FARM EXTENSION SERVICE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 306, 24 November 1932, Page 12

FARM EXTENSION SERVICE

IMPORTANT FIELD WORK OF THE SEASON. (Contributed by Fields Division and Plant Research Station.) In the field two tasks of major importance face farmers at the present season. If these are not attended to efficiently the returns not only of the latter part of the current season but also of much of the following season will suffer. One of these tasks is the proper control of the growth of pastures during summer. in view of widespread favourable conditions, this season promises to contrast in this respect with last season, when summer control of pasture growth did not particularly press for attention, growth being relatively scant. Hence it seems well ,to mention that this year's fortunate abundance of growth brings with it an acute need for attention — a need that was not similarly felt last season.

The other task is the adequate provision of reserves of feed for use by stock during both the late summer of the current senson and the winter and early spring of the following season. On those many farms on which ensilage is rightly given prominence the two tasks to' a considerable extent tend to merge into one because the-im-portant job of building up reserves of feed in the form ot silage serves also very effectively to control the summer growth of the pasture. As the need for the control of summer growth of pastures is not generally so well understood as is the need for building up reserve of feed, it may be well to give first consideration to the control of growth on pastures during early summer. During November or the early part of December an excessive amount of herbage on the fields under grazing constitutes definite evidence that the growth of the pastures has been more than sufficient to meet the requirements of the stock. AVhen this condition of the pastures becomes noticeable extensive loss of control of growth is imminent, and unless suitable means of bringing about proper control are adopted poor quality will soon develop in tlie herbage and there will be a falling off, which couid Ire avoided, in the production of fresh growth in the autumn. “TOPPING” OF PASTURES. Whet} at this stage the fields under grazing are producing in excess of the requirements ot the stock, it is often advisable to drop from the grazing programme a field or fields in addition to those which have already been closed for hay or ensilage. Even when an additional field is closed up at such a late stage it may produce a light cutting tor hay or ensilage, but even if the growth on it cannot suitably be so used, and hence has to be more or less wasted, this is preferable to the general poor control of the pastures yvlnteh 'would have resulted from keeping the field in the grazing programme when the growth from it was not required by the stock. The essence of good pasture management during mid-summer is to have some, at least, of the paddocks producing short, fresh, ' higlily digestible grow tn —it is much better to have some nelds well controlled and some really oadiy controlled than to have all really badly controlled. The latter condition is the result often obtained by trying to graze an area giving growth in excess of the current requirements of the stock. At times, and particularly when a farm is somewhat poorly subdivided, it may be impossible to drop a paddock from the grazing programme without reducing too greatly the area being stocked. In such circumstances “topping” of the pastures with the mower wlien portions tends towards rank growth and flower head production is a measure which gives good results. “Topping” of pastures in this manner is not recommended as a practice which should be generally followed in an extensive way; it is to be considered rather as an emergency measure which may be adopted with advantage when the utilisation of pastures has not turned out according to expectations. As a means of dealing with surplus summer growth it is an alternative or second choice to ensilage or hay-making, but it is definitely a second choice. The ideal method is to conserve all surplus summer growth as hay or silage for use during periods of shortage. If, lor some reason, such surplus cannot bo conserved, it should at least be removed, and this may be done by “topping.” Often “topping” is done at a later stage than is desirable; an endeavour should be made to “top” pastures early enough to allow of the development of a fresh growth to provide valuable feed from Christmas onwards. “Topping” has at times been objected to on the grounds that it would leave the pasture so short as to result in undue drying out during the dry period that often occurs in the late summer. This objection can be met in two ways. Firstly, the mower can be set to give a comparatively high cut and thereby_ any; danger of drying out can be minimised even if dry weather were to set in immediately after the “topping.” Secondly, the “topping” should be done early enough to eliminate the likelihood of dry weather setting in immediately after it. Circumstances which specially tend to make “topping” advisable occur, firstly, when there are few or no dry stock to follow wet stock to remove rough growth left by the latter, and, aga.in, when harrowing of pastures has been previously neglected. Often during late November or early December it is advantageous to harrow pastures which have been heavily stocked earlier in the season. Frequently. some of tire grassland on a farm may, with advantage, be dressed with superphosphate in the early summer. Such a dressing not only will stimulate the production of fresh growth during the latter part of the season but also will make its influence felt during the following season. If other pastures not top-dressed in the summer are top-dressed in the autumn, the two lots of top-dressing will materially ease the problem of winter feeding. Summer top-dressing as suggested above is most effective in parts where a good deal of rain may be expected during- December and January and declines in effectiveness as the De-cembcr-January rainfall decreases. RESERVES OF FEED. - Now, as to' the second task—that of specially providing reserves of feed for use during periods of scant pasture growth—it has already been mentioned that ensilage may at least partly meet the requirements of the case. But it is seldom advantageous to endeavour to depend completely upon ensilage even in those instances in which it is advisable to depend mainly upon it. Even in a season of abundance of pasture growth cropping is likely to be advisable, if for no other purpose than to allow ample reserves of silage to he laid in against seasons such as last season, when the pasture growth was so scant as to make it impossible to save the quantity of silage required to meet tire normal needs of the following season. The fact that some cropping is so generally desirable even on farms devoted mainly to grass makes its worthy

