GRAIN GROWING V. GRAZING.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1871, 3 July 1884, Page 2

GRAIN GROWING Y. GRAZING.

price within our means. B\ en at present prices sheep should pay us>. We can, by the system of turnip husbandry, followed by grain with tnrmpj mixed, leep on fair land four ewes per acre, or three in winter on sue!) grass (I have five now, and plenty of grass for them). Three ewes would have o\er tlnee lambs, and the wether lambi being exported, the value of the three miglit be 40s, as lent for the land, leaving tlie wool for other charges. This at 10 per cent, would make the land intrinsically worth £20 au acre, or at 7i per cent. £33 an acre. These results would bo giatifying, and they aie quite attainable.—l am, fee., Wm Arc id. Murray. Piako, 29th Jun3, ISSI.

» TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — In my letter in your issue of the 26th on grain v. grazing, I said that it would cost about lls to Us 6d per acre for cultivation and seed to put an acre of grass land into turnips, but exclusive of manure. The words "exclusive of " were omitted. For successful production of sheep for the European market, I think that we must avoid the Lincoln, or anyway the pure Lincoln. They are heavy feeders, and as hoggetts especially, are both coarse and delicate. They could be crossed by Merino rams, and the produce is good, but it is the wrong way to cross, as double the number per acre of halfbred, and more than doable of Merino rams could be kept than pure Lincolns. From all I can learn the mo3t suitable breed for us will be the Oxford or Shropshire Downs, and these we can breed up to by selecting the be3t Napier ewe 3 to put to the Shropshire or Oxford rams, and fattening the culls. The ewe lambs could be kept to supply maiden ewes, which could be cm' led again before tupping, and after one or two crops, of lanibs, they could be sold fat, It will be found moie, advantageous to breed our sheep than to have to. buy Napier culls and crawlers, which seldom yield a fair return of either lambs or wool in quantity or quality the first year, while the next year they will be , chiefly broken-moutlied; only a few will fatten, aud the rest would, be " crokers," while the, mortality .will be serious. It costs .'double to keep old sheep, and the returns are not half those from good >oung sheep^.4- question,- for us i?, ijY^ere ritod Ihpwcaif^'WO-get Oxford or, Shropshire -pllre-bralsj,< pains i; '< ,Cap/*any^o£:>*ypiiri readers re^y^to jt &■ '^xperigiice tjitoftgly-