FARM NOTES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13750, 12 September 1908, Page 8

FARM NOTES.

A PROFITABLE FARM

With advancing prices for da*ir>in«i land in Taranaki, it becomes more and more necessary every year that the occupiers should make the best possible use of the soil, extracting from it all that it can be made to yield without weakening or exhausting its fertility. While the present extreme values ot dairy produce rule, the problem is not a particularly pressing one, but with a fall of twenty, or even ten, per cent. it will be more difficult for the farmer to make ends meet, and advanced methods of management will have to bo instituted, otherwise many may go to the wall. The agricultural reporter of the Melbourne Leader the other day described the farm of Mr Robert Blair, near Mooroolbark. It is 136 acres in extent, and it gave its owner a net income last year amounting to €398 12s. or very nearly £3 per acre. It is situated on rounded hills, some of them »;t" basaltic volcanic origin, with rich black soil, the others of sedimentary formation, having an inferior .soil of grey loam. A herd of 28 Ayrshire cows give an average annual net return of over £14 each, the average yield being 580 gallons of milk per head, and most of the milk being railed to Melbourne and sold to retailers there.

The farm is divided into twelve paddocks, and the completeness of the subdivision is regarded as a valuable factor in securing good results from the pastures. Not only are the cattle benefited by being given a frequent change of pasture, but it is possible to secure a more prolific growth of grass by regulating the stocking through the uso of several paddocks. There are 3f> acres under natural grass, and these unploughed paddocks show how much the local pastures upon inferior land can be improved by the removal of trees and fallen timber, the contrast with some neighbouring uncleared or partially cleared country being very striking. Most of the best land on the farm is under permanent sown grass, while the cultivated part of the poorer sectio?i is being managed under a system of rotation with fodder crops, and sown pastures or grass crops. An eightacre paddock is sown with oats, mainly for ensilage; another paddock of similar size is being planted with maize, also for ensilage, and following the oat crop the paddocks are sown with cowgrass, rye grass, and cocksfoot. It is found that with this grey loam the best grass results are obtained the first year, the crop of the next two years is somewhat less prolific, and in the fourth year the crop would be very light. After the third crop, therefore, a paddock is broken up for maize, an oat crop follows, and th^n it returns to three years under grass. By this system each paddock is always bearing either a productive crop of grass or a heavy crop of fodder for the silo. The desire for a permanent pasture is uenerally delusive./ Even Tower Hill. \\here permaixnt x>astures are obtainable, a largely increased yield of grass is secured by frequent breaking up and re-sowing under a system of rotation. On the rich black soil at Blairgowrie the grass, which has been down for six years, could be called "permanent," but it is not as productive as it was, and at the present time it is far from yielding as much feed as the one and two year old grass upon the poorer land. LIBERAL FEEDING PROFITABLE.

The milking £ows graze upon the iowti pastures, and when these do not supply all that the cattle can consume, ensilage and sometimes bran and ensilage are added at milking time. In the year under notice, viz., from Vugust, 1906. to July, 1907, the feeding had been continued through the winter up to September 16. After that, Ull th emiddle of January, the .cows were not fed, the pastures being sufficiently productive. Feeding was resumed on January 16, with oaten ensilage and a little bran. The oaten silage lasted till tho middle of May, when the maize silage was resorted to. The maize crop had been a poor one, and the quality of the silo was inferior, so that the quantity of bran added cadi day was increased from •> bushels to 7 bushels. About the middle of August the supply of maize ensilage was finished, and the feeding season was completed by using a larger quantity of bran with hay chaff. The ensilage from the oat crop is found to give highly satisfactory results, and upon the whole it is preferred to maize, even when the maize is grown under more favourable conditions than have prevailed during recent summers. Bran also never fails to produce a satisfactory effect upon the milk yield, and Mr" Blair finds that it is always profitable to give the cows as much suitable feed as they can eat. So far is his system from stinting the ration of tho milking herd, that changing from one paddock tf> another, and introducing changes of diet, are resorted to in order to give relief to the fodder and induce the cows to consume as much as possible. Fodder being regarded as' the raw material for manufacturing milk, and the cow as the machine, success depends upon a large and continuous consumption of food. Shelter is also an important consideration, and the pastures aro admirably protected from oold winds by surrounding hills. Cowrugs are used, but upon leaving son.c cows unruled vprv little difference was observed, and Mr Blair is not sure that upon his well-sheltered farm the system is of much value.

OLD AND NEW SILOS

The vhluo of oiibilago \vn<; demonstrated by the uso of <) very simple makeshift silo, and now an up-10-dale brick one has been built. An enclosure above ground, lined with slabs, lias hitherto been used for making ensilage, and while there was always sonn 1 little loss of fodder along the walls, the bulk of the ensilage was excellent, and tho new silo has been introduced more as a means of saving labour than of saving waste of ensilage. A round silo, close to the feed mixing trough and ihe feeding mangers, saves time and work in the feeding process, and the new brick silo, as well as the second one to be added, is erected in a convenient position. The silo is 11 feet ill diameter, and it ig 6 feet underground, being at pro^e-nt carried to 8 feet above ground, pending a ro-arrange-niout of the barn building. It will be carried up to n further height of 10 feet, giving an entirw depjih of 24 feet. H will hold the oaten ensilage, and the new silo will contain the maijic ensilage, the two providing a larger reserve of this kind of fodder than has yet been stored. As manger feeding is Ihe method of using the ensilage, the fodder is chaffed before being elevated into the .silo, and it is observed that by having 6 feet of the silo in the ground there i.s so much less height of elevator required. Tho point is worth considering in erecting wood and iron silos in the hot northern districts, where thoro is a danger of the heat driving an excessive quantity of moisture out of the ensilage. As about 2 acres of the oat crop is cut for hay, yielding about 3 tons to tho acre, the yield of ensilage

is estimated at fully 0 tons to the acre, j and the quantity of maize per acre is considerably more. Even during the last three seasons, when the crop ha- j beeu comparatively poor, it is believed j to have yielded a larger quantity oi 1 fodder per acre than the oats. li j should not be necessary to point out that 9 tons ot ensilage will produce more milk when led to dairy cows than j 'A tons of hay. j

Mr W. Telf'ur, of Ohura, writes to I The Budget as follows: — "J have been, experimenting with grasses for the last ; three years, and have tried all known ■ grasses from Yorkshire Fog to Phalaris (Jommutata, and I find ion this district (Ohura) that Paspalnm Dilitatum is one of the most unsuitod of them all. and I have it on good authority that ;he experimental farms in Australia ' are now eradicating it as fast as they can. There is no growth in it excepi for about tuo months in the warm! months, and then through the winter | it is dormant. But Phalaris Connnu- j ,ata is at its best in the winter, and 1 being stolon ifcrous and deep-rooted, it is enabled to withstand continuous dry weather. I had it growing on some dry tawhero spurs last summer, and in -spite of ihe drought and caterpillars it still kept green, but in the winter it seemed to be at its best, and with all the hard frosts this last month or two it was still growing away. For milking cows I would strongly recommend it."