THE FEED VALUE OF PEAS.

Shannon News, 9 October 1923, Page 3

THE FEED VALUE OF PEAS.

The value of peas as food for live stock is well known. When mixed crops are grown for soiling, pasturing, or for silage, peas are essential. When grown for forage they provide succulent food, and when sown as a soil restorer, experiments show that they add nitrogen to the soil. For whatever purpose peas may be grown, the general soil and cultural requirements are much the same. Clay loams are best adapted, but good crops are grown on sandy and gravelly soils. Although peas require a good deal of moisture, wet soils are not suitable.

Peas do well on land ploughed from the lea, as they require clean land. If there are any weeds in the field to be sown, plough it up the previous summer, and follow a regular afterharvest cultivation system. If the land to be sown is clean, plough early in the autumn, so that the sod will dec&y and be available for plant food when the peas are sown. It is not a good plan to leave the ploughing too late, as sod requires time to decay.' Peas will do well sown early in spring and after most other crops are sown.

The quantity of seed required per acre is two and one-half bushels. Suitable varieties are Partridge, Maple and Blue Imperial. After peas are sown it is advisable to harrow the land once or twice before they come up. The harrowing will keep down weed growth, warm the soil, conserve moisture and keep a crust from forming. When- peas are from two to four inches high, a light harrow run over the field will force the growth of the plants, and make a mulch on the surface, which will help to conserve the moisture in the soil. PIGS AND THEIR FEED.

Never give more feed to a pig than it can conveniently consume at the one feed. The pig should be fed in such a way that he will have the. desire to eat a little more, which lie should be given exercise to get. If he shows an inclination to lie down contentedly after a feed, it is a sign that he is being served a little too generously. No animal will thrive well without the proper amount of exercise. It is necessary to ensure the pig remaining in a \healthy condition. He should, where- possible, also have access to grass. Where this is the case a growth of bone and muscle is induced. Grass too, assists to cheapen the ration bill. Don’t neglect to provide the pig with a good supply of clean drinking water. He should never be permitted to go thirsty. DAIRY TYPE AND TESTING.

We must assume that the best milk cows possess a combination of all the inheritted traits whifth result in high milk and butterfat production; such traits as constitution, vigour, nervous temperament, proper milk secreting organs, a strong digestive and assimilatory system, and all the other hundred and one characteristics that may have a bearing on the milk production. Cows that fall short of this ideal, or of the best, records, are probably deficient in one or more of these traits. If we use only the scales and the Babcock test to determine which are tlie best cows, we shall be right, presumably, as to the really great producers, but there are only a few of these, and not enough to keep all the breeders in business. The cows that are deficient will be recognised by the test, but the cause of their deficiency will not be isolated. As a result, in mating two particular animals we cannot tell, if they are not truly great milkers, just where their deficiency lies. Unless we study the animals pretty carefully outside of the test, we shall not know whether we are intensifying a weak spot by combining the same thing from both parents, or whether we are supplementing a weak spot from one parent with a weak spot from the other. It is , therefore, absolutely essential that every breeder should make a careful study of conformation, constitution, temperament, vigour and quality, in order to make satisfactory breeding progress.