SEASONAL FARMING

Taranaki Daily News, 10 February 1934, Page 24 (Supplement)

SEASONAL FARMING

WORK FOR FEBRUARY. CARE OF THE PASTURES. Often in February tall woody or fibrous growth, consisting largely of flowering organs,, is prominent on many pastures. If this growth is not removed the plants on which it occurs devote themselves largely to seed-production, whereas if it were removed they would tend much more freely to produce leafage. At this season, both in dairying and in fat lamb production, there is often an acute need for leafy feed. Hence topping of pastures with its consequent transference of the activity of the sward to leaf growth from seedproduction is often advisable. If dry conditions seem likely to persist for any considerable time after such topping, it should be carried out at a height which, will serve to remove the stemmy por-‘ tions at the same time as the bottom leafy portions of the sward are undisturbed—this necessitates cutting at a considerably greater height than is adopted in ordinary mowing. Apart altogether from the occurrence of tall, stemmy growth, topping of pastures may be advisable to remove as completely as is possible, without exposing the swards to the danger of drying out, all the aerial portions of shadecreating weeds such as spear thistles, docks, fat-hen, and red-shank or willowweed. If weeds of this type are not checked in some way they are likely to weaken greatly the pasture plants in their immediate vicinity, and possibly to create vacant patches on which inferior plants later may become established. If, however, they are mown in the manner suggested, they cease to create the shade which is harmful to the valuable pasture plants. The" preparation of ground for the sowing-down of grass in autumn is a matter of seasonable moment. In general the most economical means of providing the mellow-firm seed-bed that assists in begetting the fullest success in pasture establishment consists, in part at least, in commencing the preparation of the seed-bed far enough ahead to allow time for natural weathering agencies to play a considerable part in the breaking-up and firming of the soil. Clovers which are essential in fully successful permanent pastures call particularly for consolidation, the widespread value of which is illustrated by the fact that the best portions of pastures, in respect both to grasses and cloVers, are often found - round the headlands, which have necessarily been, subjected to greater consolidation by the passage of horses and implements. PURCHASE OF SEED. The purchase of pasture seed mixtures is of such importance that it receives the personal attention of efficient farmers. Instead of being left to the last moment before the seed is .to be sown, the purchase of seeds should be undertaken early enough to ensure that there will be time to obtain seed of desirable strain, purity and germination capacity. As the strain of seeds is a character of fundamental importance which has come into the foreground during recent years, it is fortunate that the official system of certification of seeds has made the quest for desirable strains of the more important pasture species a relatively simple task in practice.

The basic fact is that an ever growing mass of field experience shows that, as a rule, it is false economy not to use certified seeds when supplies are available. During the current seed harvest certified seed of rye-grass and cocksfoot will be described either as “mother” grade or as “permanent pasture” grade, while in respect to both white and red clover there will be an additional grade termed “first harvest, permanent pasture.” The “mother” seed should be used by all who contemplate the future production of certified seed, as it not only gives greater assurance of purity of strain, but also enables certified seed to be harvested at the minimum interval after sowing. Care should be taken to preserve the printed statements inserted in sacks of machine-dressed mother seed.

These printed statements are known officially as “insert slips,” and constitute essential evidence at a later stage, when application for seed certification is being made, that the required mother seed was used originally. The other grades of certified seed are quite suitable for all pasture purposes apart from certified - seed production. The purity of certified seed, especially in the case of mother, seed, should be taken into consideration, for the purity of lines of certified seed varies considerably. It is also a sound precaution to ascertain the germination capacity of certified seed—though occasional lines are of quite low germination, they are not generally quoted at a price which is correspondingly low. Some of the grassland on many farms may,' with distinct advantage, be topdressed with phosphates in February or a little later—generally such top-dressing increases the autumn and winter supplies of fresh leafy feed, and, even should dry conditions occur for a considerable period after the distribution of the phosphates, their influence will not be lost but merely postponed until the required soil moisture is provided. SEED MIXTURES. In recent years authoritative views in respect to seed mixtures for permanent pastures have been substantially modified. One of the major changes is the limitation in the number of species recommended in specific mixtures. This change is a result of more thorough knowledge. The object of the earlier practice of using a wider range of species was to increase the likelihood of including those actually needed. . But with greater knowledge not only of the species really needed, but also of those not needed, under a particular set of circumstances, it is possible with safety to narrow the range of species sown, and thereby, without sacrificing efficiency, to bring about a welcome saving. Another important change is the greatly increased weight given to strain differences within a species. In this respect the informed view in respect to pasture plants is now paralleling that which has for long obtained in respect to many arable crops. Ordinarily only a slip-shod fanner would have been content to sow wheat or turnips or maize as such without seeking some knowledge of the sort of wheat and so on. But even the careful farmer, usually, of necessity, sowed perennial ryegrass, cocksfoot, white clover, etc., without giving any consideration to the possibility of different sorts of perennial ryegrass, etc., being of different values. With I'ecent intensification of attention upon strain differences within pasture species this is now ended. A further important change is represented by the view that cocksfoot should be so widely used in greater quantities than were customarily included in seed mixtures in the past that cocksfoot is now a major constituent in the great majority of the sowings of permanent pastures. These three changes suffice to suggest that in determining upon pasture seed mixtures it is advisable to keep abreast of current knowledge which at times is ignored in the advice that is tendered to prospective purchasers of seed mixtures, about which detailed information is available from district officers of the Fields Division. BREEDING EWES. Tn the Noi-th Island farmers undertaking fat-lamb production usually put out the rams at the end of February or

