FARM THEORY IN PRACTICE

Taranaki Daily News, 18 August 1933, Page 3

FARM THEORY IN PRACTICE

VALUABLE LESSONS GIVEN STRATFORD DEMONSTRATION AREA REVIEW BY MR. J. M. SMITH. The season's activities at the Stratford demonstration farm were the subject of, a very comprehensive account which Mr. J. M. Smith as chairman was to have delivered at the annual meeting of the society at Stratford. Tn Mr 1 . Smith’s absence in the South Island the account was read by Mr. W. Power, secretary of the society. “Although the balance-sheet and statement of accounts discloses a financial loss,” said Mr. Smith’s speech, “it must b? remembered that the farm is not operated for any financial gain. Sixteen years ago several practical farmers and sound business men realised that over the next decade oi’ two farmers would have to put their business on a sounder footing than had been the case in the past and that better methods, embodying more scientific farm practices, would need to be employed to meet existing conditions. That this was so has been painfully brought home to us during the past two seasons. It was with this knowledge then that the Stratford Demonstration Farm was first conceived and brought into being, and during the intervening years the institution has played a big part in the breaking in and farming of land in Central Taranaki Many of the sound methods of to-day were the outcome of some experimental or demonstration work at the farm. As an indication of this might be taken the success that has followed the growing of mangolds in the Stratford district. Prior to the farm authorities, under the able guidance of Mr. J. W. Deem, demonstration that mangolds could be successfully grown in this district it was common belief that this crop would not thrive in the vicinity of Stratford, but to-day there are acres of successful mangold crops throughout the district. FINANCING OF FARM. f • “A regrettable feature of the season’s activities has been the curtailment of some of the farm’s most interesting and valuable experiments. It has become a habit of the general public to look on the Demonstration Farm as a State farm with the resources of the State behind it, but this is not so and the farm committee is faced with expenditure common to practically all farms—interest, rent, rates, etc.—and these payments have to be made out of ordinary revenue. This means that there are certain annual financial commitments and that these commitments are a first call on revenue. Any farmer who has earned out any experimental work, no matter how simple, will realise that this work is expensive, in time, and frequently in money on account of negative results which will always be met with. This being so the farm authorities can carry out experimental work only with the excess of revenue over expenditure, so it must, be obvious why it has, been necessary at the present time to curtail any experiments involving heavy costs. It should also be pointed out that tire Department of Agriculture allowed the society a subsidy to partly cover the cost of experimental work, but this subsidy has, as a departmental economy measure, been, reduced 75 per cent., which leaves little margin to work on. “Certain standard top-dressing.,, trials which have been in vogue for a number of years are being carried along, as each year, makes the results of these trials more conclusive. The trial in Field 4 between 3cwt of basic'slag annually and 6cwt every second year indicates that the annual dressing is giving the best result. Incidentally, although this paddock has been top-dressed with nothing but slag for the past 10 years there is no indication that the pasture is becoming unbalanced as far as the sward species are concerned, and this paddock is undoubtedly one of the best on the farm. The strip across the paddock which has been treated with potash for the past seven years still shows no indication of any improvement. “Taking the top-dressing in general, the year’s experience bears out the previous contention that the first and foremost requirement of the soils in the Stratford district is phosphate. There are various manures that can be applied to fulfil this requirement, the chief of these being super (quick acting), basic slag and lime super (medium acting) and rock phosphates (slow acting). Different seasons will give different results with the former two kinds of phosphates, but if the result of a number of years was summed up there would probably be little difference in the total result. Actually slag and super can both ■ be quite well used at different seasons of the year with very definite advantage. The slag should go on in the autumn (MarchApril) and the super in the very early spring (July-August) of,’ where the rainfall is ample, in the summer (Novem-ber-December). This latter dressing will even up the growth and so obviate that very undesirable peak spring growth which is so difficult to control. Of course in manuring for hay or silage we should actually manure to increase the peak growth by using super or ammoniated super just when closing tfle paddock. “As far as the use of potash is concerned, as yet this manure has not given a sufficiently positive result to justify its use at the farm. This statement does not apply to Taranaki as a whole, however, because there are known definite belts of country where potash is very necessary and has become the limiting factor in production.' The Department of Agriculture is extending the small co-operative trials to determine the potash response belts more definitely. Where an exceptionally early ■ spring growth is desired nitrogenous manures will sometimes give the desired result, but “conditions must be at least slightly favourable to get this desired result. It is also essential that the pasture should be strong in rye and well phosphated. The use of lime to a greater extent is recommended throughout Taranaki, and the use of this material becomes essential where much super is being used. GRASS STRAINS. “The matter of grass strains is being given due attention, and as far as perennial rye is concerned the very definite results recorded make it imperative that nothing but certified rye should be used. Rye is the backbone of a high production dairy sward and it is essential that this part of the pasture should be strong. There is no need to purchase mother seed, unless it is intended to sow it for further harvesting, as the cheaper permanent pasture or even first harvest rye will give just as good results for a pasture sward. With the present prices of certified rye there is no reason why it should not be used exclusively. “The trial- with swedes and the endeavour to stem the ravages of clubroot were carried through another year. It will be remembered that the previous year’s results indicated strongly that certain dressings of lime gave good results in the control of the disease. This year a central section was treated with burnt lime and different manures were sown with the seed, but club root and dry rot p-*3tically wiped the crop out. This in4®eates how expensive a negative resultexperiment can be. For the coming

