FARMING WORLD.

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20728, 11 February 1939, Page 26 (Supplement)

FARMING WORLD.

By "STOCKMAN."

DiMaM Problem at Horn* The grave shortage of qualified veterinarian* in New Zealand has become increasingly apparent during the past year and the opinion has been freely expressed that a large number of veterinarians should he obtained from Britain. However, Britain ber»elf is not very well supplied with veterinarians and in all probability help from this quarter will not be so readily obtained as has been thought. The Committee on Veterinary Education in Great Britain, which has been ■itting for some time, estimates in its report that the loss from diseases in farm stork in Britain amounts to the enormous sum of £19,000.000 per annum. and suggests a revision of the national attitude towards the training of the veterinary surgeon. They say that as matters stand veterinary education has been starved, veterinary schools are overcrowded, teaching staffs are inadequate, facilities insufficient, and suggest the removal of these defects. The committee also recommends that the veterinarian of the future should have a more practical acquaintance with animal husbandry and with a view to attaining ttis object, he should be required to spend at least six months on a farm

at various seasons of the year. It seems, therefore, that this country cannot altogether depend upon Britain for veterinarians, but should take immediate steps to train an adequate number herself.

Mfas*« of Good Pasture l Good pasture is the most valuable < food for our livestock, but on not a I few farms it is shamefully wasted. Good grass should be carefully rationed for it is too valuable a food to allow the stock unlimited access to it. Frequently a farmer will turn his stock onto a good pasture and leave them there day and night. The cattle will not graze all the time and consequently for a part of the time it becomes merely a holding paddock for them, the valuable grass species being ruined by the unnecessary treading and by the animals lying down to chew the cud. Dairy cattle should be allowed on rich pasture for only a few hours at a time, this being advisable not only from the point of view of the health of the stock but also from the point of view of saving the grass. Many farmers have adopted the practice of putting their herds into a holding paddock for two or three hours before the evening milking. This not only results in a considerable saving of the pasture, but lessens the chance of any feed taint in the milk. It has been found by experimental work that such rationing of pastures in no way lessens the production figures of a herd. If grass were treated more like a crop and rationed accordingly there would be fewer stock ailments and a present source of considerable waste would be eliminated. Beef Cattle Improvement Although recent reports from Home indicate that there has been a considerable improvement in the quality of the Dominion's chilled beef, yet there is much to be done if the beef from this country is to obtain a premium over the product from other countries. In so short a time the Dominion has done very well to he producing the quality article she is producing at the present time, but up to now she has been relying on the finishing off of store cattle that have been mainly used in the breaking in of back country. Such beasts are usually very leggy with large frames and are not productive of the small, compact carcase that is favoured by the exacting chilled beef trade. Insufficient attention has been given to breed, but it should be obvious that if any great improvement is to be made in the quality of beef then more attention will have to be given this aspect of the question. Only by the use of pure-bred beef sire* will we be able to grade up our beef cattle and produce the type of carcase that is demanded at Home. In the life of any type of animal required for the fat stock trade there should actually be no store period, the animal being kept growing from birth to slaughter. This fact has been demonstrated in the fat pig business and the same fact has been indicated in the very successful chilled beef business in the Argentine, which is supplying no small proportion of England's requirements in this respect. Quality of Ensilage Ensilage is an excellent stock food, but only ensilage that is made of the best quality material. Two many j farmers appear to think that ensilage I can be made of any sort of material j and then be as good as the ensilage i made of the best material, but it is hardly logical that this should follow. A crop left too long does not make good ensilage, for much of the good in the crop has turned to fibre, and when the crop is put in too dry there is a big chance that it will burn, and even fire, and burnt ensilage is poor ensilage. It has to be remembered that it is the leaves that are to be saved and not the seed stems, so the crop to be ensiled should not be allowed to run too much to seed. As the weather cannot interfere with the harvesting of ensilage to the same extent as with the harvesting of hay. there is not the same excuse for letting the crop get too much out of hand. In the stack itself the big . thing is to get the desirable lactic acid j fermentation and to this end many j take the precaution of adding molasses i and in some instances, profiting by ! experience overseas, a little skimmilk has been added. The value of i putting earth on to silage stacks or I the use of it to cover pits, has been i questioned in some quarters, it being j held that the value of such earth is negligible as the weight placed on the ensilage is so little that it does not , have an effect for more than a fout or two into the stack i