FARM AND DAIRY

Hawera Star, Volume L, 7 February 1931, Page 12

FARM AND DAIRY

NOTES BY THE WAY

Most of the storing of the hay and ensilage in the district is completed tliougli one sees an occasion stack in the making, but it is a very “rara avis*’ and only where a man has been held •wp by the weather. Where farmers have as is very often the case been working in a gang on co-operative lines, the jotThas been a pretty long and tiring one, for each man has to take his share m putting away his neighbours’ stores and naturally .that is a pretty big order. The total saved runs into a huge amount and it would be vastly interesting. to know just what weight is saved l for it would be an eye-opener and an indication of the amount of hard work a farmer ha& to do apart from his daily milking and care of the cows’. One imagines it would stagger even the farmers themselves and then, if in addition, there could he estimated! the weight of the crops grown, which are now just getting ready to he cleaned, weeded and hoed, the sum 'total would give outsiders an idea of the perseverance and industry called for from the man on the land. TJp to December the intake of milk generally had increased anything from per cent to 10 per cent., but January saw a falling away to some < xin.no. Some farmers say that the fall has been enough nearly to blot out the

previous increase. Many farmers report that, thou go. their milk supply has increased fairly materially, the butter fat has not increased in proportion. In many cases the test is lower and this is attributed to the vagaries of the weather in the early part of the season which brought on the grass very strongly, but did not increase the protein which tends to ~.rrh fat content.

it is of interest to note that several factories have turned wholly, or in part, to butter, in the effort to improve the position of the dairy farmer. bat it will be very hard on the employees who are thus put out of work much earlier in the season than is usual. Most of the factories make butter in the fall of the season when some of the staffs are dispensed with, Init it is as ; a rule much later. The position in the butter market is at the present time better than cheese and consumption is fairly active, but it will be interesting to see what happens when increased supplies reach the markets.

The pay-out for this, month, xs suggested as eightpence, in the light of the prices ruling at Home. The contrast with last January when Is 6d was paid is more marked than ever. It is r> iggested that the advance of ninepence made during the past two months has actually been an over-payment. “Gambling instead of farming,” said the chairman of a local body during a discussion on the farming operations as carried on generally during the past ten years. He considered that fanners should have been able to buiidl up a reserve against hard times and that it was really a serious position when fhev could not stand one bad season and showed that they had made no attempt to save for a rainy day. Last year Midhurst Dairy Company erected a huge casein factory and it i* now understood that although it keeps twenty hands busy it- lust pays working expenses and suppliers get nothing out of it. A Southern Hawke’s Bay farmer recently stated that in his opinion in n. few years it would he an impossibility • v find a sign of ragwort in the Dominion so effective dirl the work of the new chemical remedy appear. Speakinnr at an Apiarist Field Day at Menzies’ Ferry (Southland) bust week, a. leading farmer said that it was worthy of note that the price of honey had not fallen along with that of other •; binary products, such as cheese, mutton and wool. He added that, in 1923 there had been approximately 23.000 jurists in New Zealand, who had owned a total of 74.000 colonies of bees, the registrations at the end l of last March had shown that there were Q 500 keepers, owning 104,000 colonies. There were still large areas of suitable country open for beekeeping. The question of selling or consigning has been a much discussed policy in the -est. Says an exchange; “This question is usually the pigeon of dairy factory directors who are asked to be sufficiently prophetical to forecast the state of the markets months ahead and this is no envious task. " If they nc-

•> ’t an attractive offer for a forward sale and the market soars _ they lose cast with their suppliers while if they refuse, the offer in the hope of securin'! better prices on consignment and the market drops they are in just the same position. This year, the position is reversed; the dairy factory directors have no option hut to ship their produce abroad on consignment and hope for the best in the return they receive.” The supply of milk at the dairy factories in Southland, says the “Times.” continues to he verv good and it is expected that the production for the season in Southland will be very close to that of last season. Some of the factories are receiving a larger supply ft an previously. while others are slightly below last season’s returns. On some of the Gisborne farms that have been stocked heavily the feed "'•oblem is becoming acute (states the Poverty Bay Herald). Ths browned pastures are eaten bare, and practically U-»> only feed available on a few farms, without drawing on the liny supplies ‘ • U> lie found in the willow trees. The branches of these have boon sawn off. ''• c* foliage being eaten ravenously by the cut tile. One small farmer claims Ibn I lie has only sufficient willow trees to last him until next week, after which ho will have to draw upon his tar unless a heave downpour initiates a good growth in the meantime. Fanes that have supplies of lucerne, maize, or roots should not lie feeling the pinch vet. but nevertheless, the milk supolieN are falling fast, and ean he hrild on- onlv by a goo ( | downpour. There has been an unusual rush ol fat lambs at the freezing works m Pontldand reports the “Times” since I Lev commenced killing at the beginning of last week and the. companies have had so much stock coming to hand f hat thev have frond it reeessnrv to refuse to handle further drafts for a week or so.

