FIELD COMPETITIONS

Taranaki Daily News, 12 August 1930, Page 7

FIELD COMPETITIONS

' WESSON'S LEARNT THEREFROM. interesting address by judge. Field competitions and the lessons to be derived from them formed the text ' of a very instructive lecture delivered by Mr. J. M. Smith, of the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture, And judge of the competitions, to a gathering of farmers at the Lepperton hall last night. Emphasis was given to the many points made by illustrations • which were projected from lantern ‘ slides operated by Mr. C. Haynes. Mr. E. Blyde, president of the Lepperton ’ branch of the Farmers’ Union, presided. Judging was not the most important part of the competition, nor was. the winning of prizes, remarked the lecturer. • The chief object was to gain’ more know- ’ ledge of the particular line in which ’ the° farmer was interested. What the .; promoters of .fejie competitions liked to ‘ see was the interest taken by farmers in going round during the judging, inviting each other’s fancies,' discussing the “whys and wherefores” of the suc- ' cess achieved. That had been done, by ‘ the farmers in recent years, and there ” was no doubt that the competitions had ‘ had the effect of improving the ensilage ’ stacks 50 per cent., and of increasing the root crops. ; < Pasture competitions during the next few years would probably be most important,' superseding root crop competi- - ■ tions. The ideal pasture was one that ' gave the best butter-fat production, and the ideal, of course, was a foundation of ryegrass and clover. Some land ’ would not .permit of that. The judging ' of a pasture was done with a point • analyser, > and the main thing to consider was. the cover—not the number of plants to a certain area. The point analyser gave the actual cover. The machine covered. 10 points at one ~ stand, and at times took two or three different plants at a . strike. Certain ’ value points were given for each class ■of plant. For rye and white clover 10 points were allotted up to 30 per cent. . As a well-balanced pasture was required . Cocksfoot, dogstail, Timothy, poa trivialis and Red Clover were given eight points..; Yorkshire fog, generally considered a weed, was fairly palatable, and made quite good ensilage, so it was awarded four points. A number, in- ’ eluding hawkweed, were given one point, as they were better than bare ground. -In the case of weeds one point was taken . pff. A hundred points was given for utilisation of the pasture,. that .total .being given when full use’ was made of the pasture. r

PERCENTAGE OF BARE GROUND.

Lantern slides showed the difference between good and bad management. of pastures. Mr. Smith show.dd that the average of bare ground in September was six acres out of every 100 acres, comparing more than favourably with other Taranaki districts. In perennial rye and white clover the background of good pastures was 22.0 and 23.1, the highest .being 47 per cent, and 56.5 per : cent., the latter being too high for pro'jier balance. Roa Praleusis averaged 9.3; the highest being 15 per cent., and Suckling clover, a native, averaged 13.5, the highest being 40. In Lcpperton the average of fog was only 4.3, as against '3O per cent, in some other districts. z The weakest point was in Vernal 15.6 per. cent., calsear 16.8 per cent, and rib •grass' 11 per cent. Their elimination was 'the bugbear of the farmer. Top-dress-ing would not eliminate them, but he thought that harrowing would be effective.

Generally the weed average was very good/ for on the whole there was very little weed in Lepperton. He showed that bare portions of. pasture could be overcome by top-dressing.. Many pastures could be brought back by topdressing, but in some cases it was more economical to plough and resow. In ■ Taranaki there was a. weakness in ryedue to the use of southern ryes, and he showedf slides exhibiting swards o at Katere how Hawke's Bay rye had increased where some of the South Island kind had 'decreased considerably. He showed slides exhibiting swards of rye 50' yea Vs-. old from which the best seed came, as the temporary rye was eliminated whereas in cases where the rye was young the temporary rye was more to'the fore. The Government now ‘•'certified 1 to the permanent. rye, and he denied the rumour, which he said was current,’ to the effect that the high price of Hawke’s Bay rye was due to the Government charging 9s. per bushel for certifying./ The ' Government did that free of charge. CERTIFIED SEED. There .were three types o-f certified rye seed —what was known as mother aeed, this being ideal for sowing for 'seed purposes. Seed was certified by the Government only as to permanence, and not as to germination, but the farmer, should ask to see the certification •of the latter as the merchant had it. ■The Government was really responsible for its pedigree, as it' were. lie--cords were left of all certified seed and its final dstination. He gave illustrations showing the various types of rye and the precautions taken by the Government to closely watch the rye question. The Canterbury growers, too, were alive to the question and were procuring mother seed from Hawke's Bay which in a year or two should again right the trouble.

A judge, said Mr. Smith, seldom pleased everyone, but in the hay and ensilage competitions the point particularly brought before them was the necessity for earlier cutting. They had advocated cutting when the fodder was in flower, but had now concluded that a fortnight earlier was better. However, Dr. Annett had stated that the best ensilage was made from grass \four inches, high. Farmers could not cut it bo low as that, but the farmer who shut up his paddock early and cut his ensilage early would get the best results es the feeding value was in the leaf. Moreover, it was recognised that in the function of the seed much more was .taken out of the ground than in the earlier stages. By cutting earlier one bad the benefit or a second springlike growth.

Ensilage that was most like the raw .material was what counted most. The ideal ensilage should be green, and slightly sour. He showed a graph giving, the changes of composition in the grass cut at different stages. Cut on November 26, a, crop yielded two tons. The weight increased each few days, but the greater increase was in fibre and carbohydrate and not in protein. The ■ earlier cutting gave ensilage more suitable for dry cattle, the nutritive rate ? being better. . -Early cutting gave' the

right ration —1 to 6. Analysis of the various types of ensilage as regards nutritive values showed the grass ensilage was of higher feed value than oats, being 1 to 1.49 as against 1 to 6.6; green maize 1 to 6.7, and green rye 1 to 4.3. Grass ensilage had more- concentrated feed value, and for that reason a grass ensilage stack beat a splendid oat ensilage stack at.Okato. Early cutting tended to keep down the invasion of’ the grass grub the following season as the moth (the turnip fly) that caused the grub looked for long grass on which to lay its eggs. Results had shown that ensilage could be made in any weather, and therefore it had an advantage over hay. The fodder should be put in green and as soon as cut. It was also advantageous to have the stack as high as possible so as to reduce the proportion of waste. It was wise to dig a trench round the stack, as in one case in South Taranaki “gravy” that ran out of the stack killed a track through the lucerne. Farmers who had taken temperatures had proved that ensilage could be made at a wide range of- temperatures. Mr. Paul, Okato, having stacks that varied in temperature from 103 to 150 degrees. He stressed the need for even stacking so -as to avoid air pockets which caused mould. On the top there should be a slight camber, but not too much. Dealing with hay, Mr. Smith said that the building of the stacks in Taranaki was one of the weakest features. Of course the hay was often cut too late owing to the exigencies of the weather. It was questionable whether now that all feeding was done from pastures hay was as necessary as when crops were more common. A number of farmers stated that they had managed very successfully with ensilage only. There was no doubt that weatherconditions causing late cutting as well as difficulty in sowing were factors that told against hay as compared with ensilage.