CABBAGES FOR COWS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 40, 1 February 1932, Page 11

CABBAGES FOR COWS

SHORTAGE OF FEED IN CANTERBURY. PROBLEMS FOR DAIRYMEN. So scarce has- feed become on many of the smaller dairy farms in Upper Papanui and Styx that the farmers have had to resort to feeding the cows on cabbages and cauliflowers (states the Christchurch “Sun”’). “This practice is not a good one,” said one farmer to a reporter, “as cabbage may taint the milk, but when there isn othing else to give the cows what can a man do?” The outlook for these dairy farmers, mist of whom have rounds and supply city dwellers with their daily milk sup. ply, is very serious, and the question of how they are going to feed their cows in the winter now presents itself. Some of them havo been hand-feeding their cows for weeks with food that is ordinarily conserved for consumption during tho winter months. “My crops of parsnips and carrots were a complete failure this year,” said another farmer, “and I partly relied on them to feed the cows. Under present conditions I am not able to supply my customers with all the milk that they would like, and I understand that one or two other milkmen have had to ration their milk supplies. If the drought lasts much longer there will certainly be a shortage of milk in tho city. “The few showers of rain that wo have had in the last few weeks have really done' more harm than good, as the grass has been scorched by the hot sun that has succeeded each shower.” The paddocks in Papanui and Styx, arc certainly parched, ami there is scarcely a blade of green grass to bo seen anywhere. The cows, tco, have grown obviously thinner in tho past month or two, and farmers say that much of the pasture has died completely out. Many paddocks which havo been carrying grass for generations will have to be ploughed up when rai l linnlly does full and be resown.