STOCK FARMING.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20180, 7 March 1931, Page 6

STOCK FARMING.

AN EXPERT ; VIEW. f*' * v / * K **■ z* GREAT BRITAIN'S FOOD NEED. In the Janilary issue oftlia "Scottish appears an i article by J. B. Orr, P.Se., of 1 tics feowen Besear«hs<lnstitute,-';on "The National-* Importance; of > Stock -Farming.'? Th# theme ia incrpaslitg ~ oi! gra6s land . ■ .Whbst represents,, ,& per cent, of the egricultaral : production of the •United; Kingdom—the total cereals# <lO eent. Of a tital wealth «f £287,000,000, Weoidlng" the of 1025, no leas than £205,000,000 represented live stock ind animal p»>duct*. 1 t - v Onr '6wa ' farms (oontiAueii 'the article) produce animal , products to the. value of . about s £ SOO,OOO, dOO. - In Addition we import more than £200,000,000.. Could, our hosie production be increased f The xn&in factor* on whifch dependcT ate the number and of the, animals and-.tle. supply 6f feeding-gtuffg.' We "will? not' trouble about 1 the feould easily be increased. 'Wh«tt-is more important is their efficiency, bectane in, general the greater the efficiency of tho.animal, the" lower'is the cost of'production. ' She average yield of milk cows in this country is about 500 gallons per jutnurn, but thera ( are thousands, of cows with 'a, yield 'of' 1000 gallons or over., The I ,average yield- is slowly rising, and could efc&ly be brotfght- up to 700 o* 80& gallop Well-bred pigs, properly -fed,' shoald be ready for slaughter for ,bacon between 6 and 7 months old, , A recent mjtde from Cambridge' University that there -are still .many' farmsrwhere the animalswere not ready for daughter until they were 10" or, in some, eases, even 11 months old. " ; , t The main for; joattle" and ;sheep\ is gyaes.' .During the last fdw yeatß by the introdwsttyn' of mew pa»ture plants, by an increai^e 1 in top-dress-ling/and by better' .management, the feeding valtke. of pasttires hall been increased. There is still room for improvement. 'lndeed, If the measures nowbeing applied by the most progressive farmers were adopted - universally, r. there would be, within the' nest ten years, an increase ; of 25 to 50 per cent.- ' ,in the carrying xsapacity of "our British pastures., The roughage and, concentrates for a winter' feed could'eaeily be provided. The former wonld need to be produced, at bome. This;would help to bring b&ck into cultivation part of the four million acres land which has, gone out of cultivation in the lasf fifty years.' There is iio -.shortage of concentrates in the world.- Onr own colonies could supply ns all the concentrates. necessary to' 'feed _ double the . of farm, animals in this Country. ' i ' \\\ No Insuperable Difflculty. We have seen that there no insuperable- difficulty increasing the i'home'supply animar'prbdncts. Grading up tiie whole industry,to the level of- the most would, in itself, increase ;thevjjutput by 51 nearly 50 per . cent.; which would another £100," i 000,000 added, to the reyenue of agriculture. ' * , i ' It is in. this direction British agriculture is moving.- During the last fifty whe«- -wheat' growing has been steadily ■ declining,,'' stobV farming has .been, increasing 'its output.. The development,is taking place to the extent ana in directions in.which the industry 'ia 'profitable. Thus even though we have" to compete in our own market with all countries of tho world t we have been able to maintain and* indeed improve jrisition in ,stock farming. 'A, very .in.'the form .of betterjgnces or detreasefl cost ofproduction -would, * de-' .velopments-in/the direction of capturing more 1 of ,the for My f , f * t . ,o v f (.

3 have been r for animal feeding stuffaT* -'l\jr example,, it is" now 1 <food"'ls oft 1 of stock, and it' may-W fOundP tKafc- > r extension "of , ! gieetf : . iu as food in the. autumn' wheii the' - pastures,are Mlinjgjwig J>« j procedure. - * >,>»;",*'»* - ;* '&i \ : ytu*t r Lot w bow compare with »#&.■_ 3 ing tho position of wheat growing, It is » claimed that, the, i need 50s to 55a v X^?*^^^lmaK^ritealt'i *' grafting profitable? «ym W< 1 grown in several pairts' of theLwprld • a mncb. lower 3 wheat sjrowor aska .for sL/guarantae'd B price .of r S2s.. It is j^gnSjfed'that' 0 'under, our' presentj syst&n\ 'it 3 possible for tha Englißh- wKeat 1 to compete in the open world market#. 2; ft is probable ! that byfmoia infepfifcffi * • manuring the production per acre : o£ 1 wheat might be increased from. 10 -to e 20 *per cent- ,rQn 8 same expenditure-,; ft certain argas of Australia whMi^: is 'grown jbjiV< aere by nearly;, 100 v per' cejit?,., thus not tho sam<f hope for improve? ■ ment in wheat growing in;lthiK ftOMifega as there is in stoekj fanning!, - means whereby the wheat fanned can 1 hope v to reducehisjcoal; , dnction of m&cEiaery' ■ by' r man will bp able to cultivate,' or io-jefcti - and ttresh 10 to 13 acres a t dav. With - the exception of certain "limited areas, however, - our comparatively i British fields with their hedges and fc ditches are unsuitable ,for s .of extensive wheat, growing.^ » x A gaaranteed' pnco'of-7»de t i.oi J tion to maintain the price Jit sha£lfev&£' ■ 'would cost the Country i {weep £5,000,000 and- > , even-then it is d^^btful i output of wheat' would - bef, d&ublqd, » 1 6f7^^ s^«^ffl j^i i on a snbsidy or protection for liacon; t .egg fc - Ases, > beef; •or ' load, tcj " (' 'h '^s^S^SSmSSm

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