OUR DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18534, 19 October 1923, Page 11

OUR DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

v; v "' 5 '*• - -r.(V •- w -' f. "V '' > CHEAP PASTURE. . I Si" f " / ■' 1 ■ ■ v.■ S ; ■• "•/ ' MABVELLOUS CLOVER I GBOWTH, No. , m ' ; - • [Br OUR special COiIMISS'ONEa.I v ! The cost of land and its improve-' ; %■■ meats must of necessity play an important , part in the economy of dairying, and the ' ' - general idea that it requires from £80 to ( . £100 worth of land in this ; country ?■ to • • .carry one oow is evidently subject to soma ;■ modification. On tho new farm which X visited recently in the Tokoroa' district, I had ample opportunity not only of studying \ tho cost of tho land and the cost of break- , ing it in to grass and crop, but its stock" . carrying capacity. The farm in question ;; was purchased at £3 10s per acre. Where i the scrub is light and can be cleared principally by fire tho land can bo made ready for. the plough at less than 5s per . acre. ' Ploughing can bo done by contract at ' . from 8s to 10s per acre, and at a less cost, and certainly at a less expenditure ; in cash, if the settler does his own plough- ! ing with a good team and .implements, j Discing and harrowing costs about 9s per , aero and seen for temporary pasture Jigs ; to 30s per acre and drilling 2s 6d per acre, ' while manure may be put down ,at 10s. So reckoning tho price of the land at £3 10s, tho land was knight and. put down in pasture at a total cost of £6 16s 6d per acre, or allowing for extras, £7 an aero. ( It is estimated that such pasture will readily carry a cow to three acres, or a , lesser area, during the dairying season, so the land cost par cow is £21. One could add a liberal amount for' fencing and farm buildings and still the land cost per cow would be* only about £40, leaving a margin of £40 capital value or, roughly, over £2 per aero par year less interest or rent charges against the estimated , £80 supposed to represent the value of ordinary dairying land needed to carry a cow. Pasture) at £2 an Acre, There is another method of breaking in these lights soils to pasture which is fast coming into favour, and promises :to bo quit« successful. This is by discing instead of ploughing. This method has several things in its favour. It is cheap , and quick, and the soil does not need so much consolidating. ' Heavy disc harrows are run twice or three times over the land after the scrub or fern has been burnt off. This leaves a satisfactory seed bed. Tho grass is drilled in with about 10s . worth of manure per acre, and the whole operas tion, including labour, seed and fertiliser, only costs from £2 to £2 10s per acre, : which, together with the cost of land of £3 10s per acre, provides land in pasture v at from £5 10s to £6 per acre. I saw pasture put down in this fashion, consisting of white clover, rye, timothy-"and cocksfoot., which - looked of excellent quality and carried a lot of stock. , ' Considering that there are tens of thousands of acres in this particular district which can be treated in this fashion, it is plain, or should be plain, to any unprejudiced person, that there is ample scope for both dairy-farming and sheepfarming .at an outlay which should insure profitable; returns. It is of course nbnolntely necessary that an intending settler . should have enough - capital to make the necessary improvements, for the land in its ' natural state is incapable of carding stock. * - - - • j If a man likes to go further back than ; the farms I have mentioned, he can still buy Jand at £1 per acre and upward. It may be mentioned also that south of the Waikato River, and within easy reach of the T.T.T. Company's railway, there "■ are Crown lands advertised as open for ; selection under lease at a rental of only 7d per acre per year. With such cheap land, and economical methods of establishing pasture, there is certainly a pro* • mising field for settlement wherever; com* munication ,is moderately good. , A .Land of Clover. • One of the things which N attracted my • attention, many years ago, to the possibilities of turning pumice soi's into good farming country, wa* the wonderful manner in which all the. clover family, and , particularly the perennial clover, com- j monly called cow grass . It was j plain to me at the time that when clovers were established, "the soil* must improve. j The pumice soils are well supplied with potash, but are frequently lacking in nit- ' rogen arid humus. • if. The lovers helped by phosphate manures would:; supply .both - these : elements of fertility, and under , systematic farming and regular dressings 'of the chief phosphates manures and, lime, there womd he provided in the soil, the five main sources of all plant growth—nitrogen, potash, > : phosphoric acid, humus and : lime. y-My )i ] y early contention has proved correct, but the extraordinary growth of. perennial, and broad leaved red clover has led to •• strange results. Some of the settlers now actually complain" of the: dom- (:•' in co of - these valuable legumes I ..suppose that no where else in the » world except on the pumice soils of the North Island have fanners ever complained about the too great luxuriance of perennial and red clovers, They axe nearly as rich in stock feeding values as • lucerne; they make hay nearly as valu- } able for stock foods as oats, and *v they : are easily and cheaply grown. . • I could scarcely believe that the : com--1 plaints I heard 1 regarding the dominance of • clovers were ""genuine and yet I have - seen whole farms which, in the summer time grow scarcely : anything else. No . although clover is an excellent .food for stock, an! exclusive diet of i£ many have bad results. If sufficient stock' could be placed on the paddocks during the summer to keep- the clover I closely eaten down there* : would be very little danger, but when onae •it gets ahead it , crowds out other grasses and grows coarse and - rank. . . ';. ■ , The trouble is . that the. large clovers have been too widely and commonly, sown, and few farmers have oeen brava enough to plough the . clovers under ; and enrich their soils for miied grass pasture. .It is causing some trouble -at the present time "but it is not an. merely - an embarrassment of riches." PerenniaJ and broad-leaved red clovers can be profitably used for breaking In ntw land; for hay making purposes for ; fattening ewes and cattle, but they must only be sown m reasonable proportions and the bulk ot the pastures must bo made from English grasses, in which the wjhite clover will come naturally in this . country. I should like overseas fanners to bear the complaints I have heard that tho luxuriant growth of the two best clovers known to man is looked upon as a drawback on the ■ pumice soils. If anything could convince them that pumice noils had great farming possibilities this would. ...