FARMING STUDENTS

Taranaki Daily News, 15 October 1934, Page 7

FARMING STUDENTS

MASSEY COLLEGE TARANAKI TRIP. VISIT TO FARMS OF PROVINCE. A party of senior dairy farming students of Massey College are visiting Taranaki in search of practical information. The party is some twelve in number drawn from all parts of New Zealand, and is in charge of Mr. C. P. McMeekan, assistant lecturer in dairy husbandry. The trip, which embraces some 1500 miles of the Wellington, Taranaki, Waikato and Bay of Plenty areas, is being conducted with the primary object of obtaining close up impressions of various systems of dairy farm management, by visiting leading farmers on high production farms, and by observing at first hand the results of different methods employed on different classes of country in each district. Opportunity is taken also of visiting leading breeders of dairy stock and pigs, as well as dairy factories, pig fattening establishments, and other places of interest to the practical dairy farmer. Farmers visited have been closely questioned on farm area, types of soil, rainfall, topography and farm lay-out, the total stock and number of milking cows carried, the butter-fat yield per cow and per acre, the general management policy, herd management, dates of calving, incidence and treatment of disease, amounts, types and methods of conservation of supplementary feed, areas utilised for this purpose, the periods for which provision is made, pasture management methods, top-dressing programmes, methods of rearing young stock and the utilisation of by-products for pig-raising. So far seven farms in the Taranaki area have been visited, three yet remaining before the party proceeds to the Waikato. That of Mr. Frank Parsons, Whenuakura, .provided an introduction to Taranaki Jerseys and pastures, and a most satisfactory indication of what might be expected of the oldest dairying province of New Zealand. Several well-known strains of pedigree Jerseys were represented in the herd, and the production achieved showed what could be done by relatively light land with, favourable climatic conditions and good management. This farm was of additional interest in that Mr, Parsons junr. is an old Massey College student. The adjacent farms of Mr. Jack and Walter Parsons showed a similar standard of efficiency. The students were extremely interested to find that the C.O.P. pig improvement scheme, which originated in the Manawatu, had found its way to Taranaki, Mr. W. Parsons, who breeds pedigree Tamworths, saving several sows under official test. HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE AREA. In the Hawera district a circuit of a highly productive, well-developed area enabled calls to be made upon Mr. F. Hoskin, Jersey breeder, Matapu, Mr. J. Emil Meuli, Okaiawa, and Mr. F. Mills, Ayrshire breeder, Tokaora, where good stock, good pastures, excellent shelter, and a general high standard of management were observed. From the commercial dairy farmer’s standpoint, the farm of Mr. Meuli particularly impressed, the manager, Mr. Wards, proving an interesting and efficient demonstrator of management methods of successful Taranaki grassland farms. In North Taranaki steady rain greeted the visitors and provided a clue to the luscious pasture growth observed. The farm of Mr. Guy Bell, Oakura, showed marked managerial efficiency in every department. Mr. Bell, in the opinion of the students, combined to a high degree the qualities of a successful stud master and a sound, practical dairy farmer*. Before proceeding to the Waikato, calls will be made upon Mr. J. Bly de and Mr. Fussell, Lepperton, and Mr. Paulger, Tikorangi. The party spoke enthusiastically of the marked hospitality of all farmers, who throughout the district had gone to considerable trouble to make the tour as interesting and instructive as possible. The party contained some interesting personalities. Miss Carson, the daughter of a partner in an old-established New South Wales wool firm, and a large runholder in her own right, Jias studied poultry-keeping, Karitane nursing and dairy husbandry at Massey College with the ultimate intention of setting up a hostel for weakly children on the outskirts of Sydney. For her tour she is wearing brown “slacks.” Miss Walker also strikes a masculine note for the tour, wearing corduroy breeches of considerable service. Mr. Suckling has spent some years away from Fiji, but he returns shortly to take up dairy farming work. Mr. Alienborough returns to England at the end of his studies. Mr. Johnson is a son of the agricultural instructor at Stratford Technical High School, and Mr. Murdoch is a son of Mr. A. Murdoch, Hawera. ,