LIVE STOCK AND THE FARM

Southland Times, Issue 25341, 20 July 1935, Page 12

LIVE STOCK AND THE FARM

(Conducted by

W. S. Allan,

M. Agr. Sc.)

YOUNG FARMERS’ SECTION

GRASSES, WEEDS AND CLOVERS.

Series 9.

Timothy Grass.

It seems rather remarkable that hay for horses should be shipped all the way from Canada to England; yet prior to the war there was a large trade between these two countries in meadow hay, and a keen demand among English horse-owners for the Canadian product. This hay was harvested from the famous prairies where a grass called Timothy had been found to thrive particularly well. Although a native of Europe, Timothy is largely grown in North America, and even takes its name from an American who was a keen advocate of thus grass, Timothy Hanson. In Southland, sufficient use is not made of Timothy. Its high productivity, its palatability, the cheapness of seeding and its relatively long life make this one of our most valuable grasses. Or. most of our heavy soils, and on our medium soils .where our rainfall is over 30 inches, this grass should be included in all our permanent pasture mixtures. Under suitable conditions the abundance of feed it produces is hardly excelled by that of any other grass in cultivation. The grass is a tall, erect-growing plant, with broad leaves having a slight bluish tint. It has no creeping stems, but at the base of the ordinary stems a small swelling or bulb usually occurs. This is very characteristic. Timothy’s emerging leaves are rolled. There is a short membraneous ligule, but no auricles. The flower-head is cylindrical in shape, and has the seeds set closely around the stem, so that the central spike is completely covered. The seeds are small, short and plump, with a silvery sheen. The size is shown by the fact that there are 1,100,000 of them to the pound, while in ryegrass there are only 240,000. As a fodder Timothy is one of the most palatable of grasses. Stock are so fond of it that when Timothy is included in a mixture they graze it out before touching the others. This means that the grass does not generally get fair treatment when sown along with different species. , , j Timothy grows best where the land is very fertile and the summer rainfall good. The ideal conditions for it are on rich drained swamp country in a reliable rainfall district. Where Timothy excels is as a hay crop, but if it is grown for this purpose the paddock will not yield much grazing because this grass grows very little after cutting. Further, when Timothy is being used to produce hay it ought to be sown alone. That means a paddock would have to be set aside for the grass and cut year after year for hay. Where that was necessary, some farmers would prefer to use lucerne. SCARCITY OF FEED FUTURE. POLICY SUGGESTED. With a somewhat dry autumn, followed by a fairly heavy rainfall and the consequent sudden growth of pastures, farmers this season have been faced with a severe winter and in many cases have found that the pastures have not been firmly enough established to provide the very necessary fodder for the stock. The result has been insufficient hay and a general shortage of winter feed. Several farmers have complained of insufficient roots and with two severe months to follow the position is becoming acute. We in Southland are beginning to realize that many of our stock troubles are due to constitutional weaknesses which have developed because we ask our stock to subsist for several months of the year, on a totally unbalanced diet in the form of roots. There has been a tendency of late to attempt to correct this malnutrition by autumn top-dressing and endeavouring to shorten the dormant grass period by encouraging late autumn grass growth and early spring growth. This is, of course, fundamentally sound, but the tendency has been to overgraze these top-dressed pastures in the late autumn and the result has been that these pastures fail to come away early enough in the spring. The difficulty can be got over if, after wearing these top-dressed paddocks are spelled in . rotation and allowed to establish a gooa root growth before the winter. It will be found that if this is done the spring growth on these paddocks will be much earlier.

