PRACTICAL DAIRY FARMING.

Shannon News, 29 February 1924, Page 3

PRACTICAL DAIRY FARMING.

ADDRESS BY MR W. J. McCULLOUGH.

There was a large attendance of farmers and their sens at tlie Council Chambers last evening, when Mr VV. J. (McCullough, Government Fields Instructor, gave a most interesting illustrated address on practical dairy farming. , IMPORTANCE OF FEEDING.

Mr McCullough, in opening his lecture, pointed out that he particularly wished to deal with the dairy cow and her proper feeding. He stressed the fact that in order to obtain the best results from a dairy cow it was essential that, she receive an adequate and well-balanced ration throughout the year. Under existing circumstances it was essential that the maximum should be produced per cow and a little study as to how the result was to be obtained Was well worthy of the farmers' attention.

A table was produced showing the food .value of lOOlbs of digestible loou, in point vQf production, viz., 150ibs of milk at Is per gallon, 15s; Isibs o. cheese at is per lb, 15s; oi butter .at 2s per lb, 13s; and 24ibs pork at 6d per lb, 12s.

The _great need of dairying in Nc-w Zealand was herd improvement a result which would be obtained to a greater extent by, correct leeding. Tin average production of butter-fat per cow in New Zealand was only-170 ibs, i>Ut if sufficient food was availab.e the existing herds production could be increased to 2001bs per cow, which .would mean an, increase lor New Zealand of 13,000 tons of butter of a value of 2£ million pounds sterling, and this Without any improvement in the breeding of the herds, hut solely as the result of feeding. To obtain theT result it would be. necessary to grow throughout the coiuniry one million extra"'tons or

grass or its equivalent in lucerne, maize, turnips, etc., per annum. The average cqw require*! 601bs of grass per day or ten tons per annum lor the maintenance of her system alone. For every ton of grass above this amount, 30 4bs of butterfat was the - average' return, 2501bs of butter-fat requiring eight tons of grass. Add to this ten tons fqr maintenance which gives 18 tons Qf grass to produce 250 lbs oi butter-fat.

Maintenance remains above production until the 3001bs level is reached. At this figure it is level and above 3001bs of butter-lat production takes relatively less than.maintenance. . ECONOMY OF THE GOOD COW. Take the following as an example. A cow, producing 4001bs of butter-fat. requires per annum for maintenance/' IQ tons; production 13 tons. Total .23 tons. Two. cows producing each 2001bs of butterfat require 10 tons oi grass each for maintenance—2o tons • production 13 tons. Total 33 tons, oi ton tons of ■' grass more than would bq required by using tlie better class of cow. "The production of -the two, examples quoted would he as follows: The 200ibs cow would produce 121hs of butter fat from each ton of grass consumed which at Is 8d per lb would give a : value of £l, whilst the cow producing 4001bs per annum would give a return per ton of grass of 18 'lbs butter fat-which at the same value would amount to £1 10s. FOOD UMTS. . Another way of getting at this aspect of the question is to take -'the value of the food unit, which is based on .the feeding value of lib of mixed grain. Based on this.feeding value, one ton of good grass represents ‘275 food units. Eighteen tons of grass are required to produce 250 lbs of butter fat, > 5000 food units being required for the production. Two Hundred and fifty lbs of butterfat at Is 8d per lb represents 5000 pence so that each grass unit has a feed' value' of one penny. It is abundantly 'evident; therefore, that the more food units are devoted to maintenance in contra-dis-tinction to production, the more economically wasteful is the system of farming.

THE IDEAL PASTURE. Pastures containing un abundance of clo.ver constitutes a perfect food for milk production, and if such pastures were available during tlie whole' year, no other ’feed would be required. Unfortunately there are two periods during the year when such feed is not available—'early spring and autumn, and the grass ration must be supplemented if-the best results ere to be go.t. Tables which have been compiled prove that between August and December., the time, of greatest production, the cow consumes 50 per cent, of the grass ration required by her per year; between January and May 20 per cent.; and between May and August 20 per cent. In the same periods the production of grass is: August to December 70 per cent.; January to May 20 per cent; May to August 10 per cent., leaving the cow for the January to May period 10 per cent, short of the requisite amount. The winter period was also IQ per cent, short and it was the business of the farmer to supplement the grass at these periods.

