PEAS IN SHEEP FEEDING.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 72, 26 March 1914, Page 6

PEAS IN SHEEP FEEDING.

A considerable amount of experimenting has been carried out lately in Victoria in connection with peas as feed for sheep. . Some interesting facts and figures are providedi-by a grower in one of the coastal districts of Victoria, who two years ago put in six acres with the Dun pea variety drilled at the rate of If bushels per acre, together with 2cwt. per acre of guano .___ In December> 59 weaner lambs and 25 young pigs were turned! in, and marketed;early.in March, the lambs at an average of 15s each, and the pigs',at from/32s 6d to37s 6d. The same acreage was put in in the following year with wheats which failed, owing to excessive rain, . but a great growth sprung up ;of selfgi-bwn vetches that had been, among the previous, crop of peas. Off :the six acres a silo was filled with 5 tons of ensilage, This grower's plan, as explained, is to buy storesheep and pigs in December, and turn them in on to the peas,

I as the most economical way to handle ' ..the crop, only there has to be plenty of good water handy., as stock on peas appear to drink more water than usual. Also sufficient shade is:«in advantage. Sheep and*~pigs thus fed, it is stated, produce first-class mutton arid pork, commanding the'best price ,: on the. mark«fc;. Another'jkiirit hoted v: is the profitableness of sowing peas at 0 the rate of about half a bushel per acre along with an oats or wheat crop,' • as they add nitrogen to the soil. The small white variety'is used for this £ purpose, because it does not grotv1 much top and ripens early. <■ The following is- tihe experience of a farmer in the Willunga district of South Australia,; where the climate is much drier: In"a seven-acre paddock the ordinary' Dun sown' towards s the end of June at the rate of two bushels per acre, drilled in together with about 901b of superphosphate, did so well : that they were allowed to ripen; the tumbling rake passed over them once, and when carted in for threshing they yielded an average of 15 bushels to the acre. Immediately afterwards 200 ewes and 60 lambs were turned into the paddock, with 20. acres of hay stubble to run over in addition, and within one .month the lambs, which, were forward stores when put in, were sold as "good to prime' at 12s in a market where the highest price for "extra prime" was 15s.v Also the ewes had so much improved that a good proportion of them could have been sold as fat, only it was not their year for selling, as they were required for another season as breeders. The beneficial effect: of . ; the pea crop upon .the soil from a'■ nitrogenous point of view is also described in this case as having been so j notable that the wheatgrowers in the district are now substituting a pea ;. . ,:fjyop foa- the bare fallow in their rota- i tion system., j . . % ;