellowship by the British Ministry of Agriculture for the purpose of studying agricultural co-operation and farm costings in Europe, gives an interesting report on the latter subject, so far as Switzerland is concerned. From this report it is shown that during the past 20 years the labour bill on Swiss farms has averaged between £4 12s and £l2 9s per acre; the gross yield per acre was between £lO and £2B, and the net returns between £1 16s and £22 per acre. The capital invested in Swiss farms ranges from £l5O per acre on holdings of from seven to twelve acres, to £75 per acre on farms of over 75 acres, while the net balance per acre after allowing all charges is from £1 per acre to £2 3s fid.

The cost of Swiss land is put down at £4B per acre, while buildings cost £SS 10s per acre; implements and machinery £.13 per acre; live stock £l4 per acre; and store and floating capital £7 per acre. New Zealand farmers may marvel at the low cost of laud in Switzerland, but since no mention is made as to the charges on it in the shape of rates, taxes, etc., its true value cannot be determined. The extreme cost of buildings per acre, of course, is accentuated by the general small size of the farm, but the value of buildings and,machinery seem to be out of all proportion to the value of stock per acre, for, after all, Switzerland is largely a stock-raising country, and the farmer depends largely upon dairying for his monetary returns.

''INTENSIVE CULTIVATION. GUERNSEY LAND VALUER. Sixty years ago the best Guernsey land was procurable f.r.om £l5O to £2OO Iter acre. During the late Victorian period there was a steadily growing recognition of tlie claims of. the new, intensive farming industry and a wider apprehension! of the new financial dimension. it brought with it. The first inevitable symptom was that land values jumped up. The most conservative farmer felt, that he was up against something alluring when, lie found capitalists at his door and syndicates at his front gate willing and anxious to buy bis farm land at from £IOO to £250 per acre more than, the most generous figure based on agricultural returns. Land' then changed hands very rapidly; the old, comparatively big farms became divided and subdivided during that strenuous commercial period from, say, 1887 to 1897. Finally Guernsey was divided up into the bewildering series of small holdings, for which the native lias a genius. During 15 years the output of tlie island, as shown by tihe number of packages of horticultural produce despatched to the mainland, increased more than tenfold. The average output of the island at the present time is approximately 15,000 tons of tomatoes per annum, besides large quantities of grapes, melons, peaches, figs, potatoes, broccoli, peas, beans, radishes, flowers, plants, bulbs, etc.

HUMUS. / This is described as decaying vegetable matter, decayed vegetable matter, vegetable mould, and in various other ways. It is partly all of these; that which is decaying is not ready for the nitrifying bacteria. But, in every lump of dead organic matter, part i>s constantly finished off by the bacteria of decay and taken over by the nitrifying bacteria, which use the minerals released, seize the nitrogen which has been left in the form of ammonia, and go after additional supplies of nitrogen and minerals. For bacteria of the host types can’t live on nitrogen alone.

STATE FARMING FAILURE IN ENGLAND. A report by a select committee on tlie estimates of the British Ministry of Agriculture, states that, under the Act of 1919 the Ministry has engaged in direct farming operations. Arrangements were made to manage some of these farm settlements on a. profit-shar-ing-basis, but- so far no profits, have been available for distribution. “The Ministry is greatly disturbed at the financial losses at the profit-sharing farm at Batrington, Yorkshire,” says the committee. “A,part from the cost of it, it has been a very successful piece of work as a piece of practical land settlement. There is a v-ery much larger population on the land than ever was employed before, living in good conditions in decent houses and witli decent wages. Tf it was tlie intention of Parliament to make such costly experiments, it is not for the committee *to criticise the policy, 'but in' its opinion it is right that the House of Commons and the country should realise the cost to the taxpa.yer at which this scheme has been maintained,. The committee adds that negotiations are pending for disposal of several of the properties, and remarks that, in its opinion,' “no new farming operations should be carried out by the Ministry, and that. any new small holding scheme should be on an economic and self-supporting basis. ”

DAIRY AVLRDOM. In buying a bull, study his pedigree for six generations. If the females in liis ancestry have good production records that far back, tlie bull’s daughters will probably be good milkers. When twin calves are of the same sex, both have normal reproductive powers, but when of the opposite sex, the female is usually sterile and will not breed. A'ou are, therefore, taking a chance when you raise, for dairy innposes, a heifer calf twinned with a bull. Autumn freshening pays best, as a rule. To drop their calves in fall, cows must be bred in the winter months, for the gestation period is 282 days, or a little over nine months.