MEAT PRODUCTION AND PRICES.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 109, 4 July 1885, Page 7

MEAT PRODUCTION AND PRICES.

Profkssou Custancr, tho director of the South Australian Agricultural College ami Model Farm, in bis annual report very distinctly indicates the tiystem of farming which tho farmers in that Colony must adopt in the future, and the line of reasoning, based on actual, results at Ro-wworthy farm, applies with peutllar force to this Colony, because the course of cropping rrcommended can be followed here unimpended by the natural disadvantages of heat and drought with which settlers in Australia i have to contend. Tho reports states : "A farmer holding 1000 acres should keep a flock of sheep, say from 500 to (>OO ewes, as a permanent Hock all the year round. Considering the present state of land and low prices of wheat, I am of opinion that to farm profitably ! sheep must be kept. As a rule, of course, food must be provided for the sheep during summer. That this can be done we have already proved at Roseworthy. By growing thousand headed kale, mangel, and kohlrabi for summer feed, by improving the pasture land so as to ' carry more sheep per acre, it is qnite possible to provide sufficient food for sheep) At the same time the land growing these crops will be rendered better able to grow a good crop of wheat." The germ of this advice we take it to be is growing summer feed to improve the pastures. Farmers in New Zealand are well content when part of the holding is laid down in grasses. The idea of growing summer feed is some years in advance of their notions, but until this necessity is recognised they will neither improve the pastures nor be in. a position to carry sufficent stock throughout the season as will make a profit. No better illustration of the common practice here could be given than what is brought home to sheep vendors at the present time. For years no such summer season for grass has been experienced, but as winter approaches because of provisions, other than an inadequate turnip crop, graziers have perforce to crowd the market with their stock, and sell at ruinously low prices. Were the advice given by Professor Cnstance, in another portion of his report, adopted, namely, the growth of "catch," or stolen crops, an amount and succession of feed could be grown here which would enable tho growers not only to keep fully 50 per cent, more stock on their lands but also to hold over for favourable markets. The only feasible plan for adoption by the small flockowner, in competition with the magnates, is ihe course recommended by Professor distance — the growth of artificial feed to help and improve the pastures. Iv this way only can small holdings be in.tde to carry a sufficient amount of stock to leave tho farmer an adequate profit at what appears to be permanently low prices. — Witness.