SOUND FARM PRACTICE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5133, 1 June 1927, Page 2

SOUND FARM PRACTICE.

SPEND TO MAKE MONEY.

A PLAINS FARMER’S METHOD.

There is a dqiry farmer on the Hauraki Plains whose aim is a net income of £2OOO a year from his hundred-odd acre farm, and the indications are that it will not be dong before this attained.

At the present time he is probably mtiking more from his cows than any other farmer, but every penny he makes, and more besides, is spent on improvements to his farm or on his cattle. He believes, and has demonstrated beyond <yiy shadow of doubt, that the only way to make money’ is to spend money. Thus, for instance, he has spent during the last three years over 'HOOO on concrete. He has concrete roads to every paddock, concrete tracks in every paddock, concrete feeding places for his cattle and nigs, and concrete "floors in his shells' and yards. Having this, he was a.ble to bring his cows into profit early in the season, when butter-fat was at a good price. His biggest cheque this season was for August, when his herd gave over 20001 b and the factory was paying out Is 4d. There is no necessity for him to wear gum-boots, and he can bring in his cows all the year round wearing carpet slippers. Naturally, he keeps good cows. Being able to keep his stock on his farm all the yea.r without detriment, he can buy apd sell when prices are right. A good judge of cows, he goes outside to make his purchases and secures only big-framed Shorthorns and Frtesians. The herd is culled rigidly, and rejects are fattened for beef in such a manner that he has secured a reputation for topping the market at the local sales. Last season his herd returned him 19,5001 b of but-ter-fat, and there are few farms of little more than 100 acres, even on the Plains, with such a record.

Experiments in cropping have proved to him that ensilage is the most reliable supplementary feed, and it is his intention to make a big concrete silo. There are already concrete floors on which the cattle are fed during the winter.

Machinery will be used wherever possible, and at the present time this farmer is experimenting to ascertain whether a -motor-truck will haul agricultural implements when fitted with special grips for the wheels. If the experiment proves satisfactory he will bo able to dispense with three heavy horses, which have to be fed all the year round though only required to work during a short period?* A truck was procured instead of a tractor, so that it could be used for the cartage of shell and gravel for concreting and the large quantities of fertilisers and lime which he intends, procuring by rail as soon as the Hauraki Bridge is opened.