LOW RETURNS FOR GRASS LAND 31 



and grass land of the same class may be estimated from 

 the following examples : 



(a) One acre of wheat will produce 4 qr. grain 

 and ij tons straw. This food material fed to cattle 

 will produce 450 Ib. live weight increase, equivalent 

 to 256 Ib. of meat, or 360 gals, of milk. 



The same acre of land under grass will produce 

 i tons of hay (including the aftermath), which, 

 when fed, would produce 210 Ib. live weight increase, 

 or 120 Ib. of meat, or 168 gals, of milk. 



The figures for the conversion of wheat and straw or hay 

 into meat and milk are calculated from the accepted tables 

 for the conversion of food values into meat or milk. In 

 practice it is estimated that when cows are entirely grass fed 

 upon land of this quality, the yield of milk is about 150 gals, 

 per acre per annum. On this estimate the production of 

 meat or milk from arable land is more than double that from 

 the same land under grass. 



(b) One acre of grass land supporting breeding 

 stock will produce about 135 Ib. increase of weight as 

 calf and 20 Ib. increase in the weight of the young 

 cow 155 Ib. in all. 



The same land when ploughed and farmed under a 

 rotation of wheat (twice), barley, oats, roots, and 

 clover will produce a yearly average of 660 Ib. of 

 wheat and 330 Ib. barley, in addition to the same in- 

 crease in cow and calf, 155 Ib., from the consumption 

 of the oats, roots and clover hay also grown on the 

 acre of land. 



In this second example, if the wheat and barley grain were 

 also fed to stock, the production of meat alone would be 

 more than double that obtained from the grass. 



