AUGUST ON THE FARM

Opunake Times, 23 August 1932, Page 1

AUGUST ON THE FARM

WORK FOR THE MONTH. MATTERS OF INTEREST. (Broadcast talk from ITA Auckland by W. Alexander, Agricultural Adviser, Kempthorne, Prosser and Coy., Ltd.) My talk to the farming community is intended to cover the current points of interest and as such may be described as being 1 in the nature of a medley. August is an unusually busy month on most farm, dairy herds are coming into profit once more, and ewes are lambing and there is an all round increase in the live stock to be catered for whilst as yet there is not a compensating increase in the amount of feed available. Breaking in heifers, rearing calves and mothering up lambs are all jobs calling for constant care 'and Attention. It certainly is a time of bustle and anxiety with more to occupy the mind than the hands can do.

There is not the least doubt hut that ti good talk on the treatment and prevention of stock diseases would lie much appreciated by farmers just now but unfortunately I am not qualified to deal with this phase of operations and must content myself with some references to agricultural matters of interest at the moment. Before going on with these, however, I would like to refer here to the matter of rearing heifer calves. Most farmers like to keep at least a few heifer calves and some fanners keep quite a number; generally speaking I think the practice is a sound one despite the fact that calf heifers can usually he bought at a reasonable figure. Apart altogether from any question as to whether or not it pays to rear heifer calves, there are no two opinions about the necessity of treating the calves well once it has been decided that some ar-r to be kept. Opinions differ widely as to what constitutes good feeding for calves. I might say also that results differ widely if the calves that appear from time to time in the saleyards can be taken as a guide. All that I want to say on the. subject is just this—no matter what system of feeding you

adopt, see to it that the calves from their earliest days are given a regular supply of minerals necessary in the building up of a sound frame and a sound constitution. No doubt many of you have been asked to buy calf-foods or tonics of one sort or another at various times and no doubt some of you have bought these. They may" be good, bad or indifferent,, but they are almost certain to be an expensive way of supplying necessary minerals. Given a good, clean, well-gristed sample of meal made from mixed grains, a fair supply of separated milk and a few ounces of a properly balanced and complete mineral lick, there should be no trouble in rearing calves that are a credit to the farm. Calves are very susceptible to parasitic diseases and the best way to avoid losses and wastages from these troubles is to build up the natural reistance of the animal by giving it an adequate supply of the most essential minerals. These minerals consisting chiefly of calcium and phosphates are available in finely powdered lick -mixtures suitable for feeding along with milk or meal to calves and also to young pigs and I would be only too pleased to supply particulars to any lis-tener-in interested. Fat Lambs.

Lambs are coming freely at the present time and so far the weather conditions in the north at least have been very favourable. There is no doubting the fact that the early milk lamb is the most profitable lamb to grow. It .is important that the ewes should be kept going on suitable clean Jeed if the" lambs are exto mature early. Rotational grazing with sheep is just as necessary as is rotational grazing with cattle if the best possible use is to be made of the available feed. Sheep like clean pastures and short feed. Fairly heavy stocking in small areas with frequent changes and plenty of narrowing seems to work out in the best interests of the lambs. In certain districts in New Zealand serious mortality occurs due to the disease known as renal congestion or pulpy kidney, tlp-to-date no very definite curative measures have been discovered but' experience goes to show that the lack of exercise has an important bearing on the incidence of this trouble. It is almost always the best of the single lambs that succumb to this disease and the unfortunate part of the business is that the first intimation one has of this trouble is the lamb lying dead in the paddock. There are really no visible signs such as would lead one to take steps to treat a victim of this disease, consequently actual deaths are numerous and widespread. Precautionary measures recommended include yarding both ewes and lambs for one night each week; running the lot on a bare or ploughed paddock for a day or two every ten or fourteen days and daily stirring round with a dog. Whichever of these methods may be adopted to prevent mortality, care must be exercised not to make the cure worse than ,the disease by giving ilie lambs a check when they should be going right along. It is perhaps better to lose a few good lambs altogeter than to put all lambs back into store condition. After the lambs are a month old they can stand a good lot of running about and there should be no hesitation in giving them a stir up every day. Making Decisions. It may truly be said that this is the time for making decisions. For instance it is now you want to decide which fields are to be kept for ensilage, which for hay, and which for close grazing and harrowing. You also want to decide right now whether or not you are going to put in roots for next season or depend wholly upon hay and ensilage: It should not'take long to come to a decision on these points and nothing is to be gained by unduly delaying such decision until you know what the weather conditions are going to be. To be continued.