FARM and DAIRY

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 14 November 1925, Page 15

FARM and DAIRY

NOTES BY THE WAY

Canada produced honey worth £'510,000 last year.

California last year grew and sold in the United States enough grapes to make Id,ooo 000 gallons of -wine.

It is not generally known that in Denmark .wheat, oats, and barley are grown —the latter, too, to a considerable extent, but not a large area ol wheat.

No soil can produce healthy anct abundant crops unless it contains an adequate supply of lime, and therefore- the question of liming is one which should occupy the attention of all farmers;

The. red Danish milk cattle have been greatly developed by wide ranging breeding work. , The best herds have reached a very high standard as to a dairy cattle exterior, and the progress in milk yields is really astonishing.

It is most important that lieilers on first call' should be well handled, and fed well, and especially it is urged that they be milked as long as possible—when we -say long we mean at least ten months, and preferably twelve months.

The necessity tor the farmers of the Dominion to specialise in breeding the type of sheep most suitable foi the London market is emphasised in the third annual report of the Meat 1 reducers’ Board.

The announcement by The Ministry of Agriculture that, as from June 4. there will be no general restrictions in regard to loot-and-mouth disease, will be” welcomed in England and W ales, which have been free from the scourge since August, 192 b.

The total production of margarine in Denmark in the year 1924 was 69,427,000 kg. against 65,224,000 kg. in 1923. Unly about 8,800,000 kg. of the 1924 production was manufactured from animal fats, all the remainder being from vegetable raw materials.

Many phenomenal grain crops are being reported to the Canadian Provincial Department of Agriculture this year, and the latest, near Hobbema, will in all probability set a new mark lor oat production in the province. On a 12-acre field the yield averaged 123 bushels to the acre. Another farmer has threshed an average of 122-1- bushels of oats to the acre. He got 1163 bushels from a 9-J- acre field.

Figuratively all Canada is holding its breath awaiting the harvesting ot the wheat crop. The latest Government report predicts a production of 350,000,090 bushels, which would bo 90,000,000 bushels more than last year and the fourth largest yield on record. But conditions have been so favourable in Western Canada that there is a possibility of a bumper yield, perhaps rivalling the phenomenal year of 1915.

The report of the British Empire Producers' Organisation was read at the annual meeting. It states that the organ isution has continued to press lor the restriction or all Government meat contracts to Empire suppliers. It has strongly opposed what it has described, as tne dangerous suggestions of the hood Commission, namely, that the British authorities might in ruttire take an interest in the meat industry of the Argentine.

In order to provide for the fertilisation of red clover, the Victorian Department of Agriculture approached the New Zealand Department of Agriculture to supply a number ot humble bees (says the Press). Air. G. H. Sergeant, Government apiary instructor in Canterbury, has just finished collecting 90 queens, 60 of which he obtained from the Botanical Gardens, which are to be sent to Victoria.

CROP FAILURES. COMMON CAUSES. There are three common causes why the application of fertilisers does not produce the expected results. Firstly, a deficiency of lime in the soil was often an obstacle, and until such deficiency is made good no fertiliser dressings can' act with full effect. According to the best agricultural authorities, the farm lands of this country are calling out tor more lime. We would say that a second reason is the use of fertilisers in a badlybalanced way. The importance of what may he called “balanced” manures is not properly appreciated. .There are farmers who think they have done the needful when they apply only one type of Fertiliser, say,” for instance, phosphate of lime, whereas the soil mav.be requiring nitrogen and potash. '1 he chain of fertility is broken by the absence of a necessary ingredient, and so the crop suffers.

A third course has been the use of low-class manures sold at apparently tempting prices, but which are really extremely dear. The business in this class of manures is not so extensive as was the case some years hack, hut there is still a large quantity of such poor stuff sold to imprudent farmers whose crops are consequently poor m character." Buyers should always examine the percentage of nitrogen, phosphate of lime. ' and potash in the fertiliser offered them, and should select a high-class fertiliser and lie prepared to nav a good price for a good article. COWS IN AMERICA, Since 1890, says an American paper, (he ratio of cow to human • population has steadily dropped from 264 cows to each thousand until to-day there are but 221 cows per thousand population.

During the past year this ratio has changed from 221 to 222. It must- be remembered that dairying is strictly a domestic industry, and that, so long as consumers of milk increase in numbers more rapidly than the cows which produce it, there is no domestic overproduction, 'provided', ol course, individual production per cow remains the same. This does not change perceptibly from year to year. Our export trade in dairy products is negligible. Last year we imported more dairy products than we exported. This* is practically offset, however, by a small increase in storage goods, so that on the whole there was a very delicate balance between domestic production and consumption. It has been said that the effort that has been made during the last- year to establish dairying in the wheat belt is now making itself felt in price. It takes three years to make a dairy cow, and many more to make a dairyman, the net increase for the United States over 1923 is only 240,000 cows, whose products are hardly more than enough for a million people, while the human population has increased 1,420,000 in the same time 1

Our most sensitive market is the condensed 1 milk market, though canners have never consumed more than 5 per cent, of our total milk production. During the war, and immediately following, this business expanded enormously. For the past live years export trade in condensed milk ami evaporated milk has steadily declined. European production is, gradually coming back. Condenseries are therefore nervous about piling up reserve stocks, and quickly switch to the whole milk, butter, cream, or cheese.

CROPS EOR COWS. THE VALUE OF CARROTS. HINTS ON ENSILAGE. Carrots are an excellent root crop for the milking cows tor late autumn and winter leed. They should be sown as spring approaches—late autumn or early September. The seed bed requires to be very fine to obtain .successful results, and about 3 to 4 cwt. of a mixed manure, consisting largely of superphosphate, with a little sulphate of ammonia and- sulphate of potash, should be used. Maize, is the chief supplementary fodder crop lor maintaining the milk production m the late summer and autumn. Green maize is an excellent cow feed in summer, owing to its .succulence which is an important, factor in milk production, and the maize crop will pioduce more feed per acre than aip other crop. Rape lias a highl'eediiicr value, and is an excellent green food for'cattle, ft increases the tiow of milk; but as it is liable to taint the milk, it should be fed in moderation, and only immediately after milking. Rape-'inay be sown from early spring until late' summer. The spring is usually the best time to establish the area to be’devoted to the lucerne crop. On land where it is suited it will grow luxuriantly even in a dry summer. It is excellent for milk production, and being accessible over a Jong period, during which it- is characterised by the rapidity ol its growth, it is of the greatest benefit to dairymen, enabling a full flow of milk to* be maintained throughout the summer months. When fed with maize it gives an almost- perfectly balanced ratiorf. It is found in practice best not to feed both crops together, but the lucerne at one feed and ithe* maize at the next, alternately.

As the season, advances and the time for the main tup* crop is past, it is only lucerne, clover or other latemanuring crops which can he turned into hay with any prospects of success. Ensilage can he made much later in the season than hay. In Anierica, ensilage is the most important supplementary food for the dairy cows, and it is there taking the place of green forage crops. The great advantage that is claimed for it is that it is always there when it is wanted. A forage crop under unfavourable weather conditions may not he ready just at the time it is needed, or if it is ready the pastures may he proving adequate for requirements, and it is not wanted. Under dry conditions maize or ensilage, supplemented with crushed grain, would give an excellent ration. The chief difficulty with maize is that it is not always ready when required. When green maize is fed alone for milk production, it is an unbalanced ration, but when fed with lucerne or grain-, it becomes a very useful feed, as tire percentage of nitrogen present is thereby mc reased.