FARM AND STATION NEWS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21244, 27 January 1931, Page 4

FARM AND STATION NEWS.

FORTHCOMING SHOWS.. ' The following is the roster of A. and P. shows for the 1930-31 season in the South Island: —• 1931. February 11.—'Tapanui. March 18.—Lake County. March 26. —Temuka and Geraldine. April 6.—Strath-Taieri (Middlemarch). April 6.—Mackenzie County. June 2,3, 4, and 5. —Otago A. and P. Society’s Winter Show. 1930-31 WOOL SEASON. The following is the list of sales and allocations for the 1930-31 wool selling season:— 1931. Bales. January—30— -Invercargill .. ~ .. 25,000 February—3—Dunedin .. .. .. 30,000 '6—Timaru 18,000 13 —Wellington . „ .. 30,000 18—Napier .. .. .. 24,000 23 —Wanganui 23,0£)0 March—2—Christchurch .. 22,000 •%, B—Dunedin .. .. 25,000 11—Invercargill— No limit 18-—Wellington 30,000 23—Napier 20,000 27—Auckland No limit 31— Christchurch ...... No limit April— 1 JOr-Dunedin ....... No limit 13—Timaru .. .. .. .. No limit 17 —Wellington No limit 21—Napier .. .. .. .. No limit • 23—Wanganui . . .. .. No limit Grain Yields in Canterbury. The yields of early crops of oats that have been threshed in Canterbury have been satisfactory considering the conditions that have prevailed (says the Press). On one farm on light land in the BurnhamGreendale district,- Duns threshed 31 bushels to the acre, Algerians 26 to 27, and it was expected Gartons would average about the same. These crops comprised an area running into some hundreds of acres —one of the largest oat crops in the country—and they were well advanced before the disastrous nor’-weaters of a few days ago reached their maximum. Limitations of Trefoil. v Trefoil has been proved a valuable plant for short leys for sheep grazing, especially upon calcareous soils and boulder clays and for resowing gaps in rotation leys. The British Ministry of Agriculture warns farmers that in many districts trefoil is a worthless plant, and it is doubtful if it should be used for three to four-year leys except in a few well-defined localities, inasmuch as, if successful, it tends to suppress more valuable herbage. Trefoil, however, can be used safely _as a catch crop, sown with corn, for grazing or green manuring. Decline in Factory Returns. How the revenue of dairy farmers has declined since last season is evidenced by the, December payments of the Cambridge Co-operative Dairy Company. For the month it had advanced to its suppliers £26,975 for butter, and £86,360 for cheese, compared with £50,092 and £105,300 for the corresponding period of last'season. The cohpany has fixed the advance for December supply on the basis of 9ld per lb butter-fat for butter, and 10Jd for cheese. For December, 1929, the basis, of, advance was Is 3|d tor butter, and Is sid for cheese. The supply for December showed an increase of 10 per cent, over the corresponding month of the previous season. Feeding of Root*. ( > "In the recently-published Transactions of the Highland Society there is a report on cattle feeding carried out at the West of Scotland Agricultural College Farm, Kilmarnock, the experiments that were conducted seeking to compare heavy root, medium root, and no root rations. Some of the conclusions that are drawn from the results are these: —The old-established practice of feeding a allowance of roots to fattening cattle is still fully justified ,by results. It is possible to cut down the root supply without adversely affecting the rate of progress or raising the cost of beef production. This gives an enhanced return per ton of roots consumed but increases dependence on purchased concentrates. _ It is not an economic proposition to dispense with roots on farms where they can be successfully grown and W’here the winter fattening of cattle is practised, as without roots the cattle would appear to make rather slower progress. Cattle of about 10 to 11 cwt live weight would appear to require the equivalent of about 9 to 10 gallons of water per day. Mixed Grazing. Experiments at Cockle Park, England, in which the effects of manures on pasture are measured by the live-weight increase of the grazing stock, have shown that there is a much better utilisation of herbage by cattle and sheep together than by grazing sheep alone. Live-weight increases over a period of years have been approximately twice as great l under the first system as under the second. -- Grazing experiments so far reported from Cockle Park have been concerned principally with sheep alone, so that the results of a mixed grazing trial, carried out by the Leicestershire Agricultural Education Committee as part of the research scheme of the Royal Agricultural Society, should be of special interest. The soil on which the trial was con- • ducted comprised boulder clay at an elevation of 400 feet, and when taken over was in a poor and badly-grazed condition. In 1923 five 10-acre plots were put down, and after a year devoted to a uniformity trial, various phosphate manures were applied, and a six-year mixed grazjng pro-gramme-instituted. It was found that basic slag (30 per cent, phosphate) applied at the rate of 13cwt to the acre, gave the most successful result, there apparently being a slight advantage in giving this amount in- two ; dressings of 6|cwt, three years apart, instead of applying the whole in the initial dressing. Finely-ground North African phosphate, given in one dressing at the rate of 6fcwt to the acre, was found to be less effective than basic slag, while the feeding ( of cotton cake to stock on plots which received half the standard dressing of slag gave no cash gain above that produced by the full dressing of slag alone. A noteworthy feature was that sj-st'ematic grazing and surface cultivation worked a considerable improvement in the herbage apart from manuring.

By Rtjsticus. Items of interest to those engaged In agricultural and pastoral pursuits, with a view to their publication in these columns, will be welcomed. They should be addressed to “Rusticus,” Otago Daily Times, Dunedin.