FARM AND STATION

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 7 December 1927, Page 8

FARM AND STATION

TO GET MAXIMUM PROFITS

Farmers Must Study Fundamentals

Fertility of Soil — Productiveness of Stock

By

"Sundowner"

(Written for the Tribune. All Rights Reserved.)

That the fertility of the soil can be enormously increased by man has been demonstrated beyond argument, and as it is from this source that the whole of the primary producer’s wealth is derived its improvement should be his very first consideration. Hand in hand with soil and pasture improvement should go the breeding of finer animals capable of returning the greatest profit from the food consumed. This ideal can only be realised if the improvement in the stock is based on absolute soundness of constitution. While scientists are busy the world over in an attempt to find short cuts to making our domestic animals more productive of wool, meat, milk and so forth, the farmer, aided also by other scientists, is, or should be, striving to make his pastures capable of carrying these improved animals. Increased production from farm animals is controlled and limited primarily by two factors—the fertility of the soil, and the ability of the animal to make the most economical use of the available food.

Hand in hand with soil and pasture improvement should go the breeding of finer animals capable of returning the greatest profit from the food consumed. Tins ideal can only be realised if the improvement in the stock is based on absolute soundness of constitution.

FUNDAMENTALS IN FARMING. We thus come back to the two fundamentals on which successful sheep and cattie farming is based, and h is apparent how essential a knowledge of these two subjects—soil fertility and stock constitution —is to the practical farmer. To treat either of tiiese subjects fully and in detail would require very considerable space, hence we must discuss each very briefly, leaving the farmer to build his subsequent treatment of his land and stock on the proved foundations which we will try to set out herein. WHAT CONSTITUTES SOIL FERTILITY. Touching just on soil fertility. All soil is originally derived from the disintegration of the basic rocks of the country supplemented by chemicals drawn from the air and water I and the decomposition of vegetable : and animal matter. The fertility of j the land depends chiefly upon the' I presence in quantity in the soil of soluble supplies of phosphate, nitrogen and potash. The former is derived chiefly from the decomposed rocks of the. district, nitrogen from the air, from which it is extracted by ram, and by various plants and soil bacteria, and potash from the decay of plant life. Most of the : remaining chemical soil constituents i are present in sufficient quantities in the average soils to supply' their quota towards perfect growth. Given an abundance of phosphate, nitrogen and potash in available forms in the soil, ail that is further required is sunlight, moisture and intelligent pasture management to secure the maximum of growth of which the land is capable. , SUPPLYING SOIL SHORTAGES. i It the three essential chemicals are I not present in sufficient quantity, or are in insoluble form, the modern farmer is able to supply these in the form of chemical fertilisers, or given a sufficiency of phosphate can build up the nitrogen and potash supplies by growing and ploughing under any of the leguminous plants such as peas, vetefres, lupins, clovers, etc. rhe former method will no doubt give quickest results, and the latter will be,found cheaper and more lasting in its beneficial effects, SUNLIGHT, MOISTURE AND MANAGEMENT. On most New Zealand pasture lands sunlight and moisture are outside the control of the farmer, excepting that in selecting his farm he should see that it lies so as to receive abundance of the former, and where the contour of the country is suitable and water available, he may regulate the latter by irrigation and draining. Pasture management, however, includes the sowing down of the land in grasses which will thrive in the locality and build up the nitrogen in the soil at the some time as it provides all the sustenance that the animal requires for perfect development. When such a pasture is established, it requires careful grazing and spelling to maintain the finer grasses in abundance, and to do this the land must be so subdivided as to make rotational grazing possible. Further, the farmer must lie ever on the watch for signs of soil depletion in one or all of the essential chemicals and ready to supply these before the most valuable grasses have died for want of them. GREATEST IMPROVEMENT IN POOR LAND. Soil and pasture improvement is not the work of a day or a year, but much can be effected! in the course of two or three years, and the man with second class land can take comfort from the knowledge that his light soil will show a more marked improvement for the same money spent than his neighbour with heavy land can secure. His land is “poor” simply because it lacks phosphate, nitrogen and potash, and so soon as these are supplied in sufficiency tor the plants, so soon will his pasture equal his neighbour’s on rich land. Dressings of manures to heavy land are only of use in maintaining the original supplies. Especially with

soluble chemical manures, everything applied tn excess of what the best growers can use >5 virtually wasted. IMPROVING THE STOCK.

As the pasture improves, so should the quality and productiveness of the stock carried therein. When care has been exercised in breeding to maintain absolute soundness of constitution in the stock, nature- regulates their size to the soil and climate. Any attempt to increase the sue of a race of animals without improving their food, oy which their size is regulated, 'is r fruitless effort to counteract the laws of nature. Unless abundantly nourished, in proportion to their increase of size (by breeding from big animals) they become worse in form, less hardy, and more liable to disease. The farmer who makes it Ins business to learn the indications oi constitution in his flock or herd, and builds on to this maximum production by selection and careful breeding cannot fail to make the utmost return of which his land is capable. The improvement of the soil and pasture by supplying its deficiencies gives him greater scope in producing and carrying more, bigger, and more productive animals.