STATE FARM VISITED

Patea Mail, Volume XLVI, 7 September 1923, Page 2

STATE FARM VISITED

BY WHENUAKUEA SETTLER,S Between forty and fifty settlers of tho Whcnuakura district, including a number of ladies, paid a visit to the Moumahaki State Farm on Tuesday afternoon, when a most enjoyable and instructive time was spent. The party was met on arrival at tho farm by Mr J. W. Deem (manager) and Mr T. Stephenson, who conducted the visitors over the farm and explained the various items of interest. Commencing with the dairy cattle, the Ayrshires and Guernseys the most attention. Curiously euoug the Guernseys were from the progeny of stock exported from the island of Guernsey to Australia by the father of three of the visiting settlers, Messrs Parsons Bros., who came from tho island of Guernsey. The Guernsey cow, it is interesting to note, is quite distinct from her sister, the Jersey, haying an unattrac-r tive head, with a white muzzle, in contradistinction to the Jersey's fine head with black muzzle. The cows were feeding in a paddock of barley, a strip down tho middle consisting of tho ordinary Capo variety, whilst the rest of the paddock was of the kind known as Black barley. To the average indoor man there seemed little td choose between the two kinds, yet tho Black variety was eaten close by the cows, and the Capo scarcely touched.

Home fine mangolds were next inspected, a particularly fine kind being the Strazu mangold, tho seed of which was imported from Denmark, and yielded 80 tons of roots to tho acre,

An easy way to tel] if mangolds were fit to feed to cows was shown the visitors. It consisted merely of stabbing tho root with a penknife, when if the blade stuck when one attempted to withdraw it tho mangold was not dry enough for feed, whereas if the knife came away easily the mangold was ready for consumption. Another interesting paddock was a strip of half an aero which had" boon planted with artichokes, and on which 27 pigs had been fed for nine weeks, without, however, increasing in weight. ■One of tho viistors remarked that when he had allowed his pigs the run of a grass paddock, ; in addition to the artichokes, they had done well. Another paddock which looked beautifully green furnished a striking illustration of what could be achieved with good manuring. Tho paddock, which had formerly been'a horse paddock, had become very bare and appeared runout, but a dressing of 4cwt of manure, including lime and superphosphate, had worked wonders. The paddock nowlooked the best on the farm. Another good paddock was one sown in May last with two bushels of oats and one bushel of tares to the acre. This had already had stock on it, and if the weather proved warm another feeding w-ould be taken off, prior to laying it down for hay to bo cut about Christmas time.

The lucerne paddocks, of wjiich so much had been heard in the past, were not remarkable, owing to the time of the year, lucerne being essentially a summer plant. One variety —tho Canadian—showed what kind not to grow, as in the case in point it had gone to sleep in April and had not woke up yet, whereas tho New Zealand variety had a fairly good growth. In the summer the two could scarcely bo distinguished apart. The Canadian variety ‘ ‘ hibernates,'' ag the Canadian winters are long. The milking shed was visited and found very interesting, the ladies remarking on the cleanliness of everything connected with it. A feature was the race leading from the shed to the paddock, along which the cows were scut after being milked. The race is 33 inches wide only, with a concrete floor, so that there is no mud near the cowshed at all. It was pointed out that 2ft Din was ample width, otherwise cows would endeavour to turn round in it. The narrow width also would enable a smaller quantity of concrete to be used —a distinct advantage from a pecuniary point of view. With a race, cow s went straight down to the paddock and did not stay about the shed fighting and generally ploughing about in mud. Next after the cowshed tho piggeries were visited, where a large number of very fine Berkshire pigs were seen. These were remarkable for their exceedingly short snouts, in marked contrast to an aristocratic Tamwortb cousin, who seemed to bo all snout. After inspecting the pigs, the party adjourned to the homestead, where they were hospitably entertained to afternoon tea. This concluded the visit, and before leaving, Mr Frank Parsons, on behalf of those present, thanked Mr Deem and Mr Stephenson for the very pleasant afternoon and for the information given them. He also thanked the ladies for so kindly providing afternoon tea. Mr Deem, in reply, said it was always a pleasure to have farmers visit the* farm. They had seen it that day at its worst. He hoped they would come in the summer or autumn, when the crops were growing and things were looking quite different. He was pleased to have been of service, and he hoped to see them all there again later on. (Applause.)