WHEN ENSILAGE WAS TRUMPS

A Gisborne farmer’s first attempt at making! ensilage .stood him in good stead this month (says the “JAB. Herald”). Mr. J. E. Benson, of Ormond. aas induced to make ensilage last summer, and following the advice of a successful Waikato farmer who had no difficulty at all, the material he made being of excellent quality. He

believes that the reason why many Gisborne farmers have refrained from making ensilage is that they are afraid khat they will not be able to get the temperature right but Mr. Benson exploded the theory that a thermometer was essential for the malting of good ensilage by saying that he did not require a thermometer at all. He.cut on acre of grass, which was sufficient to keep two men working.with two sledges the whole of the day in pitting it. He ) gave this first lot a day to heat up to what he believed woukl be the right I temperature, and thereafter he cut and j pitted an acre a day. The pit he used! I was 10ft. deep and was 15ft long and I 12ft. wide, sufficient, he estimates, for I s{y tons. ! As a result of an abundance of feed j last winter, lie did not require to draw on this supply until this summer, when the dry weather caused a shortage of ! grafts. When lio opened it up recently, bo found the quality of the best, the silage having tne appearance of exceptionally well preserved clover and EngHsh grass. He believed that the material would have kept indefinitely. Although' his cattle had never seen ensilage before, thev ate it with relish, and soon began to look forward to their daily ration. He feels that he was distinctly fortunate in having his ensilage j pit frill this summer.

CALF=FEEDING INSTRUCTION FOR JUNIOR FARMERS. ■ No fixed rules can be laid down for the feeding of calves, because the feeding depends as well as upon the age of the calf, upon 'its size, health, anil vigour (writes Queensland’s supervisor of”dairying).. Therefore the quantities of feed mentioned in the following table are to he taken as guides only—to be decreased or increased according to the experience gained from the feeding of any individual calf. The young calf has a small stomach, and the calf when running with its mother takes milk frequently and in small quantities. Therefore, m handfeeding, the greatest care must be taken not to over-feed! with milk of any description. Too large an allowance of milk produces indigestion and scour. . , When a young calf has been without feed for some hours and is then allowed to take as much milk as it will, it is apt to gorge itself, thus causing digestive troubles. A calf weighing somewhere about 50-lb at birth, for the first few days should be given from sib to &lt> pei day of its mother’s milk divided, among four feedings. Somewhat more is given to a calf weighing about 1001 b at birth —viz. 81b to 101 b per day of the mother’s milk distributed over four feedings. All milk fed should be at blood heat—viz, from 95 deg. to 100 deg. j Fahr. j

If the calf is healthy and strong, at about ten days old the whole mi!ik may he gradually replaced with separated milk. When from two to three weeks old the calf can be taught to eat ground grains or concentrates, by placing; a little of the ground grain or concentrate at the bottom of the tin from which the calf has just finished drinking its milk. Ground grains include such material as maize, bran and pollard, ground oats. Kaffir corn meal, bai 4 iey meal, etc. lietter results are obtained by feeding a mixture of grains than by feeding one grain alone. Concentrates include linseed, coc<shut and peanut cake and meals, and calf foods. When the concentrate is entirely linseed' meal it must he first mixed to a smooth caste with a little water, then more water added and the mixture boiled from ten to twenty minutes before being fed to young calves. . ; As before stated, the following] tables are to be used as guides only. fihv time when feeding milk should ■itop depends upon a number of conditions. viz., whether the calf is strong md healthy, and if food other than pi Ik. such as good hay and grain and j v.-.inig pasture is available. As a rule, not more than 1811» to 1011> of milk 'per day is fed to calves. The amount of lucerne hay given to .xjuiig calves should not be excessive, i as such excess is liable to cause scour. \nv uneaten lucerne, oaten or wlieaten hay or chaff, ground grain, or concentrate, should be removed and feeding vessels cleaned, and fresh material given for the next feed. A mixture of 1 part by weight oi salt with 2 parts by weight of finely sterilised bonemeal or 2 parts of finely ground Nauru phosphate should he lusted over the ground grain or con-1 centrate ration. _ _ | Tf separated milk is not available. •Vied skim milk powder, or dried butter milk may bo used by taking lib to' I Ifher of those materials and mixing I ! >'th 91 hof water, and using such mixture in the same way as separated milk : s used. A NOTABLE VISITOR ENG MSH SEED EXPERT. Amongst the passenger* who arrived from England by the Kualiino was JVlr. Walter 1«, Giles] A. 11. K.JI.S., iirincipal >i the vegetable and root seed growing aiid plant breeding section of the wellknown house of Sutton and Sons, of Reading, England. Mr. Giles arrived in Christchurch yesterday morning, and intends spending tsoma time in the Dominion in connection with the firm’s business. Mr. Giles is acknowledged iri .England as one of the leading authorities on vegetable and root seed growing. For upwards of thirty years he .bus been responsible lor the quality and Hirity of the vegetable and root seeds ( on the extensive areas under his linn's control. During hi* visit to die Do-j minion he will study agricultural conditions here especially concerning the j question of the posibility of seed gloving. The seeds of his firm occupy large areas in Europe, and it may prove a’ commercin'! proposition to transfer some of them to New Zealand. The Ro-j minion Government’s experiments in an endeavour to produce disease-free I seed is engaging his keenest interest, « is the raising of pure line strains of grasses and other agricultural plants. In this connection he is hopeful that the 120 years’ accumulated practical experience of his linn is seed i production may be useful in coinmer•ially developing the results of the Government’s scientific investigations.