THE MILK YIELD

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 13 August 1921, Page 7

THE MILK YIELD

HOW TO MAINTAIN IT

"Maintaining the milk yield of a herd" was the subject discussed by the Hawera branch of the Farmers' Union at its meeting last Saturday. , • Mr Standish, who opened the discussion, said that a dairy farmer had fiist to bring his herd to a maximum yield and then endeavour to maintain the yield throughout the season. A tirst consideration if this was to be done was an adequate supply of winter feed so that the cows would calve m the best of condition. No two farmers agreed on the question of which was the best method of maintaining the yield and which food was best suited to the autumn Some had obtained very good results with soft .turnips. Maize was not favoured on account of the amount of labour involved. Very good results had been obtained from kale, which required less labour than other foods. Lucerne was also coming into favour of late Once established, lucerne would last'a number of years, but there was a good deal of work in connection with this fodder. Where there was only one man on a farm top dressing took an important place in providing feed lor the autumn and spring. There was very little work attached. to this, and lie thought the results were better xban. could? be obtained from cropping. With a farm of 60 acrea. of which 5 acres only were cropped, compensation for the small area cropped could be meur«d- by top dressing the remaining f-5 acies, which may be rnther poor land. As a result of the top dressing the pasture j would carry the stock a good deal further into the autumn, and the results would, he thought, be equally as good as could be got from growing autumn crops. Mr. Standish .emphasised the need for careful milking and handling of the cows, and said that if cows were not properly bred they could not be expected to maintain their milk yield. Mr. Pierce said thai for ten years he had worked at the wrong, end of the season —the autumn. In the autumn a ■cow would be carrying a heavy calf and it was not natural for her to give the same return then as during the first three months, when she was empty. Neglect during the spring could not be atoned for during the autumn. Soft turnips were very questionable feed unless there was something else to carry on with. Target the best results they should work for. the spring. He had bought his experience very dearly. Mr. Dunn: As a neighbour once told him, the butterfat was put in in the winter.

Mr. Pierce: And the spring. Lucerne and maize were the o.nly two fodders that would keep up the milk supply and preserve the condition of the cows for the spring. His place was not suitable for lucerne. ...

Mr. Oliver questioned this and suggested that Mr. Pierce should make another trial with lucerne.

Mr. Mills: Mr. Standish had said quite truly that adequate winter feed was necessary, but what sort?

Mr. Standish: I am probably the poorest authority at the table. . Mr. Mills: A man who gets good results cannot be a poor authority.

Mr. Standish said he was milking for the sixteenth season on his own account and for the last six years he had wintered solely on hay. Since he had been using the hay his returns had been very good. He kept his farm, from one end to the other .in good heart by top dressing. He always had a good growth, of grass, even at the present season of the year; The grass with the -hay.kept his cows in-good condition, and they were quite fat now. In spring, winter, and autumn his cows had no other food. His average per cow was over 3271b of butter fat last season and his cows were not rugged. . There was no change of paddock, and no particular breed was kept. He would not, however a keep a bad cow for two minutes once he had. discovered her. She went out at once. By the methods he had adopted the period against which special provision had to be made could be shortened by about six weeks. For top dressing he had tried almost everything. He. did not know where'he ■ was yet, and was not ~in a position to a make a'recommendation. •He tried a variety off manures to see which would give the best results, and would be pleased to show anyone the-different plots, but as yet his own information was not definite enough to serve as a. guide for others.

Mr. Oliver: You don't go in for overstocking? i

Mr. Standish. No. It could safely be said that 90 per cent, of the cows in Taranaki did not get enough to eat. A member: One hundred per cent. Mr. Haseltine instanced a case in which a herd had bt^en reduced by nine cows, and up to the time when drought checked the milk supply the butter fat yield was 2001b ahead of the yield by the original herd. Notwithstanding the drought the yield for the season was only 4001b of butter-fat less than for the larger herd.

Mr. Buckeritlge referred to .a herd which had been reduced from 33 to 27, with the result that the butter fat yield increased.

Heplying to a Question, Mr. Standisli said he had GO "acres of land and 30 cows, and only five acres were kept for cropping. He received 327i1b of butter fat per cow last season, and this vas the best return since he had started, his present methods. A point that should be mentioned was that he had not spent as much on individual cows as some farmers.

