FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 225, 2 March 1915, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY.

TEMPORARY PASTURES. s A temporary pasture is the only form of pasture which should be used on the light lands in New Zealand. Indcca, it will be found on arable land, in nine, ■cases out of ten, that it will pay far better to sow a temporary pasture ol from to to four years' lay, than to sow a permanent one. Many of the grasses selected for a permanent pasture are Blow in maturing, some of the fine grasses taking three or four years while in a temporary pasture fast-grow-ing grasses can form the basis of the mixture, bringing a quick return. The breaking-up of the land every few years for "cropping and re-grassing helps. to sweeten the land, imroves the drainage, and adds to the store of Jiumus. Tamorary grasses in rotation with crops necessitate the addition of artificial manures; the land is kept in good heart, and the pastures give a maximum yield; thus temporary pastures are the backbone of the small farmer, especially the milk-producer. ~ As with a permanent pasture, 'the preparation of the land is of the greatest imortance. The land must be properly drained and sweet, worked to a fine tilth, and rolled so that the seed is firm. The selection of the seed depends on the length of the lay in addition to the climatic influences. Early maturing varieties should be selected as well as clovers. The chief object is to quickly produce heavy crops. The pastures require the use of the brush harrows to spread the manure. They should be rilled in the spring and carefully stocked, care being taken not to allow the grass to run to seed.' Neither should they be overstocked, otherwise the grass will be pulled out by the roots or trodden out.

'ln conclusion, from the above it will be gathered that, except on exceptionally rich land, where jth'e grasses hold well, temporary pastures have a great advantage, especially where the holding is small and dairying ig carried on. — E. E. Fairfax-Chomeley, in the Journal of Agriculture.

AS THE COLT IS, SO WILL BE THE HORSE. Every foal should bo the product of intelligent, correct .breeding; not haphazard, hit and miss mating. Too many misfits and mongrels are produced. They fail to make high class horses, even when properly fed and managed.- Born wrong, they do not grow aright. It is also lamentably true that many colts born right are raised wrong. Every farmer should aim to mate only suitable sire's and dams for the production of ideal horses, for the various purposes, and then should feed and cevelop the product perfectly. Only a pure bred colt can beget i grade horse. He also must be sound, muscular, prepotent and suitable in type if the colt is to\be ideal. \This is equally true of his mate. The. sire does not necessarily correct, in his progeny, the serious faults of conformation of his mate. He reprodtices only those of his features which aro stronger or dominant over the corresponding features of the marc. She stamps as surely upon her offspring those of her undesirable traits that are dominant over the corresponding' traits of the sire. To have a colt born right, so that it will develop right, the characters of both sire and dam should be as similar and ideal as possible. Violent crosses should be avoided. The most prepotent pure bred sire should be used. The use of all other sires is a waste of time and money. Given a foal that is born right, its development should not bo left to chance or luck. It can materialise the hereditary possibilities of it;, breeding only if perfectly nourished. The inadequately fed and consequently stunted foal never attains full size or value. At least one-half of the growth and weight of a horse is attained during the, first twelve months' of life. That is, therefore, the most important period, in the life of a foal.

The pregnant mare should be fully fed to insure adequate nourishment nf her foetus and an' abundance of milk for its reception. She should be as well fed while nursing the foal. If the foal is to make perfect growth it must, from its earliest' days, be provided with oatmeal, then crushed oats abundance of whole oats, bran, grass, hay and roots. There is no time in the life of a horse when the feeding of oats and bran is so profitable. The foal that is not so fed may lack at maturity twenty-five per cent, or more of the size, weight, strength and value possible through heredity. Over feeding and pnmpering must be avoided, however, as they may prove injurious or ruinous.

Then, too, if care is not taken to train the-loal's hoofs properly they may grow crooked and throw the leg bones out of plumb. This will spoil action and utility at maturity. The fcjt must be made level and true by expert rasping ouco a month or so during che growing years. Such trimming is" allimportant. Postponed it soon becomes too late to help; the mischief is done. "As the colt is, so will be the horse." —A. S. Alexander, M.D.C., Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Wisconsin. '•% IMPORTANCE OF REGULARITY OF MILKING.

Regularity is a good practice in all Uiings, but in good dairying it is imperative. To produce, large and riji yields of milk is the sole function of the dairy cow, and to do this she must be of good dairy type, receive palatable and nutritious feeds and be milked clean at regular periods. The evening milking is done very early in winter and very late in summer. The unequal periods arc made for the cow by this sun to sun milking, and as a consequence the quality of her milk and the quantity of the same, as well as the length of her annual period of milk giving are reduced. The cow can do her best only when milked at equal and regular daily periods of about twelve hours each the year round. The full supply of milk is not in the udder ready to be drawn on before milking time comes, but some of it is produced by the glands during the operation of milking. The udder, however, is usually filled and the cow becomes accustomed to this, but if the operation of milking is delayed and the udder. bcomes unusually full it begins to pain the cow, and the glands tease to some extent to secrete more milk, and they will then not be stimulated to good activity during the process of milking. This injures the glands and produces a decrease in the flow of milk. So it is very important that the milking be done regularly at as near the same time each morning and evening as possible. And it is also well tint the persons doing the milking do not change often, for each one has a little different manner of milking than another, and a change causes the cow to feel uneasy, and in some cases if the change is repeated too often it may injure the udder and the cow will give less milk as a result.

KEEP THE COW CONTENTED.'' At milking time it is best that thr <■"•" h- emnfortiihlf. e-;,l e-nt'-ited. '-i- ----' '■! h / i. 1 : .f 1,.. Ls i, •• .«-''-.i .r «i.., f..,,i offered her before the milking begins so she wilt have been satis-

fled and willing to part with her milk. It is also well that clean fresh water he offered her before beginning tlio milking . process. The job of milking cows is probably a\drudgcry to milkers una' than a pleasure. Conditions in the dairy easily become such that the work of milking is dreaded. The ma>i who does not try to enjoy his workusually allows sjieh conditions to obtain, and the niore he dreads the work the. woTso the conditions, and vice versa. With cleanly conditions, convenient facilities for feeding' and caring for the cows, and gentle cows (indicating kind treatment) the task of milk ing can, be, made quite as agreeable as any other work upon the farm. That is, provided the milking is not done when one ought to be in bed, and providing, further, that he really takes pleasure in any kind of work.—"Farm, Stock, and Home."