VISIT TO RUAKURA

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 58, Issue 4190, 29 May 1939, Page 5

VISIT TO RUAKURA

PARTY FROM KAKEPUKU SEE EXPERIMENTS. SCIENCE AND ECZEMA. A field day of outstanding interest was enjoyed by about thirty members of the Kakepuku Young Farmers’ Club on Tuesday when they paid a visit to Ruakura Experimental Farm. The part)’ arrived at the farm shortly befor eleven in the morning and departed a little after four o’clock, and was accompanied by Mr W. G. Neill and Mr Harry Clarke. On arrival at Ruakura the young farmers were met by the farm manager, Mr T. R. Rodda, who explained the changes which were taking place at Ruakura as the result of the determination to discontinue the training of young farmers there, and turn the place' into a purely experimental station which would become the focal centre for farming research for the Auckland Province, and eventually a much wider area. The last students for training on the farm will be enrolled this June. Besides the routine work of instruction and research Mr Rodda gave an account of the interesting contacts with farming exports, distinguished visitors and touring parties which were made at the farm. During the present year they had had to accommodate a party of 150 Southland farmers, and 220 members of the Taranaki Young Farmers’ Clubs. Such visits, with the regular touring of their own field staff, kept his officers in intimate touch with the needs and problems of farmers. He urged the visitors never to hesitate to write to the station for information on their problems; and expressed the hope they would be able at some future time return, for it needed a full day from eight in the morning to night to get a fair insight into all the activities carried on by the various departments of the farm which covered over 900 acres. NEW LABORATORY’. The first department visited was the new laboratory being erected to house the activities of the chemical and biological staffs which would be increased as the farm turned exclu sively to research work. Besides the three laboratories the building woulc contain a technical library, offices foi the various experts, and a centra, room for the meeting of the heads of the various departments. A search for information concerning the growth of grass is at present being conducted by the farm and this is being done in conjunction with the data provided by the geological soil survey of the Waikato and the Waipa Counties. The three main types of the soils in the two counties, clay loam, silt loam and sandy loam, are all represented at Ruakura. Various' kinds of manure were used on the three soils and the results checked by analysing and weighing the grass from various plots every ten days. When the effects of the various manures on each soil were fully known it would be possible to guide farmers as to what manure should be used on their farms, as the kind of soil on each farm was now recorded in the geological survey maps. The field on which an attempt had been made to induce facial eczema in sheep was pointed out by Mr Rodda. A paddock had been grazed bare with ten sheep to the acre and rendered destitute of feed in the hot weather, then it had been heavily manured and watered with the equivalent of five inches of rain. Within a week a heavy flush of feed had been brought on. The sheep failed to contract the disease; but they had had an outbreak in another field where they had not expected it. SURPRISING DISCOVERY. However as a result of their research in the facial eczema problem the entirely unexpected discovery had been made that the chlorophyll content of grass (the green colouring matter) varied during different hours of the day. When later the party visited the laboratory the chemist conducting the grass analysis said that although theories of the cause of eczema were being exploded one by one that was no new experience for research workers; and the surprising discovery of the varying chlorophyll content of grass had given a direction to their work of which they were most hopeful. In the afternoon the greater part of the time was taken up with a visit to the pig department of the farm where the nutrition officer, Mr C. E. Ballinger, is conducting work on the restricted feeding of pigs. Before taking the party on a tour of the pig pens Mr Ballinger said although New Zealand pig exports could now be absorbed to their full on the English market it must be realised that any increase would be conditional on the extra carcases being of only first quality. Mainly two lines of work were being carried on at Ruakura and the first gave evi-. dence of direct value to any hoped for increase of exports. Information obtained had indicated that restricted feeding -produced the correct fattening for the market; and that the addition of a small amount of meat meal considerably reduced the weight of other feed, and consequently the cost, of carrying pigs over the winter. ENSILAGE FLAVOUR. There are only Berkshire pigs on the Ruakura Farm, not, said Mr Ballinger, because they were thought to be the best breed but because when the change to research work began at the farm the Berkshires happened to contain the best type. Type and strain was the important factor. After an inspection of the pig pens thanks to Mr Ballinger were extended to him for his interest and explanation to the party by Mr P. Ray, and a further tour of pastures, the laboratory and milking shed was made under the direction of Mr Rodda. A small herd was inspected which had gone under control that day in an attempt to do away with feedflavour from ensilage. It had been found that clover flavour could be controlled, said Mr Rodda, by keeping the cows off the grass for some hours before milking; and the object of their present experiment was to

see if the ensilage flavour could be controlled in the same manner. At the conclusion of the tour Mr Rodda was thanked by Mr Ray on behalf of the young farmers who showed their appreciation of his explanations and helpfulness with hearty acclamation.