FARM MANAGEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18761, 15 July 1924, Page 12

FARM MANAGEMENT.

LECTURE AT RUAKURA. POINTS IN A BALANCE-SHEET, fax m.Eoaii'H.—•own comesfondbnt.J -HAMILTON. Monday. A lecture ,on farm management was given at the Uuakura Farm School by Mr. J. E. F. Jenks, an instructor of the Department of Agriculture at Auckland. The question of farm management, said the lecturer, might be looked at in this way—one had all the ingredients necessary to the making of a stew, yet the success of the slew depended on the know-

ledge of their employment in their correct proportions. So it was with farming where one had the land, the equipment, the capital and all the other essentials, which were useless without the knowledge of how to use them. To deal with the question fully; one must consider it as one of economics involving population and its increase, currency, and some study of the effect of these things on markets. All of these affected the prosperity of farmers, j The charge for land was a first charge* against whatever was produced on the farm. One must not forget that land values must increase. Population created a constant demand for land where there was a limit to the amount available. New Zealand- was, territorially, a small country, and its inevitable growth in population meant that land was bound to become more expensive. Such a prospect brought up the question of ways and means of getting the best possible production for the least possible expenditure on land, and this meant thafe farmers must turn their attention more fully than they had previor/sly to the matter of intensive culture.

Factors in Land Value. The fixing of land values hinged on many things, among which were natural situation, access to markets, roads and railways, water supply and improvements. The better and more plentiful these were, the greater capital must one be prepared to invest for the advantages they gave. Most failures and partial failures were due to lack of capital to make improvements and to buy machinery, livestock, and manures. Though sometimes the odd man could get on well enough with little capital, it might be laid down as a general rule that a dairy farmer needed from £8 to £15 capital per acre and the pastoral farmer from £2 to £8. A farmer working his own farm should derive as much wages as he would if he wera working for another. If he was not getting value for his labour and time, the proposition was economically unsound. There was an intimate relation; between labour and equipment as one would see when one realised that a cow costing £15 took up as much time and labour as a cow costing £30, and the charges connected with an inferior cow were equally I great with those of a first-rate cow. S finding Leakage.

There were several questions affecting farm management which were of economic importance. The most important of these economic laws was the law of diminishing returns where each yearly increase in yield was smaller than the previous one. A man might put two hundred, then four hundred, and then six hundred tons of manure on his land and find that for every hundred per cent, increase in manure he was not getting more than about five per cent, increase in yield. This did not mean that the mean man who used but little manure would coma off best, but that the increased quantity of manure had been ignorantly or unwisely • administered or that the farmer was devoting too much attention to a question which did not need attention. The fact might be that some factor other than manure was the factor which was in need of attention.

For instance, in producing butter-fat, we had to consider such things as the size and . quality of the herd, shelter,, feed, water-supply and management. We might improve the herd and yet ignore the need for improvement in other directions. The yield of any herd o>f cowfe must he determined by the weakest factor. The same applied to crop farming, where we had to consider such questions as drainage, seed, etc. In crop farming in New Zealand phosphates wera usually the chief among the weakest factors. Again, a man might not realise that he had too much land, and that the land and the tstock were both being wasted. Every farmer should keep accounts to enable him to trace where he was making a loss. 3?arm Accounts.

To take a case of farm accounts, one might consider an instance where a farmer had a farm of IGO acres, valued at £40 an acre, carrying 40 cows, a bull, and one or two horses. The rent on 100 acre!- at 6£ per cent, would be £260; this was a first charge. Eates might be assessed at £30. Supposing that 90 acres were grassed and the balance was in fodder crops, the grass needed manure and drainage, which would cost, say, £50. The cost of seed might be put down at £20, and the cost of labour per cow at £5, or £200 for the herd of 40. A total of £80 might be reckoned upon for the upkeep of the herd. Upkeep of plant, machinery, implements, .and so on cost, say, £60. A farm such as was being considered would cost £8 or £10 an acre to stock, or, at a cost of £20 per cow, roughly £800. With these figures, a farmer could work out what quantity of butter-fat he would need at current prices to give him a fair return. Farming was a difficult business to reduce to concrete instances and actual

I figures, for it depended so much on 'natural causes, such as the individuality of cows, bad seasons, floods, and failures in calving. Another interesting consideration was the question of the cost of horse labour. This, on an average, comprised grazing at, perhaps, £5 per head, besides other items. The cost of chaff raised the problem of what should he charged for produce supplied from a farmer's own land for his own benefit, hut the farmer could not expect to make a profit twice out of the one thing, and he should debit his account for horse labour with the fair market price of fodder; therefore, chaff might be set down at scwt., at a total cost of £1 at present rates; a horse having, on an average, a useful life of ten years, depreciation might be charged at £3 per year per head. Labour expended directly on horses would be worth probably £3 per annum. Thus, a horse working 100 days in the year would cost four shillings pur day, or three shillings per day worked; for 150 days, which was quite a normal amount of work. Mr. Fawcett, of Canterbury, had taken an average of a large number of horses over a length of time and found that the cost worked out ai> three shillings. Rotational Grazing.

In conclusion,, the lecturer drew attention to what was the great characteristic of a good dairy farm, and that was the rotational grazing of paddocks and the rotation of fodder crops. If a man broke up 20 acres of a 200-&cre farm, he was tempted to put in only one crop, with the result that for two or three months he had good fodder and for the rest of the year ho had none of any real food value. It was often forgotten that cows needed the best of attention and fodder, not only when they were at their best, but throughout the whole year. There was a variety of crops with which the farmer could rotate, among which was that wonderful grass, paspalum. The last point for consideration was that of what he might term "farm.engineering," meaning the discreet and careful laying out of roads, fences, bridges, culverts, and buildings. So much time and so much labour were wasted by the wrong arrangement of these things that it would pay every farmer to consider whether he might not effect great economy in work, and so in money, by their rearrangement. '..;•'.••,