Spring Feed Shortage

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 61, 15 March 1944, Page 4

Spring Feed Shortage

Plans must be carried out immediately if a threatened shortage of .feed for cows next spring is to be avoided. Postponement until tlie colder weather, when no feed will grow, is useless (states a bulletin issued by Massey Agricultural College). It is imperative that the feed level lie maintained in the winter, when stock is dry, and equally necessary in spring when cows are in milk. Next season’s production will be adversely affected by failure to counteract the effects of this dry summer and autumn, during which stocks of hay and silage are going down and will not be available for the spring. All farmers will be affected by a shortage, but the public will be concerned more so in the case of farms supplying town milk. At least three alternative measures can j be taken now: (1) Choose a small area of the farm with a good sward of grass and clover. Shut this up, according to the district, any time from. mid-April on- ■ wards. It can be fed off, in breaks if necessary, in. the winter and spring to ■ dairy cows in milk. This very good grass can be supplemented with hay and roots. (2) If an area can be spared as above, another paddock should be ploughed now for Italian ryegrass and red clover, using a mixture of two bushels of ryegrass and from 41b. to Gib. of clover. (3) Inde- | pendently, or combined with the second ! alternative, ploughing can bo done for I green barley or green oats, using the j field which would be ploughed for next I year's root crop. This green feed can be | used during the winter months. By .September, the paddock should be turned over and worked up for the next crop.