SPRING FEED.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 88, 16 April 1914, Page 6

SPRING FEED.

A matter of considerable interestto dairy farmers in Taranaki is the question of spring feed. A wellIknown farmer near Tari'lci sends a "...short description of a trial he has iriade, which has turned out very successful, with tares or vetches mixed with Algerian oats. This will probably, be read with interest by dairy farmers. He writes ''as fellows:—Having one paddock 'badly' cleared and .grassed, we decided to turn it up and sow some spring feed. Wot knowing what to sow to the best jadvanjtage, we decided to put in Scotch vetches or tares mixed with [Algerian pats (two ''bushels tares Vnd one bushel oats :to the acre, with SJ_ cwt. manure to^the acre). "We : 'drilled the seeds in during the last iWeek in November. Tlie crop came

away very quickly, and by the third week in January the paddock (containing eight acres in all) was one mass of thick green feed ffchree feet high. On 24th January we started to feed off with 80 head milking cows, turning them in for two to two and a half hours each evening before . going into the night paddock. For > 14 days we fed off, the cows giving daily- from 180 to. 2301b milk extra, : the test also going up two points. The., cows- grew very fond of them, and no bad results from blowing or gripes followed. We then closed the paddock; for four weeks, when we again fed them off with the same number'of cows, only an hour and a half each day for two weeks.' From this feeding they went up about 1701b milk daily, (the test going up another two points. We have now fed them off a third time, for one week only with a rise of 1501b of milk per day with .a further rise of two points in test, which is now 4.2. The crop is now closed for the spring feed, when, the cows are due in August to September. We expect the feed to be fully three feet high, and thick in growth. The crop is, l^ke peas, feeding the soil with nitrogen and keeping down couch, etc., thus not distressing the paddock, as is the case with kale or maize. Mr G. de S. Baylis, Government Field Instructor, saw this crop, tried the roots, and expressed himself as well pleased, and thinks some of the paddock should be suitable for a lucerne plot next spring, for which he has offered

to supply seed and inoculated soil, as an experimental plot.