THE FARM.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XII, Issue 3, 20 March 1916, Page 220

THE FARM.

FORAGE CROPS. By the end of March all or most of the autumn forage crops should be sown, but if the dry weather is prolonged some of this work will fall to be undertaken at the beginning of April. The good farmer is usually ahead with his work, but he cannot control the weather. April is, however, generally speaking, quite a good month for sowing forage crops, particularly such as Buda kale and Thousand-headed kale. These are crops, moreover, which are coming into general favour for spring use. A forage crop to be acceptable has to yield abundance of feed at a time when it is specially needed, and it must be cheaply grown. The two kales mentioned fulfil these requirements. The seeding lb. drilled or 8 lb. broadcasted comparatively inexpensive, and the amount of forage thrown towards the end of July and in August, when feed is scarce, is considerable. In growing these crops it is usually advisable to employ a small quantity of nitrogenous manure, such as blood, in addition to the usual allowance of superphosphate or basic superphosphate. The sowing of a small- paddock of prairiegrass for spring use is also recommended. About 50 lb. of seed per acre is required. ' ' ■ . CEREALS. With forage crops disposed of, paddocks to be devoted to cereals should be ploughed and worked down. In dry . districts these paddocks should have been skimmed some time ago, and crossploughing ■ should be in season. The ■ chances of a heavy yield on the first furrow are. not great even with autumn-sown crops. This is particularly the case on the heavier classes of soil. If possible, the sowing of these crops should be commenced in April,

so as to permit of their being, grazed down twice during the following months before being shut up for a crop of grain or chaff. In the North rust as a rule is less prevalent among autumnsown crops. On rich soils, where cereal crops are apt to lodge, they should be manured freely with superphosphate or basic superphosphate and gypsum, an average application for northern conditions being 2 cwt. of either phosphate and | cwt. of gypsum. The rankness of growth on these soils is due to an excess of nitrates. The addition of the manures mentioned tends to balance ' the mineral ingredients, thus securing an evener and less forced growth. The use of gypsum is an indirect means -of supplying potash. FIELD-BEANS. The present month is a good time to get in a few acres of field-beans. This is a crop which is not much grown in New Zealand, but it is one to which more attention might be given. Field-beans are exceedingly valuable as part of a ration for all classes of horses, while for . dairy stock they rank high as a milkproducing concentrate, for feeding when grass is immature and watery in spring, and when sappy, carbonaceous forage like maize is being fed in autumn. Perhaps the reason why more are not grown is that podding is sometimes uncertain, and the crop 'also liable to rust and black aphis. These troubles are not. prevalent when the crop is sown in early autumn. Sow at the rate of 2| bushels per acre. TOP-DRESSING. The price and scarcity of basic slag is prompting inquiries from farmers who have top-dressing in prospect. It appears probable that good results will be obtained from Ephos basic phosphate as a winter top-dressing. The average results of this manure so far on turnips and other crops indicate that it is much more slow-acting than superphosphate or basic superphosphate. This is generally true also of basic slag, but it has been shown that the steady even growth of slag-manured crops results in crops of better feeding-value. This may be true also, of Ephos phosphate. Ephos phosphate, in point of analysis, is superior to basic slag. It contains 25 to 28 per cent, phosphoric acid, of which about 40 per cent, is soluble in a 2-per-cent.- solution of . citric acid. Basic slag contains about 15 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and of that amount from 65 to 80 per cent, is soluble in 2-per-cent. citric acid. About 90 per cent: of the phosphoric acid in high-grade slag is soluble in the 2-per-cent. solution. Considerable shipments of Ephos

phosphates are expected from Egypt from April onward. Other basic phosphates can also be relied on to give . good results in districts of ample rainfall. ' ROTATIONS. In many respects April may conveniently be regarded as the beginning of the farmer’s year in this country. It is a time for stock-taking and' for laying plans for another year’s work. In this connection it cannot be doubted that great advantage would accrue to many farmers by the adoption of a systematic rotation of crops. Rotation farming is fairly general throughout the cropping districts of the South Island, but could be . much more widely practised in the . North Island. Rotation does not consist merely in avoiding the successive repetition of the same crop or kind of crop in a paddock; it means a more or less regular plan of cropping for all the paddocks. There are a number of reasons why it is advisable to adopt a definite system of cropping. These need not be gone into here further than to observe that until some system based on stock-requirements, soil-fertility, distribution of work throughout the year, &c., is adopted, farming means only muddling along. A man may be a grazier, a soil-robber, or a cow-puncher without farming. Farming properly so called is characterized by method and system. ■ Where mixed farming is carried .on the - following rotation is well designed from the point of view of the various considerations on which all rotations ■ must be based: First year, forage crops and roots, including potatoes; second year, cereals, autumn and spring sown; third year, forage crops; fourth year, grass; fifth year, grass sixth year, grass seventh year, grass; eighth year, grass; ninth year, grass. One of the grass leas would be cut each year for hay. , In ’drier districts and on less fertile soils where six years might be considered too long for grass lea a more suitable arrangement would be: First year, cereals; second year, forage crops ; third, fourth, and fifth years, grass ; sixth year,- forage crops and potatoes and roots;. seventh year, grass, sown in autumn after forage crops and potatoes, and again in spring after roots eighth and ninth years, grass.