early in March. If the ewes tend to be over-fat they should be put on a scant diet early enough to bring about a sufficient reduction in condition. Flushing the ewes .for about ten days before the rains go out is of known value, for investigations have shown that the highest birth-rate is secured when ewes are in moderately good condition which is improving at the time of mating. Flushing can be carried out by providing some succulent feed such as rape after the first feeding-off of the lambs, or by putting the ewes on the best available short pastures and thereby providing them with more nutritious food—i.e., better keep, at the appropriate period. The better keep by its stimulating effect tends to beget a greater proportion of twins produced in the earlier part of the breeding season. The farmer need not forego the benefit of flushing in respect to ewes that are becoming too fat. His course then is to confine such ewes to poorer rations up to within about a fortnight of putting them to the ram—the flushing being done as described above. FEBRUARY DIFFICULT PERIOD. One measure of efficiency in feeding a dairy herd is the rapidity of the decline in production of butter-fat in late January and February. Even in some of the most favoured dairying districts the daily production of butter-fat in February is only about 75 per cent, of what it is in December. Such a rapid decline in production is riot natural, even for cows which are not of particularly good dairy type, and there is ample evidence that in general the rate of fall at this stage could be greatly minimised by feeding in closer accordance with the needs of the producing cow. Ihiprovement could be expected if it were more thoroughly realised that diets which consist essentially of pasture that is long and stemmy, or of over-mature special forage crops such as maize, millet and lucerne in the flowering stage, or of silage made from grass cut when it was approaching the stage typically adopted for hay, are fundamentally unsuitable for cows of reasonable production. Such, diets favour body-fat production rather than butter-fat production, and their use explains why at this season cows which are at all inclined to beef commence putting fat on their bodies instead of into the bucket

There seems to be no easy course that will lead to the satisfactory avoidance at about February of diets which are unfitted for efficient butter-fat production. The maintenance as far as possible of pastures in a short leafy condition is of assistance, but such pastures alone seldom are adequate and usually require supplementing by such measures as the feeding of young succulent lucerne or red clover before it has developed much woodiness that accompanies flower-pro-duction, the feeding of young millet or the feeding of soft turnips.

