A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION.

Shannon News, 13 August 1926, Page 3

A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION.

ITS ADVANTAGE PROVED. RESULTS AT EGMONT VILLAGE. (Taranaki Budget). There was a time when it was considered necessary if the dairy farmer was to get the best out of his land that he should keep, the plough busily employed, but for some years past views have changed in this connection. The Herald has periodically drawn attention to the exceedingly satisfactory results which attend the practice of a regular system of top-dresSing, and has published not only the advice of many of those who are in a position to advise from a theoretical standpoint, but also the experiences of those who have carried out top-dressing of pastures over a period of years. A few days ago the Herald published a full report of a very instructive address given at Tikorangi by Mr. .1. M. Smith, instructor in agriculture for this district, and following on that the results obtained by Mr. Arthur Morton on a farm of 30 acres situated at Egmont Village will be of interest. Mr. Morton for a long time has held views similar to those expressed by Mr. Smith, and the results of his experiments prove beyond question the practical nature of the advice given. Egmont. Village land is, generally classed as “a cow to three acres” country. In other words it may be described as land which, under ordinary farming methods, will carry 33 to 35 cows to each 100 acr’es. It is topical of much of the land in North Taranaki, but it is wonderfully responsive to treatment, and the experiments which have been carried on quietly for the past few years bv Mr. Morton go to show that its carrying capacity, and thereby its productiveness, can be increased far beyond what many people would have been prepared in the past to give it credit- for. Mr. Morton started a dairy on this 30-acre section four years ago, milking 14 cows for* the first season, and the amount of butter-fat delivered in the shape of home-separated cream was 24551b5., which realised a total payment of £177 (is lOd. In the following year' 1923-1924, 16 cows were milked and they produced 34301b5. of fat, the re- ( ceipts for same being £263 v 3s 9d. In the 1924-25 season the herd was increased to 18, and the butter-fat produced was 41381b5., while the payments amounted to £312 3s lOd. For the ten months of the present season a herd of j 21 has produced 51171b5. of butter-fat, J and payments for same to date amount- j •od to £344 6s sd. To this will have to j be added a bonus at the end of the ; year, but what this will bo one cannot j as yet tell. The rate of payment for ) these four years has been practically the same, about Is 6d per lb. of butterfat, and it will therefore be seen that systematic top-dressing, has not only be'en the means of a very substantial increase in the carrying capacity Ox the farm, but that the improved and more succulent pastures haye had a very appreciable influence on the yield. Of ‘the herd of 21 milked this season there wore live two-year-old heifers and five, second-calvers, while six of them did not come in until October and November, which of course makes their production very much less than if they had calved earlier in the spring. The cows and heifers came from Mr. Morton 7 s farm on the Egmont Road. There has been no special selection, and so far there has not been any heavy culling. In addition to the dairy herd there has been a bull on the property, and six or seven calves wer'e reared to six months old on the place. Reference to calves reminds one that in addition to the butter-fat flgures quoted allowance has to be made for the new milk supplied to the calves for the first three weeks, and then an allowance of half new milk for a further three weeks, and milk and cream used for household purposes. All these have to be added to the factory flgures. to get at the actuahreturns, and the results of individual testing show that 59621b5. or fat was produced, or an average per cow of 2841b5. Ten of the herd have produced well over 300 lbs, of fat, and one wont verv close to 400ibs. T-he\ aic practically all Ayrshire-Jersey cross, comparatively few being from Jersey herds. .„ When Mr. Morton first started mnxing on the property a portion of the land was badly infested with blackberrv and practically all the creek banks were covered with heavy vines. Where the blackberry-infested land was ploughable it was broken up twice and finally sown down in grass two years ago, since which - time the blackberry has not reappeared in it, the explanation, of course, being that the blacxberrv thrives best in poor pastures. With the top-dressing of the pastures it becomes less troublesome each year and, further, the cattle themselves will eat any young plants that appear, so that finally the pest disappears altogether. The creek which runs through the property has been drained and the banks top-dressed with slag, and the blackberries are rapidly disappearing there too.

One of our reporters went over Mi. Morton’s property, and from one end to the other it is in splendid grass while, notwithstanding the amount oi stork carried, everything is in excellent fettle. Mr. Morton explained that the farm has been top-dressed with basic slag at the rate of 3cwt. per acre eacii year, and although the farm is subdivided into five paddocks, except at the time when one or more paddocks are shut up for hay, the cows have the run of the whole farm. Seven acres i» usually saved for hay, and this provides sufficient, feed to carry the whole of the stock through the winter months. "The plough is not used. ’’ said Mi. Morton, "as I am a firm believer that : better results can be obtained by the use of manures than by ploughing and cropping, and at very much less cost. ISTo artificial feeding is resorted to and no root crops are grown.” To show how pastures may be revived by systematic top-dressing, Mi. 1 Morton pointed to a portion of the farm containing about four acres and said

it had never been ploughed. It was sown down after the bush burn about 50 years ago, but, thanks to - top-dress-,l ing, the pasture on this area is equally as good as on any other part of the farm. So far Mr. Morton, although a great believer in harrowing pastures in the winter or early spring month, has not had an opportunity of thoroughly doing so, but this year he intends lo harrow the whole of the pastures and expects to get even better results than in the past. ‘‘ln regard to the kind of manure used,” said Mr. Morton, ‘‘l am, quite satisfied that so far as the bush country of Taranaki is concerned no manure gives as satisfactory results as basic slag, which may be applied year after year without any necessity for any change over to any other kind of manure. As to the time of sowing, I agree | entirely with what Mr. Smith, agricultural instructor, said. Although many I people are under the impression that basic slag should be sown early in the winter, my experience over a long period of years has shown me that equally good results are obtained by sowing in Julv or August.” <5 verting again to the quantity of {butter-fat produced,” said Mr. Morton, 1 “it seems to me that the best test pf I the producing capacity of the farm is jnot in the return per head of the indi--1 vidual cows, but in the return per acre, lor, in other words, the amount of but-ter-fat produced per acre. In this case on the factory returns for the ten months of the past season, the average was over 1701bs. per acre, or, if we take the results of the individual testing, we have practically 2001bs. p,r acre. In calculating the acreage it is interesting to note that of the 30 acres, one acre is occupied by house and garden, while another two acres is used as a calf paddock, so that the results arc actually obtained on 27 acres instead of 30 acres. - ’ The experience of Mr. Morton goes to show that if the whole of Taranaki’s dairying country was worked under similar methods the production couid be very largely increased, if not doubled. Mr. Morton stressed the importance of shelter. ‘‘l consider one of the first things the dairy farmer should do is"to provide belts of trees. Here there arc several good belts which the cattle make good use of. There is not the least doubt that shelter adds materially to the results, as the cattle are so much more comfortable, and it also has beneficial effects on the paddocks.”