LIVE STOCK AND THE FARM

Southland Times, Issue 22146, 14 October 1933, Page 12

LIVE STOCK AND THE FARM

ON THE LAND WORK OF THE WEEK. SPRING ACTIVITIES. All classes of farm work are now in full swing and both dairy and sheep farmers are having a busy time, while those who engage in mixed farming have practically no time to spare. Both breeding ewes and dairy cows claim a fair amount of attention and the work in the byre or going around the flock takes up so much of the day that the farmer requires to make use of every available hour for other farm occupations because time may be lost later through unexpected storms, and the farmer who does not push on with his routine work when he can is apt to find that he has not enough time to do everything later. Ploughing and cultivation should be pushed on as rapidly as possible and where ploughing has been completed the cultivator should be kept going on every fine day wherever there are weeds to be eradicated. Ground that is to be planted in oats or turnips should be worked up as fine as possible and the field that is to be used for main crop of potatoes should be given special attention. Potatoes, because of the nature of their root system, do not tend to break up lumps to any extent and lumpy ground does not lend itself to good moulding-up. On the other hand a crop of potatoes can be used to advantage in dirty ground as the constant working required for this crop will eradicate the weeds. If good clean land is available and has not been broken in a good crop of potatoes may be secured by ploughing the seed under the sod. As soon as the seed is ploughed in the ground should be disced and harrowed. The plants will grow above the sod which will manure the growing tubers and the worked up soil will be adequate for good moulding-up.

New Zealand being a young country still has a comparatively clean soil, but more care is required from that angle from year to year. At one time it was possible to dock lambs without taking any precautions against blood poisoning but now-a-days, when most farms have had all sorts of manures worked into the ground, more care is necessary. A clean field should be ready to receive the docked lambs and the knife used should be kept clean and should be dipped in a mild disinfectant from time to time. Some farmers apply a strong disinfectant to the wounds, but that slows down the operation considerably and is not necessary if ordinary care is taken. Cutting the tail too long should be avoided as a long dock will get very dirty when the lamb lies down. Farmers with light soils that do not hold the water well . should consider green manuring and if a field is selected for experiment a crop of lupins can be put in at any time now. They can be ploughed in later and a crop of oats planted for green feed in the late autumn. Lupins are particularly good for green manuring as they grow foliage that forms humus very rapidly. Lupins will restore light soil fairly rapidly without being ploughed in and where land is so sandy that it is practically useless the lupins can be allowed to grow for several years and will build up humus from year to year, but it goes without saying that repeated crops ploughed in will give quicker results. If the crop is left until it seeds stock can be turned on to it for a time before it is ploughed in and the seed that is tramped into the ground will provide a second crop. Incidentally blue lupin seed makes quite a payable crop and the seed lost while the crop is being gathered for threshing will sow the ground for the next year. . While green manuring helps, light soils to hold moisture —the addition of humus providing the necessary holding quality—it will also help soils that are too heavy for good cropping. It may seem strange that the one process should have the same effect on two different classes of soil, but the reason is simply that no soil is good if it is deficient in humus and a too heavy soil has too much clay in the same way as a light soil has too much sand. In the one case the humus binds the sand and in the other it opens up the clay. Where grass-seed is to be grown stock can be kept on for a few weeks longer, but it is advisable to do a fair amount of work with the harrows. When the paddocks are finally closed they should be harrowed thoroughly and if the land is light the roller should be put over the grass. This will consolidate the ground and bring the moisture up to the growing grass and before the summer is hot enough to cause excessive evaporation the grass will have formed an insulating carpet that will hold the maximum of moisture for the crop. A light dressing of manure applied before the grass is harrowed will help if the grass is poor but too much nitrogenous manure should be avoided because it increases the foliage growth to the detriment of the seed stalks.

BACON SUPPLIES IMPORTS TO ENGLAND. MOVEMENT FOR RESTRICTION. Plans for making home grown bacon more popular with English consumers are outlined in a London journal of August 28. It is stated that British farmers’ produce has long suffered in competition with imported produce from lack of publicity, and that it will be the concern of the new Pigs Marketing Board and Bacon Marketing Board to ensure publicity for English bacon on a bold scale. Those bodies, it is said, are not yet able to render that service, and in the meanwhile the facilities to hand in the poster stands of the Empire Marketing Board could be employed with advantage to tell the public how, by asking for English bacon, they could co-operate in the revival of the home pig industry on a stable basis without detriment to their interests as consumers. During the past week two sets of critics, arguing from contradictory

standpoints, have been making much of a supposed deficiency of bacon (states the London paper). It is true that there has recently been an increase in the price of bacon, which is in accord with the Government’s intention to secure a rise in commodity values. But the temporary difficulties with supplies which have arisen seem to be due to dislocation in a distributive trade rather than to any rash procedure on the part of Whitehall in limiting imports. A rise in bacon prices has been experienced before during the height of the holiday season. When people are away from home they develop hearty appetites for breakfast, and in past years the demand for bacon has been particularly strong for a short period in late summer. Bacon prices run in cycles, and after a period of glut and lately experienced, there has always been a time of reaction when farmers both here and abroad breed fewer pigs and supplies of bacon are reduced, with a consequent rise in price. Effect of Voluntary Quotas.

Nor is there much justification for any general complaint that grocers cannot obtain sufficient supplies to meet their customers’ requirements. Imports of bacon fell by 15 per cent, during the first six months of this year as compared with 1932, which is attributable to the operation of voluntary quotas and the cyclical reduction in pig breeding, but there has never been a dearth of suppliers. Indeed, the bacon market has been glutted during the past two years, and on the scale low prices, such as the industry has laid down by the Lane-Fox Commission a further cut of 10 per cent, in imports will be needed next month. It may be that some retailers have not been able to obtain the unlimited supplies of Danish bacon to which they have become accustomed, but the temporary difficulty will be met by the liberation of fresh supplies, and an assurance is given that English curers will be able to meet all orders very shortly. It is no more than the fulfilment of government policy that an increasing share of custom should be diverted to English bacon of equal quality. It seems then that grocers would best serve their interests and those of their customers by advising the purchase of the home product. There is nothing to bo gained by trying to maintain the demand for imported bacon at an unnecessarily high price.