FARMING AND COMMERCIAL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1588, 4 November 1912, Page 8

FARMING AND COMMERCIAL.

NEWS AND NOTES.

ENSILAGE.

A GOVERNMENT EXPERT'S .VIEWS;

.Some of the lessons of practical exnerienco in regard to ensilage are given by Mr. W. Dibble, of tlio Agricultural Department in the latest issue of the'journal. In the course of his article Mr. Dibblo says':— '' ■ .There is a common, but mistaken, impression that ensilage is'only a'winter tood. As a matter of fact, it is more valuable as an adjunct,'or substitute, for pasturage at other periods of tho year, nioro particularly in those dry spells which too often occur, at' the most, inopportune phase of'the lactation period —when the, cow.'is-in flush of her season. In my.owh early experience with ensilage —milking from' 150 to 180 cows for a city milfc business—l always saved, the silage for the drier month's of the summer, and. fed hay, roots; etc., in winter. By making the maize into the'silage; I was independent of the . season, being thus.in a position to commence the feeding, just when the cows were ready for it; Whereas'in some seasons the dry spell would come on beforo the green maize would be ready. My usual procedure was to ,make in one summer silage for tho next summer. I have used molassessprinkled over the silage when being forked on to the dray—with excellent effect. Two gallons of the molasses were mixed with ten gallons of warm' water, or thin enough to run. easily through a wateringcan, the holes in the rose pf which were .madeilarger,for tho purpose.' On this diet the cows kept in the pink of condition,, and maintained a . great flow of milk through an exceptionally dry. summer. I always found it imperative—where it was a_ question of maintaining a regular and big volume of milk—that a balanced food had l to be provided.' 1 Thus, in the early spring, when the watery nature of l the herbage made, it sometimes difficult, to. secure the desired return,' I, fed, hay." As cows wjll .generally hot look at. the: ordinary -hay when young grass; is availablo,: especially after; a winter's experience of it, the 1 ohdicest hay, general!j : ■ the centre, of. a stack.- was kept for. this purpose, -arid' only a little, was, required. • While good ensilage -is an ideal.milk food in the'dry months of summer, it is equally serviceable in the winter, and, in fact, at all times when'the natural pastures ■ are not ■at . their best, or. fail to provide the,required feed. 'It may be' said that with green maize 1 for the dry months: and' roots and hay for the winter, especially in a country like New! Zealand, .where green crops can lie grown with ,icomparative ease, there is not the necessity -for ensilage. , The .fact, has to', bo remembered, .'however, that there is a. degree, of .• uncertainty, with-' out. rather "variable climate, ■in reirard. ;t° the production of crops, which Gave ,to. bo immediately . utilised, ■' wlier.eas' en-; silage is the: most'certain of' all "foddirs 'Which- can .be provided. Not'only-' this,; but'it ;• may :be 'prepared- in seasons ' of-' abundance,-and' fronV material;' whichWTiuld: otherwise be wasted, the utilisation.: of- whioh'-for.v'silage will bo -an -a'dvantage;rathor thanlotherwise to the land. Again,' /well-prepared; silage -is a standing '.insurance agairi.st-weather- adversit.vi If hot,' Teqiiifed';-ih' • the "'season: in j which.; it -is. l :prepare'd-iit ,may' bo • left over. 'Sll-' the; next,', and even to 'the, th'ird' aiid'jfourtli l ' seasons'-if.-this be necessary; though " in' these days of long and heavy; milking-' there is hardly a season when, if a. cow is fed as she should be—and there is.no such thing,as overfeeding the despmilker—ensilage will not be required, While ensilage may be prepared from : practically anything on the farm—Californian thistles have largely entered into ■very fair -samples—it should be remembered ■ that . the better the material of which it is composed the better will be the resulting silage. Good ensilage may be made 'from' 'summer abundance of grass, but the finest samples are prepared from lucerne, clovers, maize, sorghum, millet, tares, ■'-■ ivurni.'?- < ' Ensilage, by. the way, should always'be fed to dairy cows in the field, and for this reason the stack system presents a great When fed in' the shed;it-;is difficult to prevent- the milk becoming tainted, especially when the milker ■ handles-the silage. Tho tainting" is not. through the cow feeding on the material, but is .due' to a strong aroma, which: clings to .everything' with which the_ silage' comes "in- contact ; Tho value 'of ensilage for 'dairy cattle IS : here emphasised; \but its suitability for all classes of. stock'has been repeatedly demonstrated in America and Australiai jvhilo during the past winter several southern farmers, who co-operated with the Department in conducting experi-. ments 'in silage-making have proved its value for horses, ; and in Hawke's Bay sheep have done' well on silage carted 'out to them in the field. ■

Past Season's Experiences, .Last summer a number of farmers in i ] the Dominion co-oper-ated witli the Department in the conduct of demonstration's as to the value of stack ensilage, in their respective districts. In several instances—in the South Island— Calii'orniari thistle entered largely into the material employed. . It may be pointed out that, in cutting Californian thistles tor silage .the thistles were cut in the budding stage,: which not only checked the development' of the weed, but allowed the grass, to come nwhy. .. ■ .A; Canterbury farmer prepared a stack of silage from grass and clover, with'some rather poor maize and a fifth of an acre of peas. . Five acres. of grass and clover, from which the silage was principally made, had bewf • dressed with 3cwt. of basic slag to the acre, the land never, in the owner's memory, having grown a good crop* of anything before. The paddocks were s;hut up in the beginning of November,' 'and-.' the' silage "was miido on April of this year. 'Feeding dairy stock on the silage was commenced on June 1, the cows having a few. turnips as well during this month. The silage lasted till the end of August. The smallest nuriiber of cattlo fed was sixteen for a few weeks, tie largest number being over forty for a little over a . week,, the average being eighteen head for three months on the produce of 61 acres. The stock did well on the silage, which was relished by both horses and cows, while the pigs were very partial

to the maize portion. Tlio cattle were specially fowl of the maize, which turned out: sour, and they milked hotter on it than on tho clover. The more ensilngo the cows received the better they milked. . Tho farmer in . question declares that tho practice of making ensilage certainly increases the carryingcapacity of a farm; and he is doing his best to provide for more silage this year. Mr. R. Newell, of Papanui, who made a stack'from an exceptionally heavy crop'of maize, reports:—"l am satisfied that in \tbe future the dairy fanner who wishes to succeed, and face the high values of land, will only be able to do so by feeding silage. . My cows ore better this year as. a result of being fed on the silage. I liavo my land already ploughed 1 for next season's crop." Mr. Crawford Anderson, of Stirling, who made a stack entirely ll from Californian thistle, writes: "My dairy cows are very fond of the ensilage. There can be no doubt about the value of ensilage mado from anything edible. . As far as the experiment goes, it has been successful. I used several ton's of the ensilage in the early part of the winter, and will use the balance later on."

Two stacks wero built by Mr. James Patrick, of Lee CJreek Farm, Taieri—one from wheat and Californian thistle, and tho other from clover, Wheat, and thistle. The former is being kept for next year. Reporting on the latter, Mr. .Patrick says, "In reference to the experiment, I may state that it was in every way a decided success, and that tho stack I fed on it (cattle and horses) preferred it to any other feed available on the farm, .that young cattle specially relished and fattened on< it quickly, and that some draught mares I was feeding with ensilage had to have it stopped on account of putting on too much flesh* Last year I built two •stacks of this ensilage, only one of. which X fed to stock during the winter, having plenty of other feed on lwnd, and. will 'keep the remaining stack (whicli had about 200 tons of material put into it) for next' year. It is my intention to build another large stack during the coming season, as I consider it a valuable winter feed."