Farming by Machinery
BY A. J. HOSIER.
UPON the repeal of the first part of the Corn Pro- duction Act in-1920, I decided to go in extensively for milk production, and for this . purpose purchased Wexcombe Farm, Marlborough. Owing to the lack of buildings, I decided to milk my cows out on the Downs by a machine in a small shed, mounted on wheels, so that I could move it every day on to clean ground. Having made my first milking shed or " bail," I worked it for three years myself, milking sixty cows winter and summer with the sole help of my son, then a boy of fifteen years of age. As I had had ten years of practical engineering at one period of my life, and was blessed with an inventive mind, I was able to detect and remedy any fault or flaw in the design or construction of the " bail " and milking machine. The bail is fitted with an enclosed cooler, so that the milk can be cooled imme- diately it comes from the cow, thus eliminating the necessity of re-handling for cooling purposes at the farm. The machine operates entirely under vacuum, with the result that the milk is never exposed to the contaminating influence of the air, or of the human element, but passes right from the cow through the pipe-line and cooler to the churn. During its passage from cow to churn, the milk is twice strained through cotton-wool pads and fine gauze discs, but these are almost superfluous, as any dirt sediment is practically impossible. In order to facilitate the cleansing of the machine, I designed and constructed a high-pressure boiler by means of which it is a simple matter to sterilize. the entire machine.
As time went on, and I saw the material advantage of my system, both in my banking account and in the improvement of my pastures, I added a. second and third bail, until to-day, I have seven machines milking 420 cows. Six of these bails are producing Grade A, T.T. milk, and owing to the fact that my cows never go inside a house but are out in the open air day and night, winter and summer I get very little trouble with re- actors. The benefit to pastures has been enormous. More especially is this noticeable in the case of the old virgin downs. Three years ago some of these were covered • with heather, but to-day, owing to the treading of the cows and the even manuring, they are excellent pastures, producing a wealth of wild white clover.
It is, of course, useless to improve your pastures and increase your grass unless you are going to keep more stock or cut more grass. Perhaps. the most important secret in connexion with the maintenance of good pastures is to keep your .grass short. The more you ask of Nature, the more she will give you, and if you cannot keep your grass short by grazing, you should cut it either for hay or ensilage. Realizing this, I made up my mind that I must evolve some easier and . more, expeditious way of cutting and harvesting my grass. Of course, I had used hay sweeps for a number of years, but I found tractor-sweeps too slow and cumbersome, and the work of pitching the hay from the tractor-sweep into the elevator was too slow and laborious to suit me. In order to obviate this, I tried an American stacker in the place of the elevator. This was not very successful, as the engine provided with the stacker was not suffi- ciently powerful to elevate a tractor-sweep load of hay on to the rick. I therefore dispensed with the engine and substituted an old motor-car attached to a cable by means of which the stacker was elevated and lowered.
For this purpose, however, the tractors were too slow, and their loads too heavy, so that the men on the rick had a very heavy but irregular job. The work did not proceed with that regular smoothness and rhythm I desired. In order to achieve this, I therefore designed and constructed a special sweep for fixing on the dumb- irons of an old motor-car. It has no wheels, but runs along the surface of the ground, and is so constructed that it will sweep up hay, ensilage, or corn. A motor- sweep going out empty at 30 miles an hour, and returning full at 20 miles per hour, will bring in three loads to every one of the tractor's. I have now brought my hay and ensilage machinery up to a fairly high standard of efficiency, whereby eight men equipped with three old motors worth about £6 each, two sweeps to attach to two of the cars, a stacker, and a horse-rake, can clear a 50-acre field in a day, and no man has a really hard job. Not only is milking in the field better for the cows, but it means an enormous reduction in labour, and makes it possible in addition to stack all hay and ensilage where it was grown and needed for the
COWS.
Having mechanized my cows, hay and ensilage making, I next turned my attention to poultry, and for this purpose designed a combined slatted-floor sleeping-house and run, to accommodate twenty-five laying birds, which could be easily moved every day on to clean ground by one man. The house is moved laterally, one end at a time, by means of a lever. Food and water are conveyed to the houses by means of a horse-drawn cart constructed on the chassis of an old Ford ear fitted with pneumatic tyres and a pair of shafts. The front of the cart, is formed by a 100-gallon square water tank with a hosepipe attached. The back of the cart contains corn, and a box on either side contains- mash. In this way each house is visited only once a day for the purpose of -providing food and water. I have installed on Wexcombe Downs, 800 feet above sea level, 160 of these folding pens containing approximately 4,000 laying hens, and the labour employed is one man and a boy.
It is obvious that this system has many advantages. and gives a great degree of control over the birds. The fact that they are isolated in small units minimizes the risk of disease. As they are not allowed to wander, there is no possible danger of stale eggs. It is found that broodies systematically removed every day from the sleeping-houses and placed in the broody coops usually go off the brood after forty-eight hours sufficiently to allow of their rejoining their fellows. Each pen its provided with a board upon which is recorded the daily total of eggs. This is of great service, especially when carrying out experiments in feeding or culling. The. " folding " over the land, with consequent even-manuring and scratching-out, is of inestimable benefit on a large mixed farm. The trap-doors are not let down at night, and, although this is a fox country, no trouble has been experienced from foxes.
Some farmers who have adopted this system claim that their hens lay larger eggs than those on free-range, and it is a generally accepted theory that the smaller the unit the greater the egg-production per bird. Owing to the triangular shape of the pens, they can safely be used in the same field with cattle, and, as they are enclosed with small mesh wire, none of the food is filched by wild birds. This system appeals particularly to the stock and corn farmer who is looking for some substitute for the now unprofitable hurdle sheep.
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