Mr. Batten said that tile quantity of special feed grown was very small compared with the pasture feed, and conseo/uently the main thing was to maintain the pastures.

Vrr. Standish: With top dressing the farmer does not_ get the weeds, and when the T took into consideration the cost in growing crops—working the land, seeds, etc. —he did not think that top dressing was the dearest method of obtaining feed. Mr. Dunn believed that the time was not far distant when less cropping would be done and farmers would go in for a plot of lucerne in proportion to the area of their farm. He believed that experiments at the demonstration farm at Manaia would show the w.^dom of doing this. They wanted to set their pasture landsr down pronertly and then keep them right. Mr. Standish sr,id that he did not follow this method, but worked on the pastures as ho found them.

Mr. Batten said there were patches on his farm on which too dress in o- had no effect. They remained as. bare as previously. Mr. Standish said that basic super and superphosphate and lime scientifically mixed so that both acted together would bring the grass away on tho most poverty stricken palch. A sprinkling of '200 or 300 cwt. to the

acre was not sufficient when 20 per cent, would be lime. He would advise a beginaer "never to us© a mixture, but to mix bis own manures. Mr Buckeridge said the amount or lime in Taranaki soils was quite made r quate. There was a deficiency of from 10 cwt. to nearly as many tons according to analyses. Mr. Pierce: One of the troubles is that with some land the grass roots are ; not there for"a start. Mr Mills said they had been told when' in Wellington at the "Dominion Conference that the price of Government phosuhates was coming down very materially? There was a good deal ot superphosphates in stock which had ceen manufactured out of an earlier shipment of phosphates purchased at a high puce. The last shipment of phosphates was considerably lower, and_the next would be lower still. There was every probability .of a decrease in prices shortly. He ,'had heard of a party who bad clubbed together and had bought 2000 tons of phosphates, saving £2 ncr ton. Mr Dunn: They purchased the rock and' had it- ground at freezing vorks. That was in Southland. Mr. Mills: It seemed pretty clear that phosphates were, not of very much use unless they were finely ground, and when finely ground they were nearly as dear, as super. If there was a possibility: of putting in an order tor 400U tons on behalf of farmers the Government would deliver it at a fairly reasonable price. The Government had been "careful not to make contracts for. freights for more than six months, as it was* expected that freights would come down. ' . Mr. Haseltine said that adequate shelter was a firat requisite to a good milk; supply. . Mr. Oliver said he had known a man with no more than wire fences for shelter beat a man who had plenty of good shelter. Mr. Pier-ce: Shelter is not so essential as feed. ' . With regard to top dressing it was stated that super was the only v ater soluble manure they had, but any manure was better than none. An instance was given by Mr. Dunn , of basic super and super and lime having been applied to separate plots and it was noticed that the stock would eat the paddock to which the former had been aoplied bare before touching the latter." Carbonic of lime had been j usedv ' ' Mr. Mills said that super alone produced a heavy growth of grasfe which was not of the best quality. If lime was mixed before^owjng it would counteract the sournessT.but when Ur.io was sowri in an insoluble form +he v could not $ay how long it would take to get this'effect. "■—■■ . . At the conclusion Mr. Mills tnanked Mr. Standish for the information he had given. When a man milked 30 cowsl on 60 acres and obtained a yield per cow of 3271b of .butter i«.t Ihere could not be much wrong ,with his methods. Results spoke, and the methods adopted by Mr. Standish were, to say the least, exceedingly interesting. With top dressing he had 'obtained results that were highly creditable. He escaped the hard work of other farmers, and, while he did not wish to criticise what was being done on the Manaia demonstration farm, one might pause and think whether a right policy was being pursued. At the faJm they were growing roots in the meantime andintended to establish lucerne and renew ;the pastures, the ultimate object being to run the farm with lucerne and grass. Mr. Standish had told them 'that he had obtained excellent results without lucerne.

Mr. Dunn: Mr. Standish might do still better with lucerne. He might be able to carry an \ additional 10 cows. This,would be equal to about £300 a year, and he could get assistance on the farm for less than that.

Mr. Standish: Some &aythat it is possible to run a head to the acre, but to do this labour would be necessary, and where would it come from. Com-pensation-at the end of the year would not pei ■'found in the additional profit. ___________