SEASONAL NOTES.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2, 20 February 1928, Page 125

SEASONAL NOTES.

THE FARM. SUMMER SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING OF DAIRY COWS. The prolonged spell of dry weather experienced this summer has demonstrated the extreme value of ensilage for the summer supplementary feeding of dairy cows. In the Auckland Province permanent pastures, except on the best swamp-land, generally ceased growth early in December, and have since remained in a burnt and dormant condition. Annual forage crops for summer feeding have done badly, and in many cases have failed altogether. Lucerne and paspalum have proved a good stand-by, but for various reasons lucerne is not an important crop in Auckland Province generally, while paspalum, although it has grown well on the heavier and moister soils, has not thrown a great deal of feed where the soil-conditions are very dry. The great advantage of grass ensilage for summer supplementary feeding is that it can be saved in years of good rainfall and abundant grassgrowth and kept for dry years. A stack of grass ensilage is the safest insurance policy a dairy-farmer can hold against drought. The failure of ordinary permanent pastures during the dry weather has naturally turned the attention of dairy-farmers to the desirability of establishing fields of paspalum and lucerne for providing summer feed. There is no doubt that paspalum could be more widely grown in the southern part of Auckland Province than .it is at present. The common idea that once paspalum is sown it will eventually spread all over the farm, smother out all the other grasses, and leave the farmer with no winter or early spring feed is quite wrong. Experience has shown that where regular top-dressing is carried out and proper pasturemanagement methods are adopted mixed pastures of rye-grass, cocksfoot, and paspalum can be maintained. Paspalum will not spread into an ordinary rye-grass, cocksfoot, and clover pasture as long as the pasture has a close sward. Paspalum usually establishes itself in a mixed pasture when the turf is opening up, and really occupies spaces that would otherwise be growing weeds. The best way to establish paspalum is to sow 5 lb. to 6 lb. of seed with the ordinary permanentpasture mixture used in the district. Lucerne cannot be so widely cultivated in Auckland Province as paspalum, since it does badly on low-lying soils where the permanent water-level during winter is near the surface. Lucerne naturally does best in a warm, dry climate and a deep alluvial soil well supplied with moisture in the deeper layers. In a wet climate the crop has to contend against the competition of grass and clover, which in many parts of the North Island take possession of the land during the winter and early spring when the lucerne is dormant. The sowing of lucerne should be attempted only on land that is well drained in the winter and that is in a high state of fertility. Over a very large part of Auckland Province summer supplementary feed can be more economically provided by means of grass ensilage and paspalum thanlby lucerne.

AUTUMN SOWING OF PASTURES. March is usually the best month for sowing permanent and temporary pastures on ploughed land. Sowing in February is often unsatisfactory owing to the uncertain rainfall; in years of good rainfall, however, February sowings do remarkably well. The seed - bed for sowing grass should be fine and firm from top to bottom. The cultivation operations should be finished with a rolling, and the seed and fertilizer broadcast on the rolled surface. The seed can then be covered with a stroke of the brush or chain harrows and the land finally rolled again. The mixtures used for permanent pasture naturally vary with the soil-conditions and climate. Standard mixtures suitable for various conditions are to be found in the Department's Bulletin No. 107, “ Grasslands of New Zealand.” Advice required about grass mixtures for particular conditions should be sought from the district Instructors in Agriculture. On good ploughable land in the humid parts of New Zealand the ultimate sward of a pasture probably depends more on management than on the original mixture of grass-seed sown. Cocksfoot and ryegrass form the basis of all mixtures sown on good ploughable land, and the final establishment of a good permanent’ rye-grass, cocksfoot, and clover pasture depends very largely on the methods followed in top - dressing, stocking, chain - harrowing, and mowing. A permanent grass mixture that has been used for a considerable time on the Ruakura Farm of Instruction, and one that has given excellent results and should prove useful for most Waikato district land, is as follows : Italian rye-grass, 4 lb. ; perennial rye-grass, 8 lb. ; cocksfoot, 12 lb. ; crested dogstail, 2 lb. ; timothy, 2| lb. ; meadow-foxtail, 1 lb. ; white clover, 1 lb. ; red clover, 4 lb. ; Lotus major, | lb. : total, 35 lb. ' This mixture is not so heavy as many that are used locally for sowing permanent pastures, but the comparatively light rye - grass seeding that is used enables all the other species sown to become well established. Good subsequent management causes the rye - grass to stool out and grow vigorously and take a prominent place in the pasture sward. A heavy rye-grass seeding is liable to check the early establishment and growth of cocksfoot, dogstail, and timothy, and may not finally give as good a rye-grass sward as a lighter seeding. The seeds of cocksfoot, paspalum, and meadow-foxtail vary considerably in germination, and only first - class lines of seed should be purchased. Good cocksfoot-seed should germinate over 80 per cent.; the average germination is about 65 per cent., and lines will be found that germinate below 40 per cent. Meadow - foxtail seed varies considerably in germination, and 35 to 50 per cent, can be considered good. The germination of paspalum-seed is generally low, and 35 per cent, can be looked on as satisfactory. HARVESTING OF RED CLOVER AND LINSEED. Red clover is usually cut for seed about three months after the hay crop. When the clover-seed can be rubbed out from the majority of the heads, and the stalks begin to lie at an angle of 45 degrees, it is time to cut. The crop is cut either with a side-delivery mower or with an ordinary mower fitted with a temporary platform behind the cutterbar. In the latter case steel bands are fitted to trail behind the mower ; the driver of the mower uses an improvised seat —half a sack of chaff

being a handy method. The mower - seat should be turned back to front. A second man sits on this and guides the clover cut into heaps, which lie clear of the wheel in the course of the next cut. By this system the clover may be left in windrows without any trouble. If the material is exceedingly dry it may often be threshed immediately after stacking, before the stack begins to sweat. However, it is frequently the case when the clover is stacked that many of the heads are somewhat immature, and hence a certain amount of curing- in the stack is essential. Once a stack starts to sweat it should be left for a month to six weeks before threshing is attempted.

The linseed crop will be ready for harvesting early in March. The •crop is ready to cut when the cobs, if rubbed between the hands, open easily and shed the seed. The crop should be allowed to remain in the ■stook till sufficiently dry ; this will take from two to three weeks. The crop is most conveniently threshed from the stook.

—P. W. Smallfield,

B.Ag., Instructor in Agriculture, Ruakura.