Further, the writer sees no reason why we in Southland should not adopt the northern practice of supplementing our feeds by sowing out an area of Italian rye or Westemwolths and Broad Red clover in January or early February. This could easily be done by ploughing over turnip land in August and fallowing it till January. This could then be drilled both ways with lewt. of superphosphate and sown out in the short rotation mixture. We would thus be providing valuable green feed as an adjunct to dry' feeds in the form of chaff in the late autumn, winter and early spring. In September or October these paddocks could be top-dressed and shut up for hay to -provide supplementary fodder for the following winter. _ The writer has already succeeded in interesting some farmers in this scheme and they "are sufficiently enthusiastic to carry out trials along the lines suggested. PAMPAS GRASS “USELESS FODDER.” The efforts of live stock raisers in Uruguay to rid their estancias of pampas grass were referred to in Wellington by Dr. A. C. Gallinal Heber, of Montevideo, who is at present visiting the Dominion to investigate on behalf of the Government in his country pertain phases of live stock husbandry. Dr. Heber’s remarks are of particular interest in view of the fact that Mr B. C. Aston, chief agricultural chemist of the Department of Agriculture, praised in a public statement about a fortnight ago the possibilities oi pampas grass for the feeding of dairy cattle and sheep, and that some days later his statement was challenged by Mr J. M. Smith, fields superintendent for the department in Otago and Southland. “We bum the pampas grass in, my country,” said Dr. Heber. “Pampas grass is no use for anything but burning. Our producers endeavour to get rid of it by all the means in their power, and plough it in time after time in their efforts to eradicate it from their properties.”

AGRICULTURAL BULLETIN

MANAGEMENT OF GRAZING.

RELATION TO PRODUCTION.

Section 1. Tlie following bulletin, prepared by Massey Agricultural College, has been released for publication. Owing to the length of the bulletin it will be published in two sections. Section I is as follows:— There are comparatively few practices in Agriculture regarding which it is possible or advisable to lay down hard and fast rules. So many factors contribute to production and the utilization of crops or pastures when they are produced, that consideration of or alteration to any of them without reference to others may be of little avail. However, there are certain fairly well defined principles, established as such as the result of both research and practice, which, if understood and applied are capable of increasing production very materially in a large number of cases. Admittedly, application of such principles in an ideal way is rarely if ever achieved. But it must be admitted also that progress is the direct result of striving for something better than we have at the moment, and although we do not expect to attain the ideal we are much more likely to progress if we have an ideal at which to aim as our goal, than if we simply proceed through life without definite objective. In the March Bulletin reference was made to the food value of grass and to the effect of close and continuous grazing compared with grazing alternating with systematic resting. The object of this article is to present concrete evidence which clearly proves the advantages of such systematic treatment irrespective of the class of stock carried. Classical investigation carried out at the Institute for the study of Animal Nutrition at Cambridge (England) has shown that the dry matter (i.e. the solid materials of which young grass contains on the average about 20 per cent.) of well grazed pasture herbage is a highly nutritious food. Grass growth up to 3 or 4 weeks old, whether from young or old pasture is practically as digestible as a concentrated food such as Linseed cake. Older grass falls off in digestibility with increasing age. Graziers know from experience that hard and close grazing is an undesirable practice especially just prior to or . during dry weather. The difficulty under dry conditions, is to avoid close grazing, unless adequate supplies of supplementary fodder are available.. The effect on yield of close cutting is well illustrated by work carried out at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station at Aberystwyth. Cocksfoot plants some of which had been cut seven times in the previous year and others only twice, were each subjected to (a) cutting to ground level and (b) cutting to within two inches of ground level. Those cut back less severely yielded on the average about 14 per cent more than those cut to ground level. In this investigation it was found also, that the plants cut twice during the previous year, yielded over 20 per cent, more than those cut seven times. This brings us to a consideration of the effect of FREQUENCY of defoliation on yield. The weight of a Very large amount of evidence indicates that there is justification in making the general statement that “the more frequently pasture herbage is defoliated the less will be its total production” or, conversely the less frequent the defoliation the greater the total production. In addition to the evidence mentioned in the previous section a few typical instances illustrating the truth of the above statement will be presented. The results which will be quoted were arrived at by cutting the herbage (by hand or with a mower) or by actual grazing with stock and it will be seen that the effect is much the same irrespective of the method of defoliation adopted. (1) At Cambridge pastures were subjected to different frequences of cutting for four successive years with the results shown below. The figures indicate the relative yields of other treatments when cutting at weekly inter-

