DEMONSTRATIVE FARMING

Taranaki Daily News, 4 August 1930, Page 16

DEMONSTRATIVE FARMING

WORK DONE AT STRATFORD lh LESSONS FROM EXPERIMENTS. REPORT OF FARM MANAGEMENT. In fulfilling its function of conducting a deinonstration farm, the society formed for this purpose in Stratford has gone very fully into many . aspects' of farming operations and a valuable paper dealing with recent findings and recommendations was read by the chairman (Mr. J. M. Smith) at Saturday's annual meeting of the society. The report was: — The ..policy of reducing the cropping area to a minimum and paying more care and attention to pastures and their management as laid down some years' ago has been' adhered to. Of the 140 acres comprising the farm, only four acres are under the plough for the purpose of growing supplementary fodder. These four acres comprised three acres of mangolds and one acre of carrots, and in ' common with other such crops in the district they are below the average. An unfavourable spring for preparing the seed bed and sowing was followed by weather totally unsuitable for weeding and inter-cultivation, and these two factors, in the main, greatly retarded the growth of the crops. Nowadays, with weeds and disease, so prevalent and with labour’ costs so high, the- growing of these crops from an economic aspect may possibly be unsound. CARE OF PASTURES. Pasture grasses made very favourable growth during the year, and the flush was such that, despite a large area shut up for hay and ensilage, it was necessary to use tire, mower to cope with the growth. Harrowing was carried out as time and opportunity occurred. There is no doubt that'more harrowing should be done, but as regards this phase of pasture management the society is more or less in the dark as to what constitutes the ideal amount of harrowing. It is hoped that .during the coming season we vill .be able to carry out some very definite experimental work with regard to the amount of harrowing, etc., and, if possible, with the different types of harrows. With the reduction of the area under supplementary fodder crop it was necessary to conserve a larger proportion of hay and ensilage than had yet been done. The making of ensilage plays a big part in th? control of pasture growth, so with a good grass season it naturally follows that an increased amount of ensilage will be made. Fields 5,7 d, 14a, 15 and part of 16, a total acreage of 304 acres, were harvested for ensilage, there being three stacks and one hillside pit. Fields 7c and part of. 16, a total area of 15 acres; were put in as hay. Much publicity lias been given during recent months with regard to the value of certain strains of grasses and clovers, and of ryegrass in particular. Perennial rye grown under certain conditions ceases to be permanent and we have now in our allegedly perennial ryes, grades f om true perennial down to a rVe which is virtually an Italian rye. Unfortunately in our commercial ryegrass to-day the' lines showing a tendency to the temporary habit are much more numerous than those of a truly permanent nature. With a view to determining, which strains of rye are permanent and which strains are likely to prove the most suitable in this district, an area of four acres was sown down last spring with 200 plots representing 50 different strains of ryegrass. Included in this trial are all of the ryes produced, in New Zealand as well as certain commercial lines from overseas. These plots are in turn top-dressed with various manures so that we will also have some idea of the behaviour of the various ryes under different manurial treatment. While it is yet too soon to report on the results of this trial, the coming spring will probably show some very definite and perhaps astounding information. It is hoped to conduct a field day on these ryes in the spring. A further area, an acre in extent, has been sown down with 50 plots representing 25 various strains of clover. These include most New Zealand, produced red and white clovers and a' number, of both from overseas. As with the ryes this experiment should give definite information as to the right types of clover to include in the permanent grass mixtures. TOP-DRESSING RESULTS. The various standard top-dressing trials as laid down some years ago were continued during the year. The whole of the pastures were top-dressed about 12 months ago chiefly with slag. This season they are to have mostly lime and super. The chief top-dressing trial during the year was with nitrogenous fertilisers.- - Part of this trial was in operation the previous year. At the beginning of the 1928-29 season, Field 7, ten acres in extent, was divided into two equal areas. One of these areas was known as the “nitrogen area”' and the other the “phosphate area,” that is, one had additional nitrogen besides the phosphatie dressings which both received. Both received identical dressings of phosphate, but the nitrogen area had nitrogen applied, at varying intervals. An accurate record of all grazing was kept, as was also the milk yield when the stock were in the different areas. While the grazing figures are an accurate measure of the growth up to a point, the butter-fat production cannot accurately be credited to the paddocks that the stock are actually grazing on when that milk is' being produced as there is a certain carry over from paddock to paddock. The two paddocks were not merely grazed in rotation but the cows were put into them when the grass had grown to what was considered the ideal stage for grazing. Thus it would be possible for one area to be grazed twice, to the other’s once and so on. The actual top-dressing of the two areas during the first year (1928-29) was as follows: Nitrogen area: 3cwt. basic slag in June, 1928; lewt. sulphate ammonia, July, 1928; lewt. sulphate ammonia, October, ''92B; lewt. sulphate ammonia, January, 1929; lewt, sulphate ammonia, March, 1929. Phosphate area: 3cwt. basic slag, June, 1928. The grazing is stated in terms of “cow days,” which represents one cow for so many days or so many cows for one day. The grazing and butter-fat for tlie> 1928-29 season was: Nitrogen .area, 296.6 cow days, 334 lb butter-fat per acre; phosphate area. 301.3 cow days, 234.91 b butter-fat per acre. The trial was continued during tho 1929-30 season when dressings were made

