THE RURAL WORLD.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 594, 16 August 1913, Page 3

THE RURAL WORLD.

FEEDING OF DAIRY STOCK. NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIAN CONDITIONS COMPARED. The proper feeding oi' the dairy cow is one of the most important problems before the milk producer. When in Austialia recently I had a good opportunity of studying- Australian methods and comparing these with those in practice in this country. The first thing to attract my attention on conmonweallh dairy farm was that increasing attention was beinggiven to the making of silage, farmers being given every encouragement by the Victorian, New South Wales and Queenland Governments to adopt this principle of food conservation. Silage 13 certainly a most important factor in successful dairying operations on the other side. Farmers are realising; this fact. They are passing heyond the stacking stage, and are largely employing the American method of chaffing material and preserving it in stave silo?, which are filled by means of a blower attached to the This style is found to be cheaper and more convenient in the end. A larger amount of succulent feeding material can thus be stored away. The silo is necessary in Australia because of climatic conditions, which generally mean an abnoimal growth of grass and fodder plants at certain seasons of the year and mure or less long intervening dry spelis. Thus it is only though silage that milking stock can be provided with the necessary succulent food for any lengthened period. In this country it is rather different. Here green crops can be grown in practically any summer, and thus, under a proper scheme of management, ideal milk forming foodg are available at all times.

In no ease did i see root crops grow for dairy stock, which have to depend on the natvuai grasses supplemented by silage and hay. In some cases Australia dairy farmers are taking a leaf out of New Zealand's book and are growing maize for feeding in a green state, but this is only in fav> oured localities. Paspalum is the main grass in the great north coast dairy country, and in the peculiar moist environment it flourishes in an amazing manner. It is hardly probable, however, that it can give the same feeding value as a pasturage of English grasses. I noticed that the paspalum in the autumn caused considerable trouble by reason of the seed stalk getting up the nostrils of the cattle. . A whole herd would be seen to be "breathing very heavilv, as though the coW3 were affected with tuberculosis. The seed gets right into the nostril, causing irritation and subsequent inflammation, and thereby necessitating the animal breathing through the mouth. In many cases the farmers have a peculiar shaped

hook made for the purpose of taking out the seed.

There are sections here and there in .New South Wales and Victoria where ideal dairying country is to be found but this advantage is largely counterbalanced by the periodic droughts, or more or less frequent spells of dry weather. In the south const district