NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3614, 19 June 1923, Page 10

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Obvious, of course. No farmer worthy the name would expect to proBroeding in tluce really first-class stock Seeds as unless he utilised purebred Necessary as animals; and yet flow often in Stock. 2, 0 ; g 2>lind to* the value ot

pedigree seeds. Too often he stands a shot” and sows good-looking seed perhaps, but which is not capable of producing heavy crops. Ancestry is as important in the seed world as in the stock world—tho harvest in both cases will depend upon tho quality of the parents. Some varieties of seed are particularly suited to certain conditions of soil and climate. Granted, but variety is not enough. The grower should have some idea whether tho seed is capable of producing a paying crop. The value of an experimental farm* like the Moa Seed Farm cannot -well be overestimated. and although this farm cannot possibly furnish the final verdict as to the suitability of seed for any particular locality, yet seed from this farm, given not very dissimilar environment, lias the inherent power to produce payable crops. The farmer, of course, is a big factor in tlie well-doing or otherwise of the seed variety sown. Pedigree seed one can bank on, but there must also be individuality. “Good seed” may be defined as follows:—(a) Seed which belongs to a well-bred variety which has proved its special fitness for the district where it is to be grown, and (b) seed which has come from strong, vigorous parents, which possesses strong germinating power, is large, uniform, plump, sound, well matured, free from weed seeds and from, other objectionable seeds or kernels. There is no doubt that the sale of stock foods should be put on Meaning si the same basis as artificial Feed Terms, manures and so safeguard the farmer. Every farmer should know the meaning of terms commonly used in discussing the subject of feeding. This is essential for the proper understanding of tho literature relating to the subject, and for tlie intelligent application. of its recommendations of feeding practice, notes an exchange. In discussing the chemical composition of feeds the terms protein, carbohydrates, fats, nitrogen-free extracts, crude fibre, and ash are used. Protein. —This is a complex nitrogen-con-taining compound. Protein is essential for the production of lean moat, milk, the white of an e.gg, connective tissue, skin, hair, horns, and hoof. Reproduction and growth of tlie animal body are impossible without protein. Hence larger amounts of these nutrients are required for young growng animals than for mature animals, although the latter muff have some protein in the feed to maintain normal bodily functions. The chief sources of this compound for - live stock feeding are cotton see cake or linseed meal, bean meal, blood meal, skim milk, and lucerne and clover hay. The green fodder crops while young and tender are also important sources. Carbohydrates.—These are compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. They furnish heat to keep the body warm and energy for doing work. Any surplus is converted into animal fat. The carl soli yd rales arc the most important nutrients for fattening animals. The chief sources are starches and sugar in the grains, and the crude fibre of hay, chaff, and maize. Some feeds high in carbohydrates are meal, wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, sorghum, and hav. Fats. —Tlie comnosition of fats resembles that of the carbohydrates and (hey are used for the same purpose by tho animal. The chief sources are grains and leguminous seeds —beans. Some feeds os linseed cake and meal .are rather high in fat. Nitrogen-free Extracts. —This embraces everything in the carbohydrates except, fibre. Tlie term lias at times led to confusion by poople thinking it meant nitrogencarrying compounds, whereas is meant compounds carrying no nitrogen. Crude Fibre. —This is tlie woody portion of a feedstuff. It is a carbohydrate, but it is less digestible and has a lower nutritive value than tho other conslitutents of feeds. Certain forms of fibre are almost entirely indigestible and are used only as fillers in feeds.

