THE POULTRY YARD

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12538, 30 August 1926, Page 3

THE POULTRY YARD

SOME UTILITY NOTES

THE VALUE OF HENS ON GRASS LAND

(By

GEO. H. AMBLER.)

Whilst not forgetting' the many advantages that may be derived from keeping fowls on arable lanu, most of us for obvious reasons prefer to run them on grass, and it is during tho early spring months of the year that i the farmer can secure the greatest . gain from stocking surh land with • poultry. In the first place we have in poultry manure a guano which is peculiarly • suited to the requirements of grass, whether this is destined for pasture or hay. It is a fertiliser which can favourably compare in nitrogenous elements with any of those artificials of like nature for which we have to pay so much) and it costs us nothing. That is to say, it is a surplus byproduct, usually wasted, part of which is distributed over the land by the birds themselves the other part being preserved for later use or applied to the land direct, as I shall presently suggest. The amount of this valuable fertiliser produced by the average hen may be put down at about ten times her own weight per annum. In other woids, I have estimated that grass land stocked at the rate of 20 birds to the acre wi 1 ■ receive an annual dressing of this potent guano equal to half-a-ton to that area. That would mean an ample allowance on most soils for hay land, but for all-the-year-rcund grazing fields it has proved excessive (save where the drainage is sharp), the day-time droppings being sufficient. STOCKING MEADOW LAND In my own experience I have found that land from which hay is to be mown, whether seed or old meadow, can be stocked from early .August until nearly the end of October with 20 birds per acre with excellent results. But movable houses should always be employed so as to ensure a proper distribution of the manure and to avoid patches being worn in the turf. With the above number running on such land for about three months one can also use the night droppings, scraping these off tho boards daily and scattering them as widely as possible as 1 the houses make their way about the land. , Though I have often stocked grazing more heavily, I think A dozen birds to the acre of average land is I about the right number. At any rate, 1 one is then well on the safe side. There are enough fowls to stimulate and improve the grass without interfering with other stock, but whe tber you can distribute the night I droppings as well must be decided by the nature and needs of the range, the weather (fertiliser can be most generously used on well-drained land in rainy, spring weather), and tho number of other live stock on the ground. In general practice it will | probably pay better to collect and dry the night manure for use on arable land and garden, where it will often be sufficient to save the entire usual expenditure in nitrates. In addition to their great nianurial value on grass and hay land, fowls are instrumental in other ways as fmtors in the promotion of food crops. By scratching for the grain which is widely distributed over a different area every day, that mat of decaying herbage which so often clogs the soil and checks growth is remo/ed. The bird' do the work of the bush or chain harrow, do it better, and save so muoh labour. The sod is sweetened by exposure to air, the grass is stimulated, and the scratching also removes moss and destroys many seedlings of noxious weeds.. As a matter of fact, this moss and weed generally accompanies weakness in grass They do not cause that weakness, but they flourish whenever the grass is not robust enough to hold its own. Therefore, as the effect of poultry manure upon turf is most noticeable upon the grass, the latter is not only helped along by a congenial stimulant, but at the same time the birds clear the way and make progress easier for it by removing the weeds. While the fowls are active, if unconscious, agents for good in the directions indicated, they are all along floing no less service in destroying noxious grubs. It has sometimes been urged that poultry cannot get at the wireworm, leather-jacket and other soil pests in grass-land. That is only partly true, for all of these grubs have been in the crops of liens running on pasture, and even if it were true, supposing the birds never devoured any* of these larvae, they would most certainly destroy the adults, and thus in the space of a year or two the land would become practically cleared. The click-beetle and the crane-fly (Daddy Longlegs)/ the parent of the wireworm and lea-ther-jacket respectively, and the cockchafer constitute a trio whose progeny do the bulk of the mischief to grass, cereal and other crops, and these three are eagerly sought after by poultry of all ages and kinds, as any observant attendant is well aware. So keenly, indeed, do the birds hunt down and destroy these arch-enemies of our most important crops that 1 have known plots of land once infested by wireworm to be completely cleared in a few seasons. The reader, who is awake to the significance of all this, will not need to be “put wise” on the other aspect of the subject, viz., the high value of this animal food to the laying liens and growing chickens. Nor need I point out that although the supply of insect life is greater oil some lands than on others, it is quite obvious that it cannot be depended up to last for ever. If it could, then tlie farmer would be understood if h© did not think very much of fowls as pest destroyers. There is always a certain amount of insect life forthcoming, but to enable the birds to derive tlie greatest possible advantage of it, and at the same time see that the land is given its full share of attention, we have devised the movable house and we adopt the strictly moderate-sized flock. Taking a broad view of the beneficial results that might, be achieved by a wider recognition of the facts given above, one must first renlise that over two-thirds of the numerous acres of average farm land in this country is under grass, and upon most of that vast area poultry might be run to the advantage of both eggproduction and the land. The bulk of our grass land upon which we depend for meat and milk is nothing like as productive as it might be. Artificial fertilisers mean an outlay which few farmers in these days dare face, but the poultry-keeping farmer gets his grass fertilised for nothing, and it has been proved, times without number, that it is possible to run more dairy cows or other grazing stock per j acre where poultry are kept as I have suggested, than on land where there j are none. INCREASING THE HAY YIELD Our natural hay. yield ift Nflfc an the. .

whole a creditable one. The quality is not always what it might be. The yield from the acres under this crop is not very great and sometimes there are periods of scarcity, which, if they do not imperil our food crops, tend to raise tlie cost of living hist as a grass shortage is bound to do. But here again the poultry can help, and help substantially when properly handled. Some years ago I was able thoroughly to satisfy myself on this point, aiid the various experiments then made on lands of different character proved incisputan.y the above statements. In one instance the hay crop was increased the first season bv half-a-ton an acre, whilst tho after grass was enhanced by at least fifty per cent., both being entirely d«je to the poultry—a lesson in agricultural economics that had its effect in the locality*