DIVERSIFIED FARMING

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3480, 16 June 1934, Page 3

DIVERSIFIED FARMING

ROOM FOR DEVELOPMENT SUCCESSFUL NORTHERN VENTURE With the rise and fall of produce prices in all 'branches of farming. Wlxed farming has now become the established ideal. The unstable nature of the butter market has caused Wany farmers in district and •eisewiere ib Iwn attention to other and more remunerative . operations. '“ Though the country in le Awamutu's iniimediate vicinity is undeniably dairying land, there is still 'room fbr experiment in other directions at'a fairly inconsiderate outlay. . One of the most notable examples •of diversified farming in the Dominion Vto be found on the property ’of Mr Samuel Hamilton, a pioneer Settler .. of-the. . Eukekahe..- district,, where , dairy cattle, dry stock, sheep, pigs' and bees each make their contribution to the inc.orne, and although Mr Hamilton makes no claim to tKe distinction of possessing a property ot' J record productivity, his 'activities provide a striking objectlesson' in economic and rationalised management.- ' . The area comprises : 88 . acres of rolling country, the soil being a me-dium-loam on a solid clay subsoil. The livestock at present on the farm dumber'4s milking cows, 11 springing; heifers, 12 yearling calves, two •bulls, two working horses, one 15-iponth-oid one foal, 140 laipljs tvjiich’ have been bought for fattening,'four breeding sows and a boar. •"'Production of' bptter-fat for tfie f ye a r ended March 31 last amounted to 'the gross return being £472. During the same period, 63 porkers bred on the farm netted 11/2, 120-lambs bought in and fastened netted £45, the sale of cull stock brought in £l3, and the calves Sold returned £5 7/9. The best of the 30 hives of bees gave 1281 b of honey at the first robbing. • The type of pig preferred is the rill-white progeny of the Large White sow anb the Tamworth boar, the best returns for which during the Vear mentioned were secured for a line of .six porkers which averaged 871 b dressed weight when sold over the hooks at 141 weeks. f A purely grassland system of farming is'followed, with absolutely bp "supplementary cropping to relieve the pressure on the pastures, the quantity of hay saved during the last season was. approximately 40 tons, ttyis being additional to 10Q tons of ensilage conserved under the pit method. ’ The standard autumn topdressing Consists of an application of of superphosphate an acre, and scw|. of lime an acre on three-quarters of the Harm. In the early spring 25 cwt. of superphosphate is applied to the paddocks which are not topfiressbd in the autumn, while another 2cwt. of superphosphate is put on 'the hay and ensilage fields. Most of the cows calve by the end of July each year. In a dry season —but not'during the past one —they receive a slight supplement from the fetack. From May to July, their off■season, the hay reserve i 9 drawn upion, but subsequently the ration Comprises both hay and ensilage.