Ash or Mineral Matter. —Ash is used in building bone and in many of the life processes, ihe minerals most likely to be deficient in the rations of farm animals are calcium (lime), phosphorus, and common salt. The legume hays—clover, lucerne, beans, and peas—are rich in calcium. Wheat bran is high in phosphorus. Skiin milk contains both calcium and phosphorus in considerable quantities. “Grass is not only valuable on account of its yield in weight, but beTkoughts cause of the species of upon Pastures, grasses and clovers it contains,” recently commented Mr James Long in an article in Live Stock Journal. Although written especially for English conditions, the matter is applicable to New Zealand conditions: —• “ihe best species of grasses are abundant where the land is well-cultivated, but failure to manure not only increases indigenous grasses and weeds which are of on inferior order, but decreases the superior species which have been specially sown. Any practical man who is able to name the various grasses common to our pastoral system can learn for himself of what a pasture meadow consists if he examines the species growing on a square yard, or, better, on a square rod, and notes the varieties and the number of each. Where arable land is turned over to grass it is necessary to consider what seeds to sow and whether it is to be a permanent or a temporary ley. Soils, too, play an important part in this matter. If, for example. Timothy is sown in one field it will thrive, while it will disappear in another, and the same remark applies to white and alskie clover. “Every experienced farmer is aware of the fact that where wheat follows clover it succeeds better than where it follows a non-leguminous crop. Wheat Requires nitrogen and this it obtains through the medium of the decomposed roots of the clover plant. The soil of a field which has grown a crop of clover contains more nitrogen after the crop has been removed than it contained before the clover seed was sown. The explanation is that the dower plant, having utilised atmospheric nitrogen, a large proportion of which remains in its roots, the soil is so enriched as the roots decompose that it supplies the subsequent, wheat plant with food. '■The object of laying down a mixture for four years is similar to that of growing lucerne or sainfoin, both of which yeild large crops of food for use green or in winter as hay. These plants are nitrogen feeders, while their roots are so long that they are able to pierce the subsoil to obtain mineral foods and to store it in their roots for the use of future plants after decomposition, as in the case of wheat feeding on the residue of the clover root. Dung, the decomposed food which has been supplied to animals, together with the straw which has been used for litter, is inferior to the decayed roots of leguminous plants, because a large proportion of the feeding material has been removed from it by the ■took which has consumed it. On the

basis of the Rothamsted work,, Warrington records that in the case <if farmyard manure only 10 to 15 per cent, of the nitrogen is recovered in the increase of the crop during its application. The influence of dung, however, is felt for years afterwards. Again, the mammal constituents actually obtained from food have not more than half the money value of the rnanurial constituents voided by the animal if these are reckoned at market prices. Thus, the raw material like clover root must of necessity possess a greater rnanurial value than if it had first passed through the boyly of the animal.”

The average actual life of a cow is eight years. The possible prolate ot a ductive life of a cow is 20 Cow. years. Here are some stareling instances of nroduction, given by a writer in an English journal:—His best cow is the thirteenth calf of her dam. An Ayrshire cow once gave in the writer’s presence 13 quarts of milk in one day, with her fifteenth calf, and, at the sains time, she was too old for age to be indicated by her hours. A Jersey cow dropped her best calf, now a cow, when she was 10 years old. Now what a loss there is in wearing out cows at 10 years old. A cow properly cared for is then in her prime, and may compare with a man at 40 goal's old. At such an age a man has 20 years of vigorous, useful life at least before him, and by husbanding his powers 10 years more may be added, A cow m ay just as well add six years or more to her eight, and will, beyond a doubt if she is well used, and still yield a better profit co her owner than a four-year-old cow. i bus, the productive life of a cow may be actually doubled by good care and usage. But how is this lengthened period of usefulness to be gained? In the first- place, longevity is a heredity characteristic, and careful selection and breeding are required to secure it. Then constitutional vigour favours ir. This is secured through breeding and early training. The sound, healthy calf must be well cared for, vrell fed, and care must bo continued, and the cow’s vital forces well nourished and hunbanded. Exposure and irregular feeding, not to mention actual semi-starvation during the bare season, which is far too common, tends greatly to shorten the useful and productive life of a cow. It pays better to preserve a £°°d cow than to rear a. secon-d-class one and if one lives 16 years and has 12 product five years she will have been worth more to her owner in the end than three cows eight yeaxs old would have been. For there will be 10 fully-productive years in the old cow’s life against 10 partially-productive years in that of the young ones. AGRICOLA.