as follow: Nitrogen area, 3cwt. basic slag, June, 1929; 2cwt. sulphate of ammonia, June, 1929. Phosphate area: 3 cwt. basic slag, June, 1929. The grazing and butter-fat produced during this season was: Nitrogen area; 344.7 cow days, 381.421 b butter-fat per acre; phosphate area, 294 days, 322.251 b butter-fat per acre. . Taking the seasons individually, on the surface the ammonia appears not to have paid during the 1928-29 season but the reverse was the case during the 1929-30 season. When going further into the figures, however, one finds that the nitrogen area produced a great deal more feed during the early spring months when, feed is much more valuable than later. On the other hand, the phosphate area produced more later, which evened the figures.- This shows them, as far as grazing days are concerned, on even terms whereas the nitrogen area should show to advantage. . MANURIAL EXPERIMENTS. During the 1929-30 season Field 12, a 1.0-aere paddock, was divided into three equal .parts and one part treated with nitrophoska, one with superphosphate and one with leunaphos. The nitrophoska and leunaphos are two concentrated fertilisers manufactured in Europe. Nitrophoska is a complete manure containing 1G.5 per cent, nitrogen, 16.5 per. cent, phosphate and 20 per cent, potash, while leunaphos contains 20 per cent nitrogen and 20 per cent, phosphate. The amounts of nitrophoska, superphosphate and leunaphos applied were based on the phosphate content so that all three areas had equal amount of phos-phate-during the season, while the nitrophoska and leunaphos areas had equal amounts z of nitrogen. The superphosphate area had its phosphate at one dressing but the other manures, were applied on four occasions. The dressings were: Nitrophoska, lewt. in September, lewt. in November, lewt. in January, lewt. in March; superphosphate, 3cwt. 241 b in September; leunaphos, 99 lb in September, 901 b in November, 901 b in January, 901 b in March. Grazing was carried out on the same lines as that on the other nitrogen area. The grazing and butter-fat resulted: — Nitrophoska, 211.3 cow days, 28.8 dry stock days, 229.71 b butter-fat per acre; superphosphate, .211.2 cow days, 60.3 dry stock days, 244.71 b butter-fat per acre; leunaphos, 189.5 cow days, 4.6 dry stock days, 224.21 b butter-fat per acre. While the results of this experiment are. by no means conclusive the indications are that we ae not yet ready for these concentrated' fertilisers. Fifty-four cows were milked during the season, the average butter-fat per cow based on factory returns being 321 lb. This is a decided increase on the figures of last season, which were 3081 b per cow. It is the intentions of the committee to ’ increase the herd during the coming season by at least five head. During the year the manager, Mr. Strong, tendered his resignation and Mr. C. Henderson was appointed. The interest taken by the farming public in the farm is not all that could be desired, although the attendances at the field days were good. To attend at a field day and then not follow the experiments during the remainder of the season does not lead very far, and farmers are invited tojnake full use of the faun and visit it. oftener.