VALUE OF GRASS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 3241, 11 December 1930, Page 2

VALUE OF GRASS.

IMPORTANT FACTORS. Pasture grass is the best of all foods for cattle and sheep during early summer, and it should also be the cheapest. The quality and quantity, as well as the cost are determined by the quality of the land, the nature of the grass and its treatment and manuring. The value of the grass to the farmer will largely depend on the class of stock using it. Store stock and dry stock appreciate good grass and respond to its influence, but the cash returns per acre will be low as compared with fattening stock, and these in turn may give cash returns below that obtainable from milk producing stock either ewes, nursing lambs ,or cows producing milk for sale. The higher returns will justify higher expenditure. Another factor affecting the profitable use of grass is whether grass is the sole food or whether supplementary foods also are given. Grass may be of too high a protein content or

it may be too laxative, but the correcting of these properties by supplementary foods means a further outlay and there is no reliable evidence to prove that such foods are profitable, particularly during the early summer months, provided the grass is of average quality and in fair quantity; indeed, a long series of experiments can be quoted to show how unprofitable supplementary feeding can be. Exceptions may be made where stock are being pushed for a particularly early market, or where milk records are desired independent of cost.

The condition of the grass itself is all important; leafy herbage is of the greatest value and any tendency to run to seed should be checked by periodical close grazing, or if this is not practicable, by the use of the mower.

Fattening cattle do not respond freely where the grass is short; high protein content is less important to them than to milk producing animals, and abundant pasture where they can quickly satisfy their requirements suits them best.