DAIRY FARMING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4724, 14 July 1924, Page 2

DAIRY FARMING.

“CROPPING DOES NOT PAY.” EXPERIENCES AT MORRINSVILLE. The idea that soft turnips and other root crops are essential to the dairy farmer is rapidly losing its popularity among .several of the farmers in the Morrinsvillp district, who maintain that it does not pay to crop. The contention is that on good land which responds well to manure it is more profitable to devote the money and labour required for ploughing and putting in root crops to top-dress-ing. which will ultimately be more profitable. It is not only contended that cropping does not pay, but some farmers go further and assert that it is a waste of time and land. The paddocks used for cropping* are ploughed up and sown in the spring, and it is not until the following spring that anything further can be done to the land. It also takes a couple of years after sowing in grass again before the pasture reaches its best condition, so that much valuable grass food is lost for one year’s supply of root crop.

One man spoken to on the subject stated that he gained better results during the past season without any root crops than during the previous season feeding the cows on turnips for five or six hours each day.—Morrinsville Star.