SUPER FOR BUTTERFAT

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17696, 21 September 1929, Page 8

SUPER FOR BUTTERFAT

RESULTS FROM BIG DRESSINGS A SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE In no other pastoral pursuit is it so necessary as in dairying that the mineral matter in pastures should be continuously maintained at a high standard. As pastures become more highly improved, larger' amounts and more frequent applications of fertiliser will be profitable, provided always that with cattle of high-producing capacity the increased production per acre exceeds the cost of the fertilisr by a reasonable margin. The use of fertilisers for this purpose can be exploited to the fullest. RESULTS IN PRACTICE This was clearly demonstrated by a recent investigation into the management of 206 dairyfarms in the Waikato and in Taranaki. This investigation disclosed that on a group of farms which had produced 151 to 17,0 lb. of butterfat per acre, 2.98 cwt. of fertiliser had been applied per acre on the whole farm. But on a group producing only to 70 lb. of fat per acre, only 1.86 cwt. had been used. When the data .in connection, with the investigation were arranged in order of production, it was found that the high per cow averages were directly correlated with liearvy manuring on both a per acre and a per cow basis. Thus heavy manuring is definitely associated with high carrying capacity and high per cow production. On farms where high production was not obtained and moderate topdressing only was practised, that proportion of maintenance cost represented by fertilisers was relatively higher than was the case on the high-producing, heavy dressing farms. THE BASIS OP TOP-DRESSING As it has now been established that the smaller high-producing dairy farms are the most profitable and that heavy manuring is associated with these, the use of the quick-acting fertiliser-super-phosphate will be intensified. This is evident, because it is on the*e farms that the continuous supply of fresh 'growth on pastures will be obtained by the use of phosphatic fertilisers of high solubility. The use of nitrogenous fertilisers will lengthen the growing season at both ends, but the basis of top-dress-ing practice must still remain the application of several dressings per annum of such a rapidly available phosphate fertiliser as superphosphate.