The fact that three-weekly cuts in 1928 gave better results than did monthly cuts in 1929-30 is due to differences in seasons and pastures. (2) At the Marton Experimental Farm (New Zealand) a trial carried out by the Department of Agriculture comparing the yields under cutting at <> suitable grazing stage for sheep, with those from cutting half as frequently and at a stage suited to the feeding of cattle, resulted in a 10 per cent, increase in favour of the latter. (3) A carrying capacity and fattening trial with lambs at Aberystwyth (Wales) resulted as follows:— Length of Spells Relative Live Between Grazings. Weight Increases per Acre. Four-day Spells 100 Fortnightly Spells 126 Monthly Spells 132 In this trial some difficulty was experienced in getting the herbage under monthly spelling cleanly grazed with lambs.

(4) In comparing at Lincoln College (N.Z.) a system of grazing under a set rate of stocking with that of rotational grazing, 3.8 sheep per acre were carried during the year under the former treatment against 6.8 under rotational graz-

ing. This represents an increase of nearly 80 per cent due to the latter method of grazing. The set rate of stocking would represent practically continuous defoliation, of the more palatable species at least. (5) In addition to the foregoing evidence in support of the generalization advanced at the beginning of this section there is evidence also that severe and frequent defoliation in ont> year has an influence on production in the subsequent one. This is exemplified by a further example of work at Aberystwyth:— Treatment in 1922. Relative Yields Under Uniform Cutting in 1923. 20 fortnightly cuts 100 10 monthly cuts 154 One hay and 2 aftermath cuts 164 While different species and strains of plants differ in the rapidity with which they recover often being defoliated it is obvious that frequent and severe defoliation is a serious limiting factor to production. The reason for this is fairly obvious when it is remembered that the leaves of plants are as essential to their growth as the roots are. The leaves may be viewed as the “Manufacturing Workshops” of the plant wherein nature’s raw materials are converted, with the aid of sunlight, into the complex substances of which the plant consists and on which animals feed. Removal of the leaves means reduced ability to build up raw materials into plant materials. In brief, one may say that it requires leaf to make leaf and incidentally to contribute to the growth of the plant as a whole. (Section II will appear in next week’s issue.) [Defoliation is the removal of the leaves by grazing animals or by cutting.] REARING OF CALVES CAREFUL MANAGEMENT. BRING ON STEADILY. There are few livestock so difficult to judge accurately by inspection only, with a view to their future value, as the calf. Where nothing is known of the breeding, appearance must necessarily be the guiding factor, and preference should be given to calves with a good framework—a good back, but not too long, well sprung ribs, set on legs well placed and with bones good, but not coarse. The head is often a valuable indication of quality—a broad forehead, bright eyes and an alert expression are desirable characteristics; a good sleek coat of a popular colour is also a good point. On the other hand, calves with weak middles and little depth of body, long legs and narrow chests are to be rigidly avoided. A poor coat of an uncertain colour, or one indicating a mixture of breeds is also undesirable and, of course, calves showing signs of digestive troubles should not be purchased. In spite of careful selection, however, it is easy to go wrong, and a group of purchased calves of unknown origin, though uniform at first, often show material differences in type when one or two years old. The breeder who keeps a good bull and rears his own calves ought always to have a more uniform lot of calves of good type than the rearer who depends on purchases alone. Emphasis must be laid on the quality of the bull; a calf by a good bull out of a middling cow may well be worth rearing, but a calf by a mongrel or crossbred bull out of the same cow certainly is not. The methods of calf management vary considerably (states a writer in The Farmer and Stock Breeder). It is customary in some places to take the calf away from its dam as soon as it is born, whereas in other localities the common practice is to leave the calf with its dam for four days longer. Both methods give good results. The important point is to see that the calf gets its own mother’s milk—the colostrum or biestings—for the first three days of its life. It has long been known that colostrum is very rich in bone and flesh-forming substances, and is also somewhat laxative, and, therefore, especially suited to the new-born calf, but recent research work has shown that it also contains substances which serve to protect the calf against certain infectious diseases. The death of a cow at calving may make it impossible to obtain colostrum for the calf, and in such cases the following method of feeding, as devised by Bowes, of Leeds University, has been found successful: Give a dose of 1 to 2 tablespoonfuls of castor oil soon after birth and the following daily ration for the first week; 3 pints milk, 1 pint water and 2 eggs beaten up. This quantity should be given in four feeds at approximately equal intervals. Continue feeding four times daily during the second week, giving at each feed 1£ pints of new milk and half a pint of water. After the second week give whole new milk three times daily. Farmers who sell milk often wish to get their calves on to a “milk substitute” diet as quickly as possible after birth, so that there may be more whole milk available for sale. In such cases it is false economy to give too little milk or use a substitute too soon. For at least three weeks after birth only whole new milk should be given, preferably warm from the cow, and the daily allowance need not exceed two quarts morning and evening. If more milk is available, the daily quantity can be increased, and whole milk continued for weeks or months. Usually, by the end of the third week, or during the fourth week, calves may be noticed to have begun chewing the cud, thereby indicating that the stomach is beginning to be able to deal with dry foods. From this stage, therefore—say the end of the fourth week—it is reasonable and economical to begin introducing dry foods and gradually to reduce the whole milk. Since cud-chewing indicates the development of the stomach sufficiently to deal with a little dry food, and as it is well known that calves a month old relish a little good hay, there need be no hesitation in offering foods of a more digestible and less fibrous nature than hay, and gradually increasing these while the whole milk is reduced. Many calves are now reared successfully by the dry feed system which get no milk of any kind after the eighth or ninth week. Experiments on the self-feeding system with different single foods have shown that calves four to five weeks old readily eat a little linseed cake, crushed oats, barley meal and bran. In one such trial two calves ate about 41b linseed cake and a little hay each daily before they were ten weeks old and made very good progress. Water was also given to drink twice daily. This experiment must not be taken to indicate that linseed cake alone is the best food for young calves. It is, however, the most readily eaten food and should always be included in home-made mixtures. Such mixtures can be made up or say 30-40 per cent, linseed cake, 60-50 per cent, of two or more cereal foods such as crushed oats, barley meal, flaked maize, middlings, or bran. One precaution is necessary • in the feeding of a group of calves receiving a cake and grain mixture. Owing to the risk of a large and stronger calf

