FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 275, 30 April 1915, Page 6

FARM AND DAIRY.

MAXCi'KEI COW-TESTING ASSOCIATION. The following arc tho returns from the Mangorei Cow-testing Association for the period ending April -111, lUlfi, as submitted by' Mr. W. Ogle, the Association's tester: —

The best cow yielded 0451bs of milk, witli n. 5.2 tost, producing 49.1411)8 of butter-fat. The, worst cow gave OOlbs of milk, 4.1 test, and :j.(i!llbs of butter-fat. The best herd average was 58311 is of milk, with a 4.1 test, yielding 24.241bs of butter-fat. The worst herd averaged 27!>lbs milk, 5.4 test, and MOlllbs of butter-fat. The average association'cow gave 4381bs of milk, 4.8 test, 20.2-iibs of butter-fat.

AUTI'MX FEED FOR DAIRY COWS,

<-,] air and 281b sulphate of potash last autumn. It was cut in November anil again in the second week of .January, and the five weeks' growth when we saw it weighed' 4% tons per acre. The crop was free of weeds, but rather irregular, showing lighter patches in places. T. N. Blackball—Half-acre of lucerne, grown on level land of good quality, on which pigs bad been pastured, and which ,\vas cropped with turnips last year and a lot of thistles ploughed under. Before ploughing for lucerne the land was dressed with lime at the rate of half a ton per acre. It was ploughed Gin deep and a Planet Junior cultivator followed in tee same furrow, breaking up the subsoil another six inches, making twelve inches of loosened soil. The land was then dressed with 2cwt. of inoculated soil, '/o-ton linje, tiiilbs bone meal, 1301ns basic slag and 201bs potash per acre, well disced in and a fine titli obtained, rolled with a Cambridge roller, and on November 10 2811)3 seed, 20Olbs basic slag, OGilis potash and 341bs dried blood per acre were sown through the manure box of the seed drill, then again rolled. A good take was obtained. The crop received no hoeing or after cultivation until the end of March, when three casts of the barrows were given it. It was fairly free from weeds, the plants having evidently grown so vapidly that most oi the- weeds were choked out. It was cut on January 25, yielding 10 tons of green fodder per acre, and Mr. Blackball tells us he cut it again on March 21 and. got a yield of l!>V't tons per acre. Undoubtedly the best crop of lucerne we came across, and no doubt the success obtained in this ease will cause further trials to be made. We find that a considerable number of trial plots of tliisplant have "been put .in during the last two or three years, but in most cases the results have not been satisfactory, and it is questionable whether the soil of this district, except in favored localities, is suitable for growing it at its best. Numerous trials of grasses and fodder plants are being made on this farmland from his experience Mr. Blackball is of opinion that, provided we can get lucerne established, he knows of no other plant that will grow such a largo quantity of succulent food in so short a time. C. Sorrenscn. —Five acres of Aberdeen turnips grown on very broken land, which had been cropped with green oats. The land was ploughed and harrowed just before seeding; 7VsOZ. of seed and 2%cwt. 0 f manure, composed of twothirds superphosphate and one-third basic, slag were sown on .November 15 in drills 28 inches apart. The crop was quite thick enough; in fact, in many places too thick, but there were many bare places where a coulter of the drill had got choked. A fair crop, weighing tons per acre. Probably better results would have been obtained if the rows bad been closer together, as \vc think 23 inches apart is too wide unless the crop is intended to be horse-hoed. 11. Sampson—Carton's Hardy green turnip, grown on land that had previously been cropped with mangolds and maize. Seed was sown on December 1 with aewt. basic slag and each of bonedust and superphosphate per acre in drills 14in apart, lib of seed per acre being sown. The seed evidently germinated very freely, as the crop was altogether too thick. Crop 30',/, tons per acre of good sound roots, which were of fair size where they had room to develop. Tlie crop was hardly fully matured.

GREEN FODDER CROPS. AN INTERESTING REPORT. ■ Considerable interest was taken l>y the Taranafci Agricultural .Society in relation to the, class for the. most- suitable, autumn fodder for dairy cows, and the Society's stewards for that class (Messrs 11. King and J. E. Rowlands), who visited and weighed the various crops entered for competition in the class presented to the committee the following report embodying their views on the general appearance of, and the cultivation under which the leading crops were grown:— The growing of crops for this purpose is now becoming very general, and we find that soft turnips, rape and the various kales are on many farms taking the place of maize, as it is contended that these crops are not only more cheaply grown and less susceptible to unfavorable weather, but are also heavier milkyielding foods. The usual 'practice in feeding these crops appears to be to cart the turnips out to the cattle, but we came across cases where the cows are turned for a short time daily on to the growing crops. Rape and kales are generally fed where grown. As regards objectionable flavors being imparted to milk from cows fed on these crops, the majority of farmers state that where care is taken to give these foods just after milking and not to allow the cows to have access to them for more than an hour, no complaints of turnipy-flav-ered milk are made by the butter factories.

The two finest crops we came across were undoubtedly those of Mr. F. Andrews (turnips) and Mr. T. N. Blackball (lucerne). Both these farmers are strong advocates of deep ploughing, and after consolidation of the soil by free use of the roller. In Mr. Andrews' case the land was rolled three or four times before the seed was sown, and the fine condition of the whole field of roots speaks for itself as to the suitability of treatment the land received.

THE TREATMENT. E. Baylcy.-—One acre of purple-top Mammoth turnip, grown on broken land, which was cropped with swedes last year, ploughed, disc and tine-harrowed in the spring and sown on November 20 with 12 ounces of seed and 3e\vt. of manure per acre and received no further cultivation. The crop was fairly even, roots rather coarse with : • -li top. The weight per acre iv-.s 8!:; 2 tons, and would have been heavier if the crop had been more manured.