of mention that there ant special cropping work The during the next tew weexs.■ swede is an important crop J timely to mention now. Almost m variably swedes are sown on tag* ploughed out of grass. This iound practice m view of such ais eases as club-root and dry-ro , j instructive to note that in the Mia tivelv few instances in the field 7 competitions in which swedes followed swedes the resulting crops were generally comparatively poo . Where it is proposed to sou sweci after a previous swede or turnip crop it is advisable over wide areas in‘ club-root is common to use avan y such as “Herning s which lias been shown to lie resistant to club-root. is also specially desirable not to em_ ploy an acid manure such as super phosphate alone, which favours the ravages of club-root. .. Apart from conditions in which there is reason to anticipate trouble from club-root, superphosphate is. ? p % dressing for swedes, and indeed a dressing consisting of about two parts superphosphate and one part bone manure is widely used with good re suits at the rate of 2 to 3* cwt.an acre. It is well to bear in mind that superphosphate readily causes serious injury to swede and turnip seed it brought into close contact with it even for a short period. Apart from this injury, super is, over wide areas tne most efficient form of phosphate that can be used with these crops. ine injury may be avoided “‘f” 6 super with an equal weight of carbonate of lime at least a week before sowing. . ’ . , .j_i_ A standard practice winch widely, gives good results is to sow eight to 14 ozs. of seed of swedes an acre in rows 14 inches apart. The varieties of swedes which are popularly favoured are Superlative, Grandmaster, Masterpiece, and Magnum Bonurn, with Hernings coming into prominence where club-root is a consideration of moment. FIELD CARROTS.

Another crop, mention of which is well justified, is the field carrot. On farms possessing areas ot free working loams, the field carrot, given food cultivation, is capable of heavy yields. This is indicated by the tact that in farmers’ field crop competitions ni three recent seasons 134 crojis have averaged over 43 tons an acre and have included crops which yielded ill the vicinity of 70 tons an acre. Good results may be expected from a manurial dressing of 3 to 5 cwt. an acre ot a mixture consisting of two parts superphosphate and one part blood and bone. Varieties which have maintained popularity over a considerable number or years are Matchless White, Barriball, White Belgian and Guerande. Guerande, whicn is a very suitable variety for sheep, is successfully grown without thinning in rows 21 to 26 inches apart, li lb. of seed an acre being used. With other varieties, good results are frequently obtained by hand thinning and cultivating carrots sown in drills 21 to 26 inches apart, but sowing in drills 14 inches apart also gives heavy yields. The amount of seed generally used is 1 to lilb. an acre. Success generally attends sowing in November. Lucerne is of such marked merit that it should be grown much more extensively. A fine firm seed bed is required for fully successful establishment of this important crop. Rapid and vigorous development of seedlings, which is desirable, is favoured by warmth, and because of this need of warmth the best results are generally obtained by Bowing during the latter part of November or in December. It is good practice to sow through every coulter of the grain drill 12 to 18lb an acre of seed of Marlborough origin. Alternatively, the seed may be broadcast and covered by lightly harrowing it. Lime may as a rule be applied with advantage before the final cultivation preceding seed sowing. . . Treatment of the seed with suitable culture is advisable to ensure the presence of specific organisms upon the activity of which the ultimate success of the lucerne at times depends. Cultures are obtained at a small cost from the department, and prepaid orders for them should be placed about fourteen days before it is expected to sow the seed.