Rotational Grazing

Northland Age, Volume 1, Issue 3, 23 October 1931, Page 3

Rotational Grazing

Speaking at a farmers gathering at Woodville, Mr. A. E. Ransom, Minister of Lands, said : “Although success has already attended the efforts of the farmers in increasing produci tion, there are still further advances to be made in attaining this object. There can be intensive farming under the rotational grazing system, which has been made possible for the farmer by the experiments of the Agricultural Department. Under the new system farms that have previously supported one family can now support three families and give them a better living. The Lands Department has several blocks in process of preparation for settlement and in the centre of each block a demonstration farm is being established to indicate what can and should be done on farms. As soon as the settlers are installed on the farms a good class of stock with pedigree grass seed only would be supplied and the farmer would be set off in small holdings that will enable them to make good. Testing for Mammitis The Live Stock Division of the Department of Agriculture is encouraging farmers to have the milk of their individual cows tested for mammitis. The farmer sends in a sample of each cow’s milk to one of the Government laboratories where it is microscopically tested. If the disease germ is found in the milk of any particular cow or cows then the farmer knows these cows should be milked last so as not to pass on the trouble. Some authorities declare that such cows should not be bred from, as susceptibility to mammitis is hereditary. The Useful Starling Starlings can be seen in very large numbers in Wairarapa and Bush district paddocks at the present time %, searching for grass grubs, which are causing a great deal of destruction on some of the lighter grassland this year. A Ballance settler walking along a gully on his property recently heard a noise similar to that made by chain harrowing in a neighbour’s paddock on top of the hill. On investigating he was surprised to find the noise was made by a huge flock of starlings which covered about half an acre of ground. Though birds are sometimes destructive they are one of the settler’s best friends.