54 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Jan., 1918. 



Company's experiment farm at Belfast, and at other farms in the' 

 South Island, where co-operative field experiments were conducted, 

 prove in a practical way its possibilities for the feeding and fattening 

 of all farm animals. At Belfast, a quarter of an acre was sown with 

 silver beet on the 9th October, 1911, and was ready to feed off in the 

 last week of Februaiy, 1912. Owing, however, to a flush of other food, 

 the silver beet was not used for stock feeding until March, 1912, from 

 which date until the 1st March, 1913, it was stocked at intervals with 

 sheep, and fed off six times. The results from this quarter-acre show 

 that one acre would approximately carry 1,014 sheep for 84 days. 

 The weight of stems and leaves was 210 tons per acre, this weight of 

 forage being produced within twelve months from the date of first 

 s-tocking. It should be emphasized that the plants were by no means 

 exhausted after the sixth feeding, and would have continued to give 

 further feedings but for the fact that too long a period had been 

 allowed to elapse between one or two of the foldings. Some of the 

 plants had thereby thrown out seedstalks, with the result that their 

 feeding value for subsequent growth was impaired. It was therefore 

 decided not to keep further records. 



The value of silver beet in the fattening of sheep was further 

 demonstrated by several feeding tests conducted last year; in two 

 instances the sheep put on at the rate of 1 lb. a day live weight. Silver 

 beet demands careful management in feeding off. Let the farmer never 

 make the mistake of growing more silver beet than he can effectively 

 control and feed off completely at the right periods. It is a crop 

 that cannot be trifled with. It is, indeed, only when silver beet is 

 managed to the best advantage that its great value as a forage crop 

 is realized. Care must be taken not to allow the plant to seed. 



The crop is generally fit for feeding in about four months from 

 sowing. Immediately the outer leaves show an indication of taking 

 on a yellow tinge the stock should be put on the crop, and here comes 

 in the first danger. The procedure depends upon the number of sheep 

 to be fed. The hurdles or break-fence should be placed to enable the 

 sheep to feed off the beet in seven to nine days, or in a shorter period 

 if possible. The plant shoots away very rapidly after being eaten 

 down, and should stock remain upon it a day too long they would eat 

 the young shoots coming away, and therefore retard the second growth. 

 The principal feeding off of silver beet is not obtained in the first, but 

 in the following season. Therefore, the main object of the grower 

 should be to nurse and conserve the crop, in order that the most 

 valuable forage to be secured in a subsequent season may be as abundant 

 as possible. Say that the first feeding has taken place in March; then 

 the second feeding should be obtained in June. The plant will continue 

 to grow throughout the winter, and in the spring it provides its best 

 and most abundant forage. It is at this time of the year that silver 

 beet shows up to the greatest advantage. But even with the remarkable 

 spring feed it affords, silver beet, if properly managed, will again 

 provide good feed about the following March, and again in mid-Avinter 

 — a fact proved by the experience at Belfast, IST.Z., where the 1911-sown 

 crop provided excellent feed in March, 1913, and was ready in a month 

 again for another feeding. 



— The. Farmer, Perth. 



