WINTER FEED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 167, 8 March 1932, Page 2

WINTER FEED

K.P.)

ITS [MPORTANCE SOME NOTES ON GRASS AND GROWING ROOT CRGPS. WORKING TOWARDS IDEAt.

(By

A fortnight ago a farmer in |he Auckland Province was busily enga'ged cutting for. liay a crop of cocksfoot, timothy and fog that was standl ing nearly four feet high,;^nd whph had been dead ripe for a least thpq weeks. The one conipiepdable actjop was the cutting of this crop, as Had it been left the -pasture would eertainly have been spoiled for a year or two at least. • , To put this material- into a stackj however, and cail jt hay is siirely. a foolish aet; far better would it beitq set fire to it or use it as'.bedding for stock. " - - • ■■ Short Grass the Best. ' There is no longer room for doubt aboiit the high f eeding value of short, sweet pasture. Grass tHat is "only ja, few days old or just 'a. few inehes long has a food vaiue equai to fhe best oil calte without costing as mueh to produce as does the latter. Grass that has reached maturity is lon£ past its best feeding stage and at best is but a poor substitute for shoif,. sweet pasture. It is a mistafcen "ljjea to thinkthat this mass of dead stalks and seed heads is improved by beirig rriade into hay; the hay is just as gbod ,as the niatei'ial put into it, plus careful making. The Stock Point of View. a (. Looked at from the point'' of view of the stock that will have to subsist for a few months on poor quality hay or ensilage, it will be a har'd winter indeed. From the farmer's .point of view, it will be a disaster. The winter feeding of stock is, unfortunately, not given the serious thougHt that jhe operation warrants. It is not eppugh to merely bring the cows through. the winter alive, they should be brought through in a state of fitness. that will enable them to do justice to themselves f at 'the bucket. The waste and wear of a previous season's miiking should be recovered during the winter, but to "do this something more nutritious and appetising than over-ripe hay is required. . Roots Preferred. We have yet to discover something that will completely take the filace of roots and well made hay as winter rations for da'ry cattle. Given reasonably well sheltered paddocks, covers and ample supplies of roots and hay, there is no need to fear what the winter may be. Herds so wintered will come up to their work in the next segson just as about as fit as herds can be and their production figures will not be disappointing. We have no quarrel with grassland farming so long as it 's directed reasonably and not carried to excess. As a matter of fact we believe that a better and more profitable system of grassland farming can be evolved

where /roots are • provided for winter feeding. Utilisation of Grass. Under present coriditions where land is all in gf ass, it is impossible to stock up .to anywherp . near summer capacity because so much grass has to be saved for .winter use. By rere oving this burden from the grassland, one can at once increase the productive ■ stock to the point where all the grass. is utilised at its best stage., The .Waikato . farmer 's chief djfficuity dbes not lie m the production of grass so much as it lies in) the utilisation of it, or, to .put it another way, in thq cpnv.ersion, of grass into cash;t. WhH |s urgentiy xieeded in 90 per centt oi Pases is more stock during the summer months and to enable these tq be carried successfully it becomes necessary to make . other arrangeinents for winter feeding. . Grass All the Year It is almost, if not actually, possible to haVe fresh grass all the year round in parts of the Auckland Province. Those who are successful along these Jines . area large users of iertilisers as well as producers of large fluantitips of milk. and butterf at. , W.ith these meii top-dressing is not just an annual ceremoriy tq be performed and then fprgbtten. They have learned fully, just what f ertilisers can bp made tp dp for them and they use thejn a's they would any other easily handTed aid to higher production. • It js npt by haphazard methods that, a dairyman suceeeds in taking frpm 2.50 to 3001b of .butter-fat .per acre off his place, but rather it is by the thoughtful use of every aid that cpmes withih :his reach. He looks, ahead and anticipates his wants. Eor instance, he knows that during the winter, months there will be a shortage of grass that must be overcome by top-dressing riowj and also by the prpvision- of some suitable supplementary fodder. He knows that he must provide against a baekward spring. He vdoes this.. by saving some of hisgrass, land during the winter and topdressing this with a fertiliser like ammpniated - super -in July. He knows, too, that he will have more grass than he needs in Noyember and December, so he refrajns from top-dressing when such an operation would only add to his troubles, but he makes up for it w(hen he treats his grassland to a dressing some tiyne before Christmas so that he;will have feed to carry him over the dry months of January and February. Results Justify his Trpuble, , Everyone realis.es the great yalue of a regular rainfall in promoting growth of pastures. The land would not be nearly so productive if rain came only once or twice a year. As it is with rain so. it is with fertilisers, though to a lesser degree. The farmer who top-dresses with lcwt of super three times a year will get greater results than he who top-dresses once with 3cwt per acre. It is difficult to say what would be the economic limit in thp way of quantitips per acre per annum, but it is not difficult to proye that the most iiberal users of super are the most.richly rewarded. There is no doubting the fact that fertilisers, espec;ally superphosphates, gives results when used o.n grassland, but there is still lots of room for improvement in the way such fertilisers are used. . It is possible to have fresh green feed for the greater part of the year, and it is wise to have some roofs tp supplement the grass at other periods, and we are only stating a cold fact when we say that super, wisely used, will provide the means of real'sing this ideal.