bullying the others and eating more than its own share of food, a separate trough or compartment of a trough should be provided for each calf, and each youngster should be tied by the neck Or secured by simple wooden yokes of staunchions for half an hour after being fed. This will prevent the suckling of each other’s ears and other parts and ensure fairness in feeding and will generally lead,, to a much more level and uniform lot of calves being reared. Calves should always be housed where they have a clean, dry bed with plenty of fresh air and sunlight. Small pens, say 6ft by 4ft, should be provided for single calves. The sides can easily be made of light movable partitions, so that larger pens can be arranged if desired. NEW ZEALAND SHEEP REVIEW OF BREEDS. CORRIEDALES PROMINENT. New Zealand has been called “The Stud Farm of the Southern Hemisphere,” (states an article in this months New Zealand Farmer). The reputation of its sheep breeds abroad is undoubtedly the primary reason why such a title. Most of the foundation breeds of sheep imported into New Zealand have been altered from their original type to suit our local conditions, and as our improved breeds have become known in overseas’ countries, it has been found that our sheep adapt themselves better to the conditions pertaining in the countries of the Southern Hemisphere than do sheep of the old types that still persist in the, Northern Hemisphere. Our Lincolns and our Romneys are really new breeds to-day, and in South America are referred to as “of the New Zealand type.” Due to the fact that Lincolns are seldom availed of by the Dominion’s flockmasters to-day, the best of our Lincolns are annually exported to the Argentine and Uruguay, and so great has become their reputation in those countries that they have almost entirely supplanted English sheep in that market. Our Romneys, too, are making steady progress in South America, but as that country is the only market enjoyed by English breeders who, having no local market, annually send their tops to South America, our progress has not been so rapid as desired. With the Romney so popular throughout the Dominion, the demand for the best sires locally is extremely keen, hence South America can only hope to buy our best by paying the price. Australia, of course, has paid us much higher prices for our Romneys than has South America, that country having bid as high as 600gns, 500gns, and 400 gns. for high-class sires. The breed, however, that has made New Zealand’s name abroad is undoubtedly the Corriedale—a purely New Zealand product, founded nearly three-parts of a century ago by farseeing sheepmen in the province of Otago and Canterbury, in which provinces to-day it is the dominant breed.