The fact that an avoidable decline in the production at this stage is reflected unfavourably in the production for the whole, of the remainder of the season seems at times to be overlooked. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why the use of suitable crops which are available is postponed, either because they may be more acutely needed later on or because they would eventually give greater yields. The point of practical moment is that later they may not be so acutely needed. Definitely in these circumstances a present pound of butterfat is preferable to a problematical future pound, and in February, as a rule, it is sound practice to make the fullest possible use of the succulent feed available. SEASONABLE WORK WITH LUCERNE. At times in February it is advisable to mow young lucerne which was sown in November or December. Generally such a mowing is necessitated by a vigorous development of weeds which tend to “choke” the lucerne seedlings by lessening their supply of moisture and of direct" light. But if weeds do not threaten damage to the lucerne seedlings in this manner, then such an early first mowing should not take place. During the young stages of the crop, leafage, if unchecked, assists considerably in building up an extensive root system which is capable of serving well in subsequent difficult periods. One of the critical periods in the life of lucerne seems to occur at the first spring following the sowing of the crop, and an extensive root system built up during the first summer is extremely useful at this critical spring period in assisting the crop to compete against invading weeds. In some districts, especially those in which grasses and clovers are not among its serious competitors, lucerne has been sown with success in .February. Good germination is favoured by the warmth which the soil then possesses. Further, the crop sown in February is likely/to escape much of the competition from certain weeds such as fathen, which at times greatly interferes with the establishment of a spring-sown crop. Where the grass grub is prevalent it is preferable that the land to be sown with lucerne in February should have been free from grass or cereals during the earlier part of the summer when eggs of the grub were being deposited. As a rule, a suitable time for the cultivation of lucerne is after the second cut of the season; the essential objective of cultivation is normally the suppression of weeds, and the dry conditions which commonly obtain at about the time of the second cut assist considerably in weed control. If-weeds are not making inroads in lucerne, cultivation at any time is likely to be not merely unnecessary, but actually undesirable. Good results may be expected from top-dressing lucerne with phosphates in summer. Generally summer top-dress-ing benefits lucerne almost exclusively, whereas the benefit of spring top-dress-ing may be shared between lucerne and other plants which in lucerne are weeds irrespective of their worth under different conditions. LATE TURNIPS AND CATCH CROPS. If further forage-crop production is desirable, valuable work in respect to additional cropping may be carried out during the coming few weeks. In many localities there is still time to sow such turnips as Hardy or Imperial Green Globe and White Stubble. Swedes are less satisfactory for late sowing. Often vacant land offers valuable opportunities for the growing of catch crops. For instance, land in oat stubble, if cultivated as soon as the crop is removed and then sown in Western Wolths rye-grass and red clover will provide autumn and spring feed, which is often of marked value and especially to farmers operating under Canterbury or similar . conditions. Black Skinless barley sown at the rate of 21 bushels an acre develops so quickly that it provides good feed for dairy cows or sheep in about eight weeks. Often it can suitably be sown immediately after oats in February and is then likely to provide feed at a period when it is welcome. Garton oats similarly used are also widely suitable as a green feed catch crop, provided it is not planned to obtain a further growth after the first feeding-off of the crop. Algerian oats rightly are popular for later sowing and later feeding. With all of these crops it is usually distinctly profitable to apply superphosphate at the rate of 1 to 2cwt. an acre. GENERAL CROPPING WORK. All crops sown in rows wide enough apart to allow of inter-tillage call for summer cultivation at regulai- intervals until the development of leafage makes cultivation impracticable. No general rule as to the frequency of carrying out this cultivation can be enunciated; on

soils which contain a considerable amount of fine silt or clay and which, hence, readily become caked on the surface, a short, heavy, beating rain may so consolidate a loose surface as to make it in need of tillage even though it had been cultivated shortly prior to the rain. The ideal result is the maintenance of a continuously loose surface layer of soil which checks the loss of moisture from the soil and so is of particular value under dry conditions. Hence summer surface-tillage is of distinct value irrespective of its obvious use as a means of controlling weeds. While summer cultivation continues to be a useful practical means of dealing with weeds such as fathen, docks, wil-low-weed, etc., occurring- in such crops as carrots, mangels and potatoes, it seems worth mentioning that summer' cultivation alone is not satisfactory as a means of ridding land of persistent perennial weeds such as sorrel, yarrow, creeping fog and other “twitchy” weeds. Although summer cultivation can be employed usefully to weaken greatly weeds of this type, it is not a satisfactory means of completing their destruction, and it should as a rule be associated with subsequent practices such as the growing of dense shading crops which are suited to carry on the weakening process initiated by the summer cultivation. Included among the crops suitable for this purpose are: (1) Italian rye-grass and red clover sown in the autumn and eventually saved for hay; (2) Algerian oats, autumn sown, and eventually cut for chaff or hay. If after such dense crops the weeds still promise to cause trouble, they may often be dealt with satisfactorily by growing one of the following crops, which should be well tended and well nourished so as to exert the maximum weakening' influence on the weeds: Mangels, potatoes, rape, chou moellier, oats and peas, or oats- and tares. The position summarised is that a suitable rotation of crops which is spread over a number of seasons and which pays its way throughout is preferable, as regards both effect achieved and outlay necessary, to an intensive effort devoted to stimmer fallowing which, at times, was looked upon as a standard measure against persistent weeds. A further fact of seasonable moment in dealing with weeds is that often direct attack upon such weeds as sorrel, browntop, creeping-fog grass, and similar “twitchy” weeds is inadvisable. The best mode, of dealing with them often is to sow the land in pasture and by appropriate top-dressing and management to make the conditions so favourable to the growth of the grass that the resultant vigorous sward gradually weakens the weeds and so lessens their activity that even though they may not be eliminated Hie damage they do becomes negligible.—R. P. Connell, Fields Division, Palmerston North.