FOR THE FARMER.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XVIII, Issue 1895, 1 December 1923, Page 2

FOR THE FARMER.

Rape a'nd turnips are now being put in all over the YVairarapa.

Hay-making is well forward in the Rotorua district.

No less than 1,459,679 boxes of butter were manufactured in the Auckland province during last year.

Rabbits are not nearly so numerous in North Otago as they were a few years ago, much to the advantage of farmers.

Hay-making has already commenced in the YVairarapa. Mr Walter Feast, of Akiahouka, had the mowing machine in his lucerne crop at the end of last week.

One farmer in the Oamaru district has already taken three crops of lucerne from a paddock this year, and expects to take a fourth before Christmas.

“I have never seen the country looking so well,” remarked an authority on farming, referring to the lower part of the Rangitikei County, with which he has been acquainted for over 60 years. He added, “the crops along Pukepapa Road are phenomenal.”

It is reported that the opening prices to be offered by the freezing companies for this season’s meat are for lambs, s|d for wethers, and 4d for ewes. It is understood that the same prices are in operation in Hawke’s Bay and the YVairarapa.

The renewing of pastures that has been carried on by farmers, and is still going on, together with the provision being made for winter and early spring feed for stock is a plain indication of the extent to which sheep and lamb fattening for export has replaced graingrowing in North Otago (says the Oamaru Mail.)

Segis Pietertje Prospect, which made a world’s record in 1920, and is advertised by the Americans as the only 37,0001 b cow in th world, has now, as a nine-year-old, given 35,461.951 b of milk, and 1129.531 b of fat. It is stated therefore that Segis Pietertje Prospect has now made the first and the second highest records ever made, and that the two average more than 30001 b of milk greater than the two records of any other cow.

Farmers visiting YVhangarei were jubilant in regard to the rain which apparently fell over the whole peninsula. The rain, following upon that of the previous week-end, is generally considered to be worth a very great deal for the welfare of the north during the coming summer.

IMPERIAL POOLS. YVriting in the “Imperial Food Journal,” of London, on an “Empire Food Policy”” (in a series of articles on the Imperial Conference) Mr YVilliam Purvis, M.8.E., makes this interesting statement: — Talking to a big man in Dominion circles in London about the meat question the other day, I asked him wheter lie thought the Dominion producers could ever succeed in getting economical connections direct to their English market. “No,” he replied, “not until they arc organised as well as the American and Argentine and other producing and marketing interests and are intelligent enough to buy the best men to help them. I see that some of the Canadian farmers are pooling their wheat, and some area ot. Until they all do it we have inter-imperial pools. They cannot handle the ports in the U.S.A. and elsewhere abroad, let alone Liverpool, and. the middlemen and the millers will have them every time. It’s the same all round. New Zealand has had rather bad luck, but in her milk product exports she is showing us the way. YVhy don’t all the Dominions get together and organise. Then an imperial Economic Conference might be some good. Meanwhile you are trying to arrange a business deal among a mob; to 1 make a swap in a bran pie!

VALUE OF FEEDING. The comparatively higher returns that can be obtained by dairy farmers who keep l their cows in good condition through adequate feeding was referred to by Mr H. B. Cobbe in “Hoard’s Dairyman.’’ He says: “A herd in San I’asqual Valley, California, when it was first placed on test, was in a very low condition. In fact, the cows were so low in flesh that they had to be sprayed. There was not enough tallow under their hides to kill the lice. Of course, this dairy was not a paying one and is only interesting from the .standpoint of what happened to the test records. The first test showed a herd average of only 3.1 per cent. Some of the big Holsteins only tested 2.2 per cent. This was the lowest record in this particular association. The average but-ter-fat per month was only 181 b. However, the herd was put on a fairly wellbalanced ration, including silage and alfalfa, and they began to show marked improvement. They lost their cooties, and after they bad put on flesh, but not before, they began to pick up in fat test. By the end of tlie year’s test these cows bad gained an average of 2001bs in flesh, their hair laid down sleek, and their test had gone up together with their milk flow. Cows that had tested 2.2 per cent were testing from 3.2 per cent to 3.8 per cent. Ami the average test of this herd, which was a mixed one, steadily climbed from 3.1 per cent to 3.8 per cent. The month’s yield of fat for the twelfth month was 321 b per cow, where it had been 181 b at the start. It is said that you cannot change a cow’s test with feed. But you can raise her test by putting some flesh under her hide. That was proved in this case. SUMMER FEEDING OF DAIRY COWS. After careful observation of successful farm practice, combined with a study of the nutritive value of pasture and forage crops, an English authority states that lie has worked out the following suggestions as a basis on which to regulate the feeding of a dairy Herd during the summer:— 1. When grass is plentiful of good quality, easily digested, and not specially laxative, a cow may be expected to. eat enough to maintain her body weight and to produce four gallons of milk daily without any difficulty.

2. Later, as the grass becomes less plentiful and less easily digested, the amount of milk which it will produce, in addition to maintaining condition, will decrease to, say, 3 gallons daily. 3. Cows yielding over four gallons of milk when the grass is at its best, and over three gallons at some time later, should receive some dry feed such as cake and bran in proportion to theii r extra yield. 4. Later still, unless the grass is suplemented by forage crops, the daily yield at which concentrates should be commenced will fall to two gallons, or even lower, according to the nature of the pasture. 5. Forage crops, such as rye and clover, millet, lucerne, etc., appear to be required at the rate of 20 to 251 b for the production of 1 gallon of milk, hence, when 'this amount is available to supplement grass, the yield beyond which concentrates are given should be raised proportionately,- 40 to 501 b green fodder may be given per head daily Avhen the supply is sufficient. It must be clearly understood that no definite seasonable time-table can be set out for the introduction of forage crops or concentrates. The feeding value of the pasture varies from farm to farm—indeed, from field to field, and from week to week—and the quality will depend on the season, the fertility of the soil, and the density of stocking; hence, only the man on the farm can estimate with any degree of accuracy when additions to the grass diet arc desirable. Attention must also be paid to, the condition of the cows and additional foods given when necessary, either to the herd as a whole or to individual cows.” YVliile these suggestions could not form the basis of dairy stock feeding practice in New Zealand, they are interesting and instructive in respect to the general lines upon which the feeding of cows in milk should be based.