STOCK AT KUAKURA.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1984, 14 February 1914, Page 8

STOCK AT KUAKURA.

. SOME INTERESTING FIGURES. ■ In an article on the State Experiment ■Favm at Rualrura, a special correspond-, ent 'of.' the Auckland "Herald" states) that last year.tho returns, from butterfat. frohi ( the herd 'of Jerseys kept: at HuakuraVwas £16.185. per acre; from the'herd,'of, Shorthorns it averaged' £'17; 2s. per acre. ■ Tho bull calves from tho Jerseys sold at an aveVago of £40 each.. The heifers were kept, but if tlieir aver-, ago.iralue%ris:only''estimated at : ;£lo,ut;; is easy to ; seo that without; reckoning on the value of skim-milk the returns per acre were nearer £30 than £20, be- ■ cause it is only taking about an aero of land at Ruakura to keep a- cow, and very much less to kcepi'a calf for a year. The value of the Shorthorn calves averaged about £17 all round, so -that calves afid butter-fat alone yielded £34 2s. or . thereabouts for very little more than an acre. It is not likely, of course, that ordinary farmers to-day. would get anything near the values just mentioned for tlieir calves, but when our farmers lift their herds to the same butter-fat capacity as thoso at Rtiakura, and this is well withiru reasonable limits. It is not likely that ordinary farms to-day would carry anything near a cow to tho acre, but I am absolutely sure, Rdds the correspondent, that .with very little trouble and expense in the way of top dressing pastures, and growing' loots and crops,, every farm on arable country in the Auckland provinco could be easily 'made-to do so. Dairy farming is not carried on at Ruakura on lines impossible elsewhere, but on lines which every farmer can follow, providing that lie has .enough, capital to work his land' v oven up to' a very moderate state of production.Profitable Sheep Farming. [ -Ruakura is carrying about 2800 sheep, "consisting of- two stud flocks—English Leicester and Southdown, and a LincolnRomnoy ewe flock for fat lamb experiments. The ewes get nothing but grass until jtist before lambing, when they receive a modcrato supply of mangolds, which are carted to them on tho pas-, tures.. As last year eight acres of mangolds sufficed for the requirements of 800 ewes, it can bo seen- that the cost of these roots per head was not excessive. The lambs are topped off on rape in, from two to three weeks, an 7 acre of this crop easily fattening fifty lambs. Grass, mangolds, and rape seem to prove excellent feed for ewes and lambs, and as tho net on rail for Ruakura .-lambs has. averaged between 16s. to;2ls. per head it is plain'proof,that they "thrive well. ■