The ratio of crops to grass in these rotations is i to 2, and this is a very good allocation. In the case of a farm which is in course of development from the bush the aim should be to provide a cropped area under rotation, in the proportion of 1 acre of crops to not less than. 2 acres of permanent pasture. In this case the rotation of the land under crop may be a short

one, such as First year, Western Wolths or Italian., rye-grass and clover for hay ; second year, roots (including potatoes) ; third year, cereal crop for chaff or grain ; fourth year, forage crops. In framing a system of cropping it is always an advantage to have one or two crops for direct sale. Such crops are potatoes and grain and chaff, while similarly any surplus of hay over and. above live-stock requirements on the farm has a market value. It may be mentioned that none of the rotations .here given are put forward in a hard-and-fast way. Varying circumstances and conditions call for adaptations which the farmer should make it his business to study. CROPS FOR PIGS. For pigs special crops have to be provided. Pigs kept on the paddock system are a paying proposition at the ruling prices for pork and bacon. The following rotation is suggested as suitable for pig-raising as part of mixed-farming activities:. First year, field - peas ; second year, clover ; third year, clover ; fourth year, mangels; fifth year, one-half in rape followed by green maize, the other half in turnips and swedes. - Such a rotation provides all the bulky feed required throughout the year and part of the concentrated food, in the form of peas, fed. during the winter months. For fattening purposes, dairy byproducts, seconds of home-grown barley or wheat, or purchased pollard would be available. - For northern districts where maize can • be grown successfully for grain the following rotation would be - more suitable: First year, field-peas ; . second year, clover ; third year, clover; .. fourth’ year, maize, with rape broadcasted between the rows after cobbing ; fifth year, pumpkins and mangels. In both cases a small area of lucerne should be provided. LIVE-STOCK. Horses in work should now -be rugged at night, otherwise their coats will grow very coarse and cause heavy sweating when the animals are at work. It is exceedingly important that newly weaned foals should not be allowed to lose flesh at this stage. They should be provided with regular supplies of sound sweet oaten chaff, a fair allowance being lb. to 4 lb. per head per day. A small supply of good clover hay in addition (say, up to 61b. each per day) is also worth while. A rough shelter-shed should be provided as a protection from cold wet winds. Cold itself does not harm colts, but they are adversely affected by [wet conditions.

The earliest calved cows ' should be gradually dried off towards the end of the month. These and heifers coming to profit next year require fair treatment during the ensuing months. It is not sufficiently realized that the growing foetus during the last few months of pregnancy makes considerable demands on the system. If a well-grown healthy calf is to be delivered, and the cow or heifer is to do her best at the pail next season, it is not enough to turn her out now to scrape for her living on bare and comparatively innutritions pasture. Roots and well-got hay should be available when required. The time has passed —-in fact, never waswhen dairy stock could be wintered to advantage on grass alone. It is not contended that supplementary feeding should be given to the extent practised in countries where pastures are absolutely dormant during the wintertime. On a dairy farm which is worked as suggested in . the foregoing notes, on a somewhat long rotation, or on which two-thirds of the acreage ,is left in permanent pasture, there will not, as a rule, be any considerable. surplus of hay or forage if milkers, heifers, and young stock are properly treated. The young stock in particular require proper care and feeding. Dairying can never rise to a high level where the stock are not year by year graded up by a purebred sire of good milking ancestry. This means retaining a fairly large proportion of the heifer calves. But no matter how good the bull may be, if his female progeny, which are eventually - to raise the standard of the herd, are not adequately fed and cared for, the results cannot possibly be satisfactory; Cows still milking should now be rugged on cold nights. Rams which were put to ewes during March should be withdrawn towards the end of April, and from now onwards the ewes ,should receive good treatment. By this it is not meant that they should be placed on rank pasture, but the herbage should be fresh, and the pastures arranged so that the ewes" take plenty of exercise while obtaining the necessary food. ' When tl e rams . are got together it .is a good practice to run them through the dip again. Any sheep that may, through various causes, have missed dipping should also be put through the dip at once. It is good policy to dip all bought sheep before turning them out with the home flock, as sellers often fail to dip sheep they are disposing of, or do it in a perfunctory manner.

Towards the end of the month the first break of roots will be ready for stocking in early districts, and where the crop is to be utilized for carrying store hoggets through the winter the sooner they become accustomed to the roots the better. It is not good

policy to delay stocking roots just because pastures appear fresh. Old pasture at this season is apt to be lacking in nutriment, and is certainly not the class of food that hoggets require. The start with root-feeding should be made either by carting out a small allowance to the grass-paddocks, or. the break should be stocked for a few hours only in the afternoon until the sheep become thoroughly accustomed to the change. Porkers and baconers should now be approaching market condition. At this stage it is good policy to - spend more freely on grain. ' There may not be much of a margin on the profit side at the present price of grain, but porkers in prime market condition realize a higher price per pound than half-finished stock. The use of grain, therefore, although not in itself very profitable, enables a better return to be secured from the rough feeding which preceded it. With good doers at the proper stage 4 lb. of grain can be counted on to produce 1 lb. of pork or bacon. Sows should now be put to the boar (if not already done) for spring litters, and every care should be exercised to keep the sows in good condition until farrowing. High condition in sows and in the case of any other breeding-stock is a mistake, but one which not one in a hundred pig-keepers is guilty.of; whereas the opposite extreme is quite a common condition of brood sows. Let the sow have plenty of feed and plenty of exercise, and if she is full half fat when she comes in, all the better. If she is of the right class nearly all her accumulated fat will find its way through the milk into the little ones before they are six weeks old.