INCREASING PRODUCTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1922, Page 8

INCREASING PRODUCTION.

VALUE OF FEEDING. ADDBESS BY MR. DEEM. At the annual meeting of the Stratford Model Farm Society on Saturday, Mr. J. W. Deem, fields instructor to the Agricultural Department, and chairman of the farm society, delivered an interesting address, chiefly concerning the adequate feeding of dairy cows. “The average dairy cow,” he said, “requires approximately 10 tons of grass or grass equivalent for sustenance for a .year, or in other words she must be provided with this before she can start to make any profit in the way of producing butter-fat or beef. Confining ourselves to butter-fat it may be pointed out that a normal healthy cow is capable of producing .30 lb of butter-fat for every ton of grass or grass equivalent she receives, over and above the sustenance ration of 10 tons, or in other words, a cow, to produce 240 ]-b of fat lequires 10 tons for sustenance and 8 tons for production, and there is no question that if the average cow in Najv Zealand was fed to her maximum the present average of about IGO lb of butter-fat per head could easily <be raised to 220 lb or over, and this would come about without any improvement in breed; at the same time the two objects should be worked up together. “One example should make this very plain: Take a cow whose maximum capacity is 200 lb of butter-fat; she requires 10 tons for sustenance and 6J tons for production. Two such cows would produce 400 lb of fat and to do this they would require 33 tons of grass (10 tons for each for sustenance) and 1.3 tons (6J tons each) for production. Now. let us take a cow with a capacity of 400 lb of fat; she requires 10 tons for sustenance and 13 tons for production, a total of 23 tons. Obviously the proper thing to do is to procure the best row you can and feed her to her maximum' The above suggests that you must be careful not to overstock, for if you only have 20 tons of fodder and 2 cows there is no profit; whereas one good cow with the same amount, of feed should give you .300 lb of butter-fat. Remember that a cow is only a machine for turning grass, etc., into saleable commodities, and she cannot do this from air any more than a carpenter can build a house from the same material. GOOD FEEDING NECESSARY. “From what I have said I think it will be generally recognised that unless cows are properly fed it is useless to expect a profit from them, and that tho provision of suitable fodders for the .winter and early spring and for the dry period January to April is very important; in fact, to my mind, the most important factor in successful dairying in Taranaki. And while I realise that there is a great improvement in the manner in which the average dairy farmer feeds his stock there still re-, mains room for a great deal more, particularly in .providing for the cow between the end of one milking season and the beginning of another. In my opinion this is the most critical period and 1 the time in which the cow requires the

most careful handling and consideration. It is her period of recuperation or, in other words, the time during which she has to undergo her annual overhaul and ' build up sufficient reserve energy to carry her through another hard season. . “This is hard enough for a dry animal, but w T hen you realise that the cow has to provide , for a growing calf jn addition to building up her own strength, the magnitude of her task must be recognised, likewise the necessity of giving her the best possible treatment. “Previously I have dealt fully with the best crops and varieties to grow and do not purpose going into this subject today. At the same time and for the purpose of discussion I want to-suggest that top-dressing of pastures, growing of good quality hay. and good crops of mangolds, carrots and swells are among jthe surest methods of providing and en,abling you to adequately feed your cows.” VALUE OF ENSTI.AGE. | Ensilage was going to play a very imi portant part in the feeding of cattle ;in the future, continued Mr. Deem, and pie was sure that in the near future the I farms would be provided with proper 'silos. The time was rapidly coming I when soft turnips and swedes'would be a thing of the past and something would (have to be .substituted. He thought ensilage would take the place of these fodders. Drinking-water was a most important point, and if it were provided I in a place easy of access the cows would .drink very large quantities, and do much better for it. He advised these present that when constructing drinking-troughs ;to make them as long as possible to [provide plenty of drinking mom. A ’cow. as a general principle, should be dried off some time before calving to •give her ample rest before again compng into profit. He was not sure that ■ salt made a cow produce any more, although if she were given more salt she ; would drink more water, and this would , make her produce more milk if not more • butter-fat. There was no doubt that i salt in hay was a good thing. The land in Taranaki needed more salt, and this | was illustrated by farms near the beach I where there was plenty of salt spray. ! It was quit? safe to use about 7 or 8 lb Jof salt to the ton in making -ensilage. There was no doubt that stack ensilage was quite satisfactory up to a point, but he was sure that stacks would be done away with and silos built in their place. USE OF SWEDES. Tn ar-.' ~ a r to Mr. Hewitt. Mr. Deem said that, shelter was most valuable and worth nearly half as much as feeding. Mr. Trimble said he had grown 17 kinds of swedes and certain kinds of ! white-fleshed swedes had shown prac- : tically no signs of rot. It might be ! that it would soon be impossible to grow swedes, but he thought it would be worth while to make some trials witn yellow-fleshed swedes to find out if there were not some kinds less subject to rot. He did not think that swedes would go right out of use, and he advocated further investigations. Mr. Deem agreed that there was some hope for the white-fleshed varieties of swedes, as they were not so subjected to the bacteria that caused dry rot. The department was carrying out experiments with swedes and it was hoped that a variety less liable to rot would n? found. There was a lot of investigation going on with club-root also. ' Mr. Deem said the average crop for . carrots throughout the district in the root crop growing competitions was 40 tons 1 cwt. while for mangolds the average was 55 tons 2 cwt. This proved that good crops of mangolds could bn ■ orown in Taranaki. He would not advocate the growing of large areas of lucerne in the Stratford district until he had seen experiments for another j year From Ngaere down lucerne appeared to be alright, but he was not sure ’ el th® Stratford district j