BOUNTEOUS CROPS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4529, 28 January 1942, Page 8

BOUNTEOUS CROPS

HAY OF HIGH QUALITY LATE CUTTINGS PROVE BEST The early bird does not always catch the worm, as those farmers who cut their hay crops early this season have found out. The weather then was so unsettled that some farmers had their crops in the paddocks for a fortnight or more. However, the bulk of the hap crops was not cut until the new year, and these have been and are being harvested in excellent condition. In the opinion of one district farmer, his crop is one of the best ever harvested, being of very bright texture and of good weight, as the latercut crops have proved, the season being about a month later owing to the heavy rainfall in spring and early summer. Other farmers support this view.

The late season has resulted in the pastures being still green and full of sap and by no means as dry and stalky as is usual at this time of year.

In the opinion of those able to judge, the late and juicy growth this season should, provided the autumn is not too dry, result in the dairy herds milking longer than usual and so making up at least in part for the drop in production in the spring owing to lack of sunshine couplied with the wet weather experienced before Christmas.

Perhaps more than in previous seasons, this season farmers have speeded up the harvesting of their hay crops by the use of machinery. In conversation with a representative of this paper, a businessman remarked that to his astonishment he had not heard the complaint about the shortage of labour to the extent expected. Apart from the fact that he realised that farmers were right behind the war effort and were making the best of conditions he said he thought that reason was the almost-universal use of machinery, coupled with the fact that farmers were helping each other with their crops more than ever. He thought this speeding up also resulted in far better crops being saved owing to the fact that the hay was not left in the paddocks now to anything like the Same length as formerly. This opinion seems to be correct and brings to notice the manner in which the gathering of the hay harvest has been speeded up in recent years. On the whole it would appear that hay crops in this district are well above the average this year and that if fine weather continues a muchgreater acreage still will be harvested in excellent condition.