In February it was quite possible for cows to have dropped slbs per day each from their highest production. In' a hterd of. 30 cows this amounts to 4200 lbs of milk, which at a 4 per cent, test represents 168 lbs of butter fat for the month. Eight

feed units represent one lb of fatproduction only: 1400 grass Units or their equivalent would have savjed the situation. Representing this-equi-valent-in soft turnips, 600 lbs of soft

turnips per day— (201bs each cow per day) would have sufficed and would return a gross return of £7O per acre for a 40 ton crop. ■ Whilst' grass pasture was undoubtedly the most economical and best feed which could be grown for cows in New Zealand, it was not, as he had before explained, always possible to secure -adequate supplies of grass so attention had to be directed to the growth of a substitute. Supplementary crops were hay (lucerne and cereals included), roots (swedes, mangolds, carrots, turnips), and fodder [lucerne, maize, cereals and litres, Japanese millet, etc.) Of all these the most valuable from a feed point qf view Was lucerne. One

* ton of lucerne hay .hud a feeding' value equal to any of the following: ii ions of mixed imp; 11 tons of cereai and tare hay; 1£ tons oi grass hay wunout Clovers; tons ol lucerne ensilage; 3 tons oi maize ensilage; 4 tons of carrots or swedes; 5 tons oi rape and kale; tons oi mangolds; or fi tons ol soli turnips. , Turnips were a useful but not a reliable crop. Froyided care was exercised they uudJu '-Du leu to milking cows without tainting the milk, it being necessary to put the-cows on to them immediately after milking and, not to leave them on too long. Garrots- were coming into favour in parts where swedes and turnips would not gpow satisiactorily. Maize was .one of the most largely grown supplementary feeds there was but it was not a gbod food. It was not a balanced ration yielding only a ratio of lto 13, whereas mixed grass, which was the ideal feed, gave (t ratio of I to 6. HA* PRODUCTION. From statistics it was shown that 100,000 acres of grass land was shut up for hay annually, am equivalent tq one acre to every io cows or 3 to 4cwt of hay per cow. This was quite inadequate "and should be Increased to 10 to 12 cwt. per cuw even where a plentiful supply of roots are available.

A thing that dairy farmers know but wilfully closed their minds to very often is that that portion of the year in which a cow is not producing is the time when she not only has to carry a calf hut to recuperate from the drain of milk production and build up for the coming season. If she is not adequately fed during this period she comes in. in a weakened condition which is reflected in her butterfat re-, turns right- through the seasbn. 11 lucerne could not"be grown economically there are many tilings nearly as- good, and one of’tne best is red qloyer. At title Central Development Farm, of which he had been manager, he found that it was unprofitable to grow lucerne because he could grow red clover so. much cheaper. Lucerne was particularly adapted to a rich deep, loamy soil. In other classes oi soils the other crops might prove more profitable. SWEDES. Swedes lie would recommend to be grown in raised ridges. He did not mean that these should be raised lor the purpose of draining the ground but mainly to facilitate weeding. It was advisable that as much of the turnip should be grown above the ground as possible so as to prevent waste and where they were sown in ridges it wias found tnat after two or three cujltivatings between the rows the ridges were practically levelled, leaving the turnip standing well above the surface of the ground. People, especially large growers, might Object to the work entailed, but there were two important results to be obtained. In the first place he looked upon turnips as a cleaning crop for the ground. They should always be grown in the worst pasture on the farm so that,, the land might be resown, later vvith a more profitable mixture. In such exhausted pasture weeds would predominate or at any rate: exist largely, and with a proper system of inter-cultivation the ground might be cleaned in. preparation for the re-sowing. It was important to remember that these crops were only grown to supplement the grass and the opportunity should be taken to remove the weeds or the period of cropping instead of cleaning the paddock of the weeds which the original pasture contained would only serve to increase them. The second reason for inter-cultiva-tion was that hy keeping the '..rup free from weeds a much better result could be obtained. Thinning was also advisable and for this purpose a machine called a “gapping machine” was used in the South Island. MANURES.

Manuring was essential if good results were to be obtained. Oneuf the worst diseases which affected Swedes and turnips was club root, and this disease was particularly partial to sour soils. For this reason it was necessary to sweeten the soil by manuring it, and in this connection lime was also useful. It must be remembered, however, that lime was not an absolute cure—it sweetened the ground and so prevented the trouble to a certain degree, but that was all. Dry rot was the other great enemy of the turnip-grower and for this also no cure was known. When it appeared it was inadvisable to grow turnips in the same land again for several years. It would appear also as if it could be carried from one paddock to another on the hoofs of animals grazing on the affected turnips. Regarding maize, it was not, as he had stated earlier, a well-balanced food and has nothing to recommend it where lucerne could be gfrown. Jt should be cut when the cob was in the dough stage. Oats and tares were a useful crop. A big thing in their favour being that if they were not required at once-they could be cut and made excellent hay. A number of questions were asked and answered to the satisfaction _of toe audience, the lecture concluding with a hearty vote of thanks to the lecturer, carried by acclamation,