BUTTER-FAT YIELD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 327, 14 September 1932, Page 2

BUTTER-FAT YIELD

PAHIATUA WOMAN' S RESULTS FROM TWENTY ACRES." PROFITABLE SMALL HERD. Particulars of a remarlcably heavy production of butter-fat on a property owned by Mrs. T. H. Verry, Konini, Pahiatua, were given by Mr. S. Freeman, Fields Instruetor, Department of Agriculture, in a recent report. "The farm in the season 1928-29 comprised 20 acres and was subdivided into five paddocks, ranging from three to five acres," Mr. Freeman stated. "Four acres were closed for hay and the stoclc were wintered on the farm with the aid of roots to an estimated value of £10 from another farm. The stoclc earried were 18 pedigree Jersey cows, six calves, one bull, two horses and six sheep. The total butter-fat produced from the farm in that season was 54701b, which reprsents 3041b per cow and 273ilb per acre The pastures bad been topdressed for about four years with 2cwt of super to the acre Dominant Rye Pasture "Rye grass is unquestionably the dominant grass in the pastures on this area The soil is fairly deep and is a medium to heavy loam on clay, the land being all flat The rainfall in the district is fairly heavy, being somewhere between 50 and 60 inches

"In the following season, tbe same area, with the same amount of stock, produced 53961b of butter-fat, which is approximately 2701b per acre, while in 1930-31 the production amounted to 59981b, being 3331b of fat per cow, and 29991b per acre "The average over the three seasons under review is, on the above figures, 56211b of butter-fat per annum, which represents 2811b of fat per acre annually "In the past season, 1931-32, an additional area of ten acres down the road was taken into the grazing The pasture on this area is very poor compared with the original twenty acres, the sward being open and composed of inferior grasses and weeds, and containing very little rye grass This area has been top-dressed this winter, but hitherto had not had fertiliser applied to it An Inferior Area Tbe past season was not as good as the previous three, the summer being comparatively dry in tbe Pahiatua district, but in my opinion the lower rate of butter-fat per acre disclosed by the figures below was as much due to the addition of the inferior area as to the poorer season. The butter-fat production was 76461b — 2461b per aci*e and 3321b per cow. Mr. Freeman goes on to state that it is anticipated that when the additional ten-acre area is brought into better grass, with r re and whitn clover dominant, it will be possible in a good season to bring the production up to 3001b of butter-fat per acre. The method of grazing is intense and a system of rotation is practised. The figures supplied are factory figures and do not include house supplies of milk and cream.