SHEEP AND CATTLE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22818, 27 August 1937, Page 5

SHEEP AND CATTLE

COMPLEMENTAL GRAZEKS HEALTH OF BOTH IMPROVED RESULT IN INCREASED RETURN

BY It. BIUUtETON

Ono hears it frequently asserted that wo in New Zealand are overdoing dairying. Our chief market, Great Britain, it is said, is saturated with our dairy produce and outlets for our surplus must be sought 011 the Continent, in America, the East and India. While not agreeing that even the British market can be considered as over-supplied while a large part of the population must go without butter and cheese, and vise margarine and similar vegetable substitutes of low nutritive value, and while agreeing that we should overlook no opportunity of developing now markets, I feci that in ono senso we are concentrating too much on specialised dairy fanning. I believe that we could maintain, and even increase our output of dairy produce, and at tlio same time earn bigger profits from healthier stock at a lower production cost if we combined the grazing of sheep with dairy farming. Animals are Oomplemental Few people appear to realise that n very wiso Providence made nearly all the species of animals and birds complementary to one another. The cow, the sheep, the horse, poultry and so 011 are each benefited by association in grazing the same area. The cow, which is naturally a browser, and not a grazer like "the sheep and horse, can economically deal with a large bulk of feed of comparatively low nutritive value. Such feed would be poison to sheep, which, however, thrive on the shorter and sweeter herbage left behind by the cow. The joint grazing of these two ruminant species encourages the maintenance of variety in tlio pasture. If cows, alone, arc kept for any considerable time on an area, it will bo noticed that the pasture tends to revert to a single-grass sward. The sanio will bo noticed when sheep alone aro grazed, except that the dominant grass will be of a different typo. When both aro carried, tlio variety of grasses and clovers tends to increase, and as each pasture species contributes something different in flavour, medicinal qualities, mineral content or nutriment, the grazing becomes healthier and of higher carrying capacity. This variety and higher production of the pasture is largely promoted bv tlio different mechanical action which the trampling of these stock has on the soil, and by the different qualities in their manure. The cow, for instance, with her greater weight and sharp hooves consolidates the lower levels of tho surface soil and cuts up and aerates the actual surface. This encourages the growth of deep-rooting and coarse-leaved grass species. Its dung, though bulky and thus supplying a large amount of humus, is of comparatively low inanurial value, its' chief virtues being most noticeable when it can be actually incorporated with tlio soil. The sheep, on the other hand, consolidates the actual surface and thus encourages the growth of shallowrooted surface-feeding grass plants. These are tho earliest to come awaj' in the spring and following dry periods, and the sheep's manure—high in nitrogen,' phosphate and minerals —is the ideal, quick-acting fertiliser to encourage this growth. And thus, between the two of them they not only "lick the platter clean," but provide extra provender relished by both.

Nature's Plan-Variety Archaeologists Lave pictured for us the early history of our world when huge, unwieldy reptiles and animals with short legs and long necks,squelched through the steaming swamps which, they say, then comprised the bulk of the land surface of the globe. These huge-bodied forms of life were necessary in that era to cope with the tropical growth of vegetation which clothed a slowly cooling world, and to convert this to animal organic matter which was necessary to build the soil to maintain smaller but more nutritious vegetation. Their shortlegged, heavy bodies served to consolidate the soil as they waddled in search of food, and in death their huge carcases provided a rich deposit of the type of fertility of which the soil then stood in great need. •As the land consolidated and the water receded these heavy prehistoric animals were no longer needed, and have been replaced by ever-smaller species of greater variety in types and food requirements. And thus, down through the ages, Nature's plan has obviously been to increase the number of types or species of both animal and vegetable life. Her evolutionary plans are perfect. Each species directly or indirectly benefits some other, and combined they promote increased variety and maximum fertility. Benefit to Health Assuming that Nature's plan is wiser than ours, we would expect to find that animals of different species when grazing together would be more healthy than when segregated, and in practice we find that this is so. Each species is subject to infestation with parasites which sap tho vitality and reduce the resistance to disease of their hosts. When one species alone is depastured on an area, the ground becomes seriously contaminated with the eggs and young worms of internal parasites which have to contend with no destructive agencies other than unfavourable weather. But the parasites of which the cattle-beast is the natural host will not survive if ingested by the sheep, and vice versa. Thus, when cattle and sheep are grazed over the same land the cattle destroy the sheep parasites whilo tho sheep do a like good service for the cows, and both benefit materially in health. Nor is this all. On any pasture devoted solelj' to grazing cattlo innumerable tufts of coarse, rank grass can bo seen surrounding the animals' droppings, Instinct, or taste, warns the catilo not to cat this grass fertilised by their own manure which, 110 doubt, teems with the parasites of their kind, newly-hatched from the eggs voided in their dung. As a consequence' a large area of the paddock soon becomes uselass or unhealthy for grazing cattle. For convenience of control and other reasons, it is not usually advisable to graze sheep and cattle simultaneously on tho same paddock. Where rotational grazing is practised the sheep should follow two or three days behind the cows. Tho pasture will then, have had timo to "freshen." That is. it will have thrown out some fresh green leaves which are so much appreciated by and beneficial to sheep, and tho leavings of the cattlo will havo had timo to benefit from exposure to tho sunlight. Tho time during which tho sheep will remain in each paddock will obviously depend upon the number of paddocks in the rotation, but the flock should bo sufficiently largo' to grazo each area fairly closely before they aro transferred to tho next paddock. If possible, the harrows should always be used in the paddock tho sheep havo just left to spread tho valuable manure evenly, and also, by breaking it up, to expose tho greatest possible area to tho purifying rays of tho sun. Parasites aro vulnerable to sunlight and frost, henco their suppression will bo greatly aided by thorough spreading of tho manuro when the grass is at its shortest.