FARMERS' COLUMN.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 130, 4 February 1915, Page 2

FARMERS' COLUMN.

DAIRY FARMING BY GUESS. Certain inconsistencies on the .part cf some dairy fanners, who in other respects are shrewd, calculating men, die thus summarised by an observant correspondent: "The dairyman doesn't guess at the amount of milk when he sells it. He aces not guess at the amount of money lie receives for it, but counts every penny every lime. Then why should he guess at the milk his own cow sells him? But ue does, and never thinks hew unbusinesslike it is. '•Every cow that does not pay her beard, or that returns too little profit !o bo worth the time and investment

01 the .owner, cuts down the profit of a good eow that much and reduces the average of the herd. It is reckless management to thus lei, the worthless

.xw squander the large earnings of ■ the really geed animals tc be found in almost every herd. This is not ! safe dairying-. It would be regarded in every ether business as blind, thoughtless speculation or spendthrift : extravagance. Yet that is the way hum i.dreds of dairymen are going it blind ; and trusting to 'luck.' They do not | knew the production of each cow. j "A great deception is worked upon I the dairyman. He almost certainly | has in his herd a proportion of excellj ent cows, and unless it is a tested i herd, he just as certainly has a mini- ! her cf pocr cues as well. This mixing ■ cf wxUhless cowa and good cows in

the same herd gives an average production above that of one kind of cows, and below that cf the other kind. It makes him think the poor cows much better than they are, and it conceals from ■ his the actual high production of his best cows.

"He dees not see the real underlying tacts in the case —that there is p wide difference in the production ot his cows', and that part cf the herd returns practically no profit, while another part is making him money,which the pocr part is taking from him. The cows that are bringing in a profit arc the kind he wants to do business with. Rut fust he must find out about each cow. It is just as necessary to knew this as to know the cows have not broken out cf the pasture and got into the crop

! "The only way is to stop guessing ! and getting tc fact. There is no cthei ! way but to weigh and test the milk cf • each' cow separately. All guesses inisf the mark, and most cf them miss it r j leng way; they are absolutely unveli | able. This is agreed tc by all the dairyj men who have had practical expert j once en both sides of this question. ! This testing brings many surprises to I the most experienced dairymen. It is ! net only the most natural and easy I way, but- iL is absolutely the only way 110 learn the facts. I "-These words are well weighed, and ! so should be the milk cf every dairy ! cow. 'Weighed in the balance and ' found wanting' will then be said of ' many dairy cows. So true is the Bab i -ock test, and so badly needed, that ! it may alm.c«-i- be said that its use wil 1 ; seen be a test of the progressive dairy 1 man himself. Science has given a sira j pie find practical'and proven test tc f the dairyman. Why net use it?

j CATCH CROPS FOR FODDER. ' The value of a mixture of vetches land barley for providing a libera; .: amount of feeding for milking stock at | periods of the year when pastures : must be supplemented has been well j demonstrated a t the Mcumahaki Ex- • perimental Farm. On the 14th March of last year a five-acre field of rye stubble was disced and sewn with vetches and barley, the seeding being at the rate of 21 bushels per acre, and 1 the manuring lewt. of Thomas phosI chute per acre. Twenty fattening bul ■ locks—for topping eff after being : brought to good cendition on swedes ■ —were turned en tc this growth, 1? inches in height, en the2sth June, and ; en the Bth July they were in prime • marketing form. The twenty bullocks 1 had left the. crop eaten down hard ! On the 11th of the same month twenty store bullocks were turned in, and the

bite of gieen stuff remaining was supplemented by mangels carted out tc the field. By the 13th August, when they were taken cut, the cattle were in fat and forward' cendition, and the continued bite of vetches and barley materially assisted in the fattening process. By the 28th October the crop made a good second growth, again a dense 3 feet development, when the 'letting a portion of , ; lt •fed' fodder for milking stock and draught horses was commenced. In the feeding of green erops tc dairy stc:k it is advisable that hay be also fed to them. Giving a green feed alone will probably give rise to dietetic troubles The hay acts as a corrective, especially when well salted and stacked. It is well to give the hay before giving the green feed cr turnips. Just after miking is probably the best time to feed.

There is no forage plant known to agriculture that produces such prodigious crops as lucerne dees. It abundantly supplies every need of the live stock as well as the fertility cf the land.