The progress of the Corriedale breed of sheep is almost a romance. It Has brought fame and fortune to Dominion sheep breeders, and there must be no sheep breeding country in the world to-day which has not heard of this New Zealand evolved breed. Australia has founded many flocks on importations from New Zealand, but finds it difficult in a country adapted to fine wool growing to maintain the New Zealand type. Japan is founding its sheep industry with the Corriedale. North America, Kenya Colony, a score of other places, and even Scotland itself, has sent out calls for this great dual-purpose breed of New Zealand sheep. But no one owes more to the foresight of the originators of this world-wide known type than do the cstancia owners of vast South America.

Annually they send orders for the best we can breed, and that their money will buy. Ships are chartered to take consignments to little 1 nown ports in the southern part of that great land, where flocks extend to 2,500,000 head. Orders have come from those parts foi as many as 100 stud rams in a line, and the standard of our leading Corriedale flocks is such that an individual stud has been able to fill this order with full satisfaction to the South American sheepman. Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, Chili, Argentina, Falkland Islands, Uruguay, Peru, in fact almost the whole of the sheep breeding area of South America to-day relies on the Corriedale as the breed of that country. This is a remarkable tribute to the New Zealand breed. Such a wide demand has been a great stimulus to the New Zealand flockmasters engaged in breedinc Corriedales, and neither time, effort nor cash is spared to maintain the highest possible standard. If a similar inquiry' existed for our other breeds, what a tremendous spur this would be. Our Romney in particular is adaptable to the conditions of many overseas countries, and it would be wise on the part of the authorities concerned to embark on a campaign to extend the export business in this breed. A growing demand now exists in Australia for our Southdowns and Ryelands, and inquiries are growing in volume for our Merinos. In time to come these breeds may also be widely known in overseas countries as of New Zealand type,” but in the meantime it is to our Corriedale breeders we must lift our hats in honour of their successes abroad. BLOAT IN COWS A New Zealand dairy farmer claims a simple cure for bloat. This trouble usually manifested itself among his cows in the spring, when there was a heavy growth of clover. One year he lopped some willows, and the branches were heaped up in the paddock prior to burning. In the same paddock, then rich in clover, were some cows. He noticed that one was blown, and one or two very nearly so. He was just about to leave to get the trocar when he observed several of the other cows rushing up to the willow and frantically chewing at the bark. Within a few minutes they had got rid of the gas, and were perfectly normal again. He decided then to watch whether the performance was repeated, and it was. From that day to this willow bark has been available for these cows in the spring, and this New Zealand farmer has not since then been troubled with bloat. A scientist who visited the farm some little time ago was very interested. The visitor pointed out that willow bark was well known for its tannic acid contents, and it was only quite recently that, in the Waikato district, Dr Annett found that a dilute of hydrochloric acid in water gave great results in alleviating bloat. It would appear from the above that the tannic acid has exactly the same effect, and that the cows can dose themselves if the willow is available.

vals is represented by 100. 1927 19281929-1930 Weekly cuts 100 100 100 Fortnightly cuts 110 129 — Three-weekly cuts —— 162 — Monthly cuts — — 145