E. Bayley—Three-quarters of an acre of ehou mollier —Land broken and situated at and near the foot of the hills and apparently in good heart. It had received the same treatment and manure as the, preceding, lib of seed being drilled in on November 20' and only" a poor take being obtained. The crop stands three feet high, is looking well, and had it been more regular over the ground the weight would probably have been doubled, as we had to allow for the bare patches. ' The crop weighed 24 tons per acre.

F. Andrews —Three-quarters of an acre of Sutton's Imperial Green Globe turnip, grown on level land which was ploughed out of grass with a digger plough to a depth of Sin or Din early in October, well harrowed and rolled three or four times, and sown in drills 14 inches apart with lib of seed and 1 1-ocwt. each of slag, bonedust and superphosphate and 4Mb sulphate of potash per acre, but the thick patches of turnips were cut out with a hoe. A fine and even crop of model roots, with little top, and quite sound. The land was practically free from weeds. The wisdom of cuttiiig out tiie thick patches was clearly shown by the uniform size of roots, there being practically no small ones.' The extra labor entailed in roughly thinning the crop would be more than covered by the saving of time in carting'it out to the cattle, besides a heavier yield being obtained.

V. K. Morris—Tares ami outs grown on fairly level land, which had been twice cropped witli swede turnips. Three-quar-ters of a bushel of tares and two bushels of Algerian oats were sown early in October without manure. The crop n>.il been harvested when we got to the farm. Tt was evidently a good one from the appearance of the stacks of hay and from a small portion of the crop left for us to see. In this case the tares had done well, and both oats and tares had matured together. We were favorably impressed by wliat we saw of the crop.

K. Clemow—Three acres of rape and Cape barley grown on level land which had carried a crop of swedes, followed by one of oats. The land was ploughed and harrowed, and on Xoveniber 15 41b of rape and one bushel of Cape barley were drilled in with S'/iwt. of manure per acre. The portion of the field selected for the competition had been dressed two years previously with farmyard manure, and the rape on this part "was far and away ahead of the rest of the field, the weight being 32% tons per acre, the crop standing about 3ft high. and in the yard-manured portion of the Held the rape 'had choked most of the barley. It appeared to us that this mixture was not satisfactory, as the barley was passed by the time'the rape was at its best. We noticed the same thing on another farm, where Cape barley, oats and tares had been sown together,, the barley being far in advance of the other two. K Griffiths.—(American sweet clover grown on level land which had been under crop for several years, and had. a erope of wdiite mustard ploughed in last year. Peed was sown at the, end of Xoveniber with 2cwt. of basic superphosphate per acre. The crop was quite free from weeds, very even, about 3ft hig'i. and showed no signs of laying. The steins of this plant are hollow, and both stems and foliage have a bitter taste, but we were told cattle are very J'ond of it. In feeding, the practice on this farm is to cut and put it in heaps a day before .feeding to stock. The crop weighed 13 tons, per acre. 'L. A. Nolan. —Lucerne had been sown 15 months with 301bs of seed per acre, and was top-dressed with 2cwt. of basic

Hows Mil > 28 l 35 ) 41 ) 4-S 53 i 39 > 44 1 103 1 34 ) 32 ) 32 I 40 7 27 ) 44 B 47 (i 42 4. 4S 4 58 5, 30 0 4( 5 34 4 4! 0 41 .1 HVfl •:,11. T ! 4. ") 4. 1 4. 3 4. I 4. 5 4. t a. 1 5. 1 4. J .5. 1 . 4. 5 3. 3 4. i 4. 3 4 S 5. 0 4 4 4 3 4 5 4 'St. I'll 15 i li I 22 ! 21 I 23 ■i 1!) i 20 i 44 1 IS ) 10 2 17 1 1( 4 i: 1 1! 4 1( 5 2( 2 20 1 2J 0 If 4 2( 7 1( 5 2 !) 2 1 L, lb, Mill 40 r>; m ». 51 (K OS 7c 08 7. 05 li 43 7 .50 ■25 4 .35 4 .IS 4 .71 9 .Oil 4 .30 « .21 5 .51 0 .03 0 .24 7 .52 4 .23 S .20 4 .38 7 5.12 5 iglit'-t HiMiv. Yield Low for Month -,1b Tost. Fat, lb Milk 5 5.0 27.75 12 5 4.1 22.75 12 II 5.4 32.10 3!) 0 4.4 34.32 24 0 4.4 33.00 15 0 0.0 37.80' 28 0 4.0 30.00 33 0 ■>.<) 211.SS 13 .3 5.0 24.75 15 35 G.2 28.83 15 JO 3.4 30.0!) 9 15 5.7 20:50 10 SO 5.4 34.02 15 10 5.0 28.50 22 30 4.8 30.24 V 45 5.2 40.14 37 50 4.5 33.75 3( 05 5.0 20.25 24 25 3.0 20.70 34 35 5.7 24.70 22 50 4.0 30.00 3( 40 0.9 37.20 12 est In.liv. Yield for Month. ,1b Tost. Fat, lb ) . li.ii 7.92 > 4.7 5.04 ) 3.0. 15.21 ) 3.0 8.04 1 5.1 7.05 5 4.0 11.40 ) 4.0 13.20 3 fl.fl S.91 ) 5.4 S.10 0 4.1 0.15 ) 4.1 3.09 > 5.4 5.07 0 4.0 C00 5 3.0 8.10 O 4.0 0.00 5 3.4 12.75 0 3.9 14.04 0 4.0 s.m 5 4.2 14.40 5 3.5 7.S7 0 0.0 18.00 0 7.3 8.7G