season trials are to be made on this same area with two varieties which are allegedly disease resisters. With this particular piece of ground rotten with disease the varieties mentioned should be well tried, and the results will be watched with interest.

“The area in crop, in accordance with a 'policy already laid down, was kept down to a minimum.. Crops consisted of 1 acre of carrots, 2 acres of mangolds and 2 acres of soft turnips. The two acres in swedes, as already indicated, failed. The matter of entirely dispensing with crops has been discussed by the committee, but the Stratford district is one where probably it will always be economically sound to grow a certain area of roots.

“The whole position with regard to 100 per cent, grassland farming is that if a sufficiency of fodder reserves in the way of hay and ensilage can be built up from the surplus grass in the spring to cover the stock requirements of the winter without having to reduce the herd normally carried when cropping was carried out, then can the plough be satisfactorily put aside? The position at the Stratford Demonstration Farm is that were we to rely solely on hay and ensilage for tiding us over the winter it would be necessary to reduce the herd by at least 10 and probably 15 cows. This would certainly not be sound farm practice. It may be possible to eventually get the pastures growing earlier in the spring and later into the winter, thereby reducing the period of feeding out when the hay and silage stores would be sufficient, but the question would then have to be asked would not an acre or two of crops mean further additional cows, the returns of which would handsomely pay for the cropping? Then again by eliminating cropping the margin of safety between plenty and want would be narrowed considerably. “Approximately 40 acres were harvested as silage, the whole of the material going into the three pits. The concrete pit is proving very satisfactory. Waste is being reduced considerably and the saving in the harvesting costs is considerable. The earth pits, however, are not so satisfactory. The crumbling walls allow a considerable amount of waste. It is hoped to eventually concrete both of these pits. “With regard to the feeding of the silage no trouble has been experienced with either the stock or the milk. The bogey of stock troubles and tainted milk is brought to light periodically, but with several years’ feeding with a desirable silage and by feeding it judiciously no trouble has been experienced. This experience can be aptly corroborated by numerous practical farmers. Good silage made from clean pasture or clean crops and fed judiciously is not as likely to taint milk as the pasture from which 1 it wap made. . “The matter of strengthening weak swards by surface sowing is worthy of consideration, but this should only .be carried out when a pasture is a fairly good one but merely lacking in one or two species. Where the sward is poor it will be found to be unwise to try to build up by surface sowing as this will be a long, costly business. By far the best procedure is to break up and sow down again,. This can be done without any cropping and the paddock will, be lost to the stock for only seven or eight weeks' The grass mixture recommended for. this district is certified rye 201 b, Akaroa cocksfoot 101 b, timothy 31b, crested dogstail 21b, poa trivialis 11b, cowgrass 31b, and white clover 21b. “Tlie policy of running sheep in conjunction with the dairy herd was continued and 50 ewes were earned during the season. These are used chiefly after the herd to clean up the paddocks. The beneficial effect of the sheep on the pasture can be clearly seen, particularly in the thickening of the pasture sward ana the elimination of pasture weeds. The carrying of a small flock of shee p is worthy of consideration on every dairy farm. The revenue from lambs is no small item, while the wool also realises a “Sixty-one cows comprised the herd j,, -.-ns? the past season and the butter?.t suppKa « the factory was 1T.2941b which works out at 2831 b per “w or 123 lb per acre. The butter-fat according to testing was 18,7621 b, which is 3071 b per cow or 1341 b per acre. The big difference between these figures is largely due to sales of milk, which were considerable.