EFFICIENT FARMING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 78, Issue 7018, 11 February 1949, Page 3

EFFICIENT FARMING

MR C. K. PARLANE’S HOLDING AT TE KAWA HIGH PRODUCTION AND A FIRST-CLASS HERD This month’s issue of the New Zealand Dairy Exporter contains an interesting article on the farm of Mr K. Parlane, of Mountain Road, Te Kawa. The article states:— “On this efficiently managed Te Kawa farm, a fine young herd of Jerseys is being established. Meantime, through testing, culling and efficient grassland management, first-class production has been set up. There are worth while pointers here for any young farmer. New Zealand farmers are fortunate in many ways—in the climate, the soil, and perhaps even more in the background laid by those pioneer farmers who braved isolation, low prices and difficult times, and at the same time built our dairy industry on a really solid foundation. This is the story of successful farming and herd management by a third generation New Zealander, many of whose relatives have played prominent parts in the dairy industry_ The farmer concerned, C. K. Parlane, is a son of Mr C. J. Parlane, recently retired from the general managership of the New Zealand Co-op-erative Dairy Co., after a life-time spent in the dairy industry, and a grandson of a well-known pioneer farmer, John Parlane. What a far call it is from the methods available to the grandfather and those modern methods of grassland management that are to-day being practised on this Te Kawa farm with such success. John Parlane, the grandfather, landed in New Zealand in 1861 and for a time went farming in Canterbury. Striking difficult times there he decided to move north where the dairy industry was making progress. He arrived in Eltham with £2OO, six children, and a stout pioneering spirit, which prompted him straightway to take up 200 acres of bush land. The struggle was hard and long. They worked under very primitive conditions, breaking in heifers from the bush, and helping out the meagre dairying returns by the sale of fungus from the bush. For some time he supplied Chew Chong’s factory, getting 61d a gallon for his milk, but when

the Eltham Co-operative Dairy Company commenced, he became a shareholder, and later a director. Though his son, C. J. Parlane, took up dairy factory work early in his career, his experiences on that Taranaki farm left him with sufficient love of the land to want to farm on his own account, and in 1912, when managing the Frankton factory of the forerunner of the “big” company, he took up 300 acres of land in the rough at Te Kawa. The farm was partly broken-in, then sharemilkers were put on, but eventually the responsibilities of his own work became such that he had to lease the property, giving the lessee the right of purchase. When the 15 year lease was up, the lessee did not exercise his right to purchase, and C. K. Parlane, the present owner, took over 150 acres, the other 150 acres being .farmed by his brother. Production Raised Quickly

At the time he took over, 90 cows were being milked on the whole 300 acres, and their production was poor. In C. K. Parlane’s own words, “they were a pretty mixed assortment, but there were a few good ones among them.” It says something for the brothers’ methods that within three years, 200 cows were being milked on the 300 acres, this being achieved through their ability to graze their cows off, for three months of the year, at that time. Testing was carried out from the outset, but it took a few years to build up production much, for when C. K. first took over, there were two-year-olds, yearlings and calves on hand. When group herd testing first started in the district, he tested’ every second year, but having proved its great value to him, he now tests every year.

A Start Into Pedigrees Believing that his best results would come from using really good pedigree Jersey bulls, C. K. Parlane was soon in the market for the best, and in 1938 he bought a Trotter-bred bull, Oddicombe Don Juan, who was an outstanding success, and who raised production considerably. He followed up this with the purchase of another Trotter-bred bull, Oddicombe Louis, and was so pleased with the daughters he got, that be decided to go in for breeding pedigree Jerseys. He started off by buying calves from the “Oddicombe” stud, a few each year, and also bought, both as yearlings and two-year-olds, some “Pinewoods” heifers. Now he has 26 pedigrees in a herd of 85, all under test each year, four being under C.O.R. this year, and 22 under O.H.T. He is now using the five-year-old

Wardlaw-bred bull, Greenmeadows Star Boy. on Trotter stock, his two-year-old daughters being under test this year. Mr Parlane hopes he. will be able to qualify him as a Merit bull. In his best production year to date (1944-45) Mr Parlane milked 108 cows, with 5.18 test, and 3201 b. fat in 270 days, a total of 04,5691 b. fat, or 2301 b. per acre. The young stock were off the farm for three months that year. Last year, a drought year with no May test, and with 17 two-year and 17 three-year heifers, he averaged 5.32 test and 2931 b. fat in 255 days. This season he hopes to be back <>vei; the 3001 b. average again, a nice figure considering the proportion of young stock in this herd. Pasture improvement here has been , along much the same <ines as stock improvement, for better feeding and 1 better breeding have gone' hand in i hand. Much of the farm was in very bad order when C. K. Parlane took over in 1931, but to-day it has all been brought up to a highly productive standard, and in addition the farm has been both improved and beautified by the provision of excellent shelter belts of useful trees. It is in fact one of the most picturesque farms in the district, thanks to the planting policy. Mr Parlane shuts a third of the farm for ensilage and hay each year, and is a great believer in shutting the paddocks early and getting the ; first ensilage made before the end of ■ October. Early Spring Feed Provision , He is following the practice of i shutting up as much of the farm as I possible in the autumn, for the proI vision of early spring feed, and this ! is carefully fed off with the electric ' fence. The country here is very prone Ito prairie grass, which is a great i standby in the spring. He has also i sown a paddock in Hl ryegrass to try i it out under his conditions, and this I spring it showed great growth. Top-dressing is heavy on this farm, I when the fertiliser is available, and IMr Parlane likes to give a 3cwt. ' dressing of super in the spring and a ! 3cwt. dressing in the autumn, with I the addition of “cwt. per acre of carI bonate of lime. In the war years, of I course, only limited quantities were ! available. Mr Parlane supplies the Now Zea- . land Co-operative Dairy Company’s ; factory, which is making dried milk, I so his calves are reared on buttermilk powder, to which a vitamin sup- , plement has been added. They get this for three to four months, being liber- | ally fed all the way, and after weanI ing get dairy meal. Milkers Get Meal in Spring ; Believing that a little extra expenj ded on meals at critical periods is ' more than repaid by the returns, Mi’ Parlane gives all the cows lib. of ! meal a head daily when they first ' come in during the spring, the pedii gree members getting 21b. a head. If • there is a dry spell in the autumn, he j feeds meal again, and finds that he ’ gets back much more than the value of the meal fed, in a lessened pro- ’ duction drop at that time. During the winter, while feeding i out the hay, he adds molasses to the ■ drinking water at the rate of four i gallons of molasses to 500 gallons of I water. This is given principally as a I precaution against milk fever cases, I and significantly enough, he has had i none during recent years. No “Hit or Miss” Here I This is one of those many farms where good all-round modern methods ‘ of breeding and feeding are making ! certain of high annual production ‘ averages. "There is no “hit or miss” • here. From the time they arc calves, I all the stock are well fed, all the time. I Drought years bring their worries—- ' and the droughts here can be severe i —but these are minimised by good i farming technique, and spring-time ; presents few problems indeed because . of the abundance of autumn-saved I grass which is carefully rationed out i to give' the greatest effect. ' Mr C. K. Parlane is one of the i many young, successful farmers who take full advantage of the findings of the scientists on pasture establishment and control, and in the years to come, through testing and culling, he hopes and believes he will be equally successful on the breeding side—a belief shared by this writer.