HORSE V. TRACTOR

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 840, 7 December 1929, Page 33

HORSE V. TRACTOR

ENGLISH EXPERIMENTS ANIMAL STILL REQUIRED An important conference was held at Rothamsted on “Power for Cultivation and Haulage on the Farm.” and the papers have now been issued; they were contributed by well-known experts in the various branches of the subject. It was generally agreed that no form of mechanical power is likely to displace the horse, the machine being nothing #ke so adaptable as the animal; tip? proper use of a machine is to provide a reserve of power for heavy and urgent work in cultivation and in harvest. Steam is the most flexible form of power; in-

creased loads do not “stall” the engine, but merely reduce the speed. Its use, however, is confined almost entirely to contract ploughing and cultivation, there being as yet little steam haulage in agriculture. Most o£ the engines on the farm, whether

stationary or tractor, are driven on paraffin or petrol; these are increasing in number and efficiency, but are little used for road haulage. One of the most promising developments is the Diesel engine, now successfully used for cable-tackle sets costing much less for oil and depreciation than the paraffin engine; it is being tried for light tractors. Electric motors are the simplest of all, and they can advantageously be used about the buildings wherever current is available. They are, however, leas convenient for cultivation. For the present the most useful type is the paraffin-driven tractor. Its limitations are shown by the fact that, the general purpose tractor is v used for about 300-700 hours annually, as against 1.700 hours or more for the horse, and that its cost is about 3s an hour of work, as against about s|d for the horse. The tractor, of course, j does much more an Tiour than the horse, and ploughs at a cheaper rate i an acre (10s to 15s an acre, against i 15s to 20s); for other cultivations and j for harvesting, while quicker, it is ! dearer an acre because it is not given j a lull load; whenever new designs of implements make this possible the process becomes more economical; at full load the tractor compares favourably with the horse. VALUE POINTS OF THE SILO The beauty of silo conservation is ; that you can store an enormously greater quantity of fodder in the same space than is possible with a bay stack, and you are able to conserve the crop while it is heavy, succulent and digestible, stated Mr. H. J. Bate, I at the annual husbandry conference arranged by the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales. Further, you are able to take a crop just at the right stage and to put it away. When you conserve by means of a silo, you conserve food at a stage when it possesses the highest possible food value. There are men who say that they are able to go out each morning and freshly cut sufficient for the day’s needs, but to do so they have to harness a team, collect tools, have a man ready, and cut the fodder each time with a chaffcutter. They have to go to that trouble each day, and each day that their crop is standing it is going off. Whereas to fill y&ur silo means that you concentrate for a week or two and the whole operation is done within that time. The two basic facts in favour of silo conservation are that you conserve your crop at the right stage, and you concentrate the work within a matter of a week or two. You have y<jur food supply convenient to your hand, and in a clean and suitable form.'