SUPER FOR BUTTERFAT

Thames Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 17834, 8 March 1930, Page 6

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 dairy farms in the Waikato and in Taranaki. This investigation disclosed that on a group of farms which had produced 151 to 170 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 51 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 w,as found that the high per cow averages were directly correlated with heavy manuring on both a per acre and a per cow basis. Thus heavy manuring is definitely associated with high carry'ing 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 Ov 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 phosphatie 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 phosphatie -fertiliser as superphosphate.