“COW TO THE ACRE.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 16 November 1929, Page 16

“COW TO THE ACRE.”

POVERTY BAY IDEAL. CLOSER SETTLEMENT PLANS. The ideal of those in Poverty Bay who are ardent advocates of the intensive system of cultivation is the graduation to a grazing capacity of a cow to the acre (says the “Poverty Bay Herald”). In some districts less favoured climatically and with poorer lancl than Poverty Bay this ideal has been reached, it is claimed, in a few instances where careful systems of farm management have prevailed, together with abundant applications of manures. The position in Poverty Bay appears to be that all crops are so easily .grown and give sufficient yields for the purposes of the farmers that, speaking generally, little thought has been exercised in planning to get the most out of the land. With judicious management there is no reason why the cow to the acre stage should not be reached here on most, dairy farms

instead of -being confined to a few isolated places in. other dairying districts. The saving of sufficient rood for The lean winter months may he one of the biogest problems, but with the subdivision of the farms into smaller paddocks and the rotational grazing plan adopted, there should be a sufficient growth in a few paddocks to carry the herds over the best growing period while the remainder of the grass is conserved for hay and ensilage, and there should be no reason to complain of a shortage of feed during the winter. During the past, few seasons a great waste of feed was noticed m Poverty Bay paddocks; grass grew rank, and in a. few cases when the grass was cut for the benefit of the pastures the residue was allowed to go to waste. If this waste could be prevented and used at a time when there is practi-' cally no growth the carrying capacity of the farms could be raised considerable. A chain is as strong only as its weakest link, and the carrying capacity of a farm is only as great as during the leanest period. Every effort, therefore, should be made to provide for the winter A number of Poverty Bay fanners in a small way have nearly reached the cow to tlie acre standard, and judging by their efforts it should not lie long before, they are unable to claim -Dossession of farms which would be- able to carrv a. milking cow for every acre their farms contain. If ’it were proved that it would not be a very difficult matter for Poverty. Bay land to carry as much as a cow to the acre there would he a greater inducement for tlie Government to proceed with closer settlement proposals here. One of the schemes is to .place town workers on farmlets to be looked after in their spare time, but if a man were allotted 20 acres of cow to the acre country there should be no. reason, if be had a good herd, why he should have to do any other work apart from that on his farm. A standard of 3001 b of butterfat per cow is not a very high one for a small herd, and on the basis of Is 6d per lb. for butterfat each cow should return the owner £22 10s. Twenty such cows should provide a man sufficient for at least a living, even, taking into consideration expenses in connection with the farm.