SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
(b) I note you say the fodder would be required only in drought years. It 
is not the big drought, like 1902, that graziers want the fodder for, 
it is for the numerous dry snaps which occur in the Western country 
every year, generally twice a year, in this district during every lamb- 
ing time for the past five years. If a suitable fodder is put up ata 
reasonable cost, there is no doubt graziers will use it. 
(c) In regard to laying in a reserve of feed. Graziers cannot do it. The 
flush season which allows of the cutting of surplus feed occurs only 
once in five years in this district, and further west, once in ten years, 
and to enable a grazier to cut the surplus feed he must have on 
hand ten mowing machines, and the necessary rakes, drays, harness, 
&e., also at least 45 draught horses and their harness. The work 
must be done inside four weeks, because the feed would not keep at 
the right stage for a longer period. The grazier would have to keep 
all that amount of machinery, harness, &e., together with 45 horses, 
for five years for one month’s work. And cut 4 ton, or, at most, 
1 ton of feed to the acre. No man can afford to do it. Besides, the 
necessary workers with experience as not available. 
(d) I take it that molasses, in conjunction with ordinary stock foods, must 
be fed in troughs. Graziers cannot feed their sheep in troughs. 
(e) I am getting some “Molerne,” and will try it. 
(f) Farmers can conserve feed, who only carry 500 sheep or under—they 
always carry the necessary plant and horses, and 500 sheep do not 
require much feed. But graziers do not carry either plant or horses, 
and their sheep require an enormous amount of feed. 
In conclusion, I would like to state that I have been managing stations for the 
. Australian Estates and Mortgage Company, in Western New South Wales and 
Queensland, for the past 26 years, and I have seen probably 50 dry snaps during 
that time. Fortunately, not always at lambing time. But very often. I have 
been managing this property for the same company for thirteen years, and have 
made pit ensilage from natural growth, whenever possible, and as much as my 
plant and horses can cope with—none, however, since 1913, as there was no flush 
season since then. : 
Graziers require a fodder that is available at all time. Something put up in 
small cake, or marble form, that can be thrown out to the sheep on the ground. 
Something that speculators cannot corner. Something that can be kept in silos - 
without deterioration—under Federal Government control. Immediately graziers 
are short of feed, or have to start buying maize, lucerne, chaff, &c., speculators 
come in and corner the market, and the price goes beyond reach. 
_ If you can test the different fodders grown in Australia, and by experiment 
arrive at the fodder, or combination of fodders, necessary to save the lives of ewes 
and lambs and other sheep—then encourage the manufacturers to put it up in 
suitable form, induce the Federal Government to buy it from them, and store it 
in large quantities in silos, where graziers could get it whenever required—then 
the enormous losses of sheep would cease, Australia would be twice as prosperous 
as now, and farmers, who are now leading a hand-to-mouth existence growing 
wheat, would grow the necessary fodders, and soon be in a prosperous state, If 
farmers were certain of a reasonable price, they would, and could, grow all the 
fodder that Australia requires during droughts. 
The matter is a national one, and should be taken up by the Federal Govern- 
ment as early as possible. 
Australia loses millions of money through drought. And this matter of 
providing a suitable fodder for starving stock is, without a doubt, the most 
important matter to be dealt with. 
I note what you say about propaganda work—it would do good amongst small 
holders in good rainfall country, but would do no good whatever amongst graziers 
in the west. They have all tried conserving fodder, and have all given it up. 
Some have tried irrigation from the rivers, but the plants are all idle now. 
Graziers cannot be blamed for losses in sheep—they do their best to save their 
sheep. If there is a drought on, and there is no rain to make feed, and they 
cannot buy feed at a reasonable price, they can do nothing but let their sheep die. | 
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