THE LABOUR PROBLEM.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XX, Issue 239, 27 September 1930, Page 12

THE LABOUR PROBLEM.

The great objection to the making of ensilage which one hears voiced—principally by those who have never attempted to make it —is the labour involved in handling the heavy green material. It is wise to admit at once that unless the farmer has made proper preparation for ensilage making, and has the pits, suitable sledges and other paraphernalia all ready and, in the case of stack ensilage, sweeps and elevators to djal with the crop, he is simply looking for heart - and - back - breaking work. With the proper plant, however, it is really much simpler and easier to make ensilage than hay. Besides this, ensilage-making is practically an any-w eather job, and there need be no anxiety on the score of losing the whole crop through unfavourable harvesting weather, as is frequently the case with hay. In this country where there is no rule of thumb regarding proceedure, each farmer develops his own particular method of labour saving in the harvesting of this fodder, adhering only to the general principles which have been found by general experience to make good ensilage. Some prefer stacks and elevators, others pits or silos. Some cart in on sledges, others on sweeps, and again some of the more ambitious use elevators attached to the back of drays or motor lorries which do away with the necessity of raking into windrows, and picking up the crop directly behind the mower, elevate it without manual labour to the deck of the vehicle.

ADVANTAGES OF “TRENCH’’ OVER "PIT.” Where pits are favoured, some prefer one holding from 150 to 200 tons of green material, while others again swear by two pits of half this size placed side by side, the object being to fdl into them on alternate days, thus allowing time for the ensilage to “cook” properly before more is added and the temperature lowered. In some other countries, notably in parts of Australia where “bush” ensilage is made, a style of pot or trench is favoured which has many advantages, and which the writer believes would be found to bo especially suitable for many districts in Now Zealand. Instead of constructing the usual pit about 70 or 80 feet long, 10 to 12 feet deep and say 15 feet wide, the man who favours a “trench” constructs with scoop and plough, and usually on fairly flat land, a trench which may be two, three, or more chains long, just wide enough to allow a dray to be backed in, and not more than six feet deep. On suitable flat, or slightly sloping land, such a trench has many advantages over the regulation “pit.” In the first place it is easily made with a plough and scoop, the spoil being dumped on one side, all along the trench, thus minimising haulage, and with a shallow trench there is much less heavy work breaking up and throwing out the hard-packed subsoil. If the land slopes slightly, the trench should be made up and down this, thus providing the best possible drainage, and avoiding the possible entrance by seepage of storm watgr.