Wake County Tops in Pasture Development, 1946

“Wake County Tops in Pasture Development” by F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the May 13, 1946, issue of the Charlotte News

 Thousands of acres of medium to poor land throughout the Piedmont section of North Carolina can be made to yield good grazing crops through proper fertilization and seeding, as shown by farm demonstrations conducted in Wake County under the direction of County Agent Lloyd T. Weeks.

Last week about 40 farmers visited 6 temporary pastures, 8 permanent pastures, 7 farms growing alfalfa, 2 farms with hay driers, 1 model calf barn, and 1 farm that grew purebred hogs, all in a full day’s trip through Wake County that lasted 11 hours.

The first stop was at the farm of Theo L. Jones, Raleigh, Route 4, where growers saw 20 cows on 14 acres of temporary pasture on land that was in broom sedge and briars three years ago. Believe it or not, the animals cannot begin to take care of all the grazing on this field this Spring.

Jones put 2 tons of lime per acre, 300 pounds of 3-12-6, an application of stable manure, and some phosphate during the three-year period. His seeding of the present gracing crop was 15 pounds of white clover, 15 pounds of rye grass, and 2 bushels of barley and oats per acre.

He had a second field of one acre of temporary gracing for two Percheron horses, and a third field of one acre for his Hereford bull, with a good wire fence around it. The bull gets the majority of his feed during the year from this one acre of permanent pasture.

Another pasture of this same general type was seen during the afternoon on the farm of Irvin Jackson of Raleigh, Route 1, with a growth of Bermuda grass, blue grass, and white clover and no seeding. Most farmers expressed the opinion that under average conditions permanent pastures would give quicker and better results if they were properly fertilized and seeded.

“What we need to do is to fertilize and seed 10 per cent of pastures and let the other 90 per cent go back into woods,” said Obie Haithcock of Raleigh, Route 5. “Our cows would be better fed than they are now.”

Irwin Jackson also showed where lime, phosphate, manure, and native grasses had replaced broom sedge and given exceptionally good grazing.

ALFALFA

S.A. Yancey of Varina and the W.W. Holding Farm of Wake Forest showed exceptionally good first and second year alfalfa, with 46 acres on the two farms. The Holding Farm cut 35 tons from 8 acres last year and the Yancey crop averaged 3 ½ tons per acre.

J.W. Adcock of Varina and C.H. Horton of Wendell, Route 1, had excellent first year alfalfa on sandy soils, where many would have thought it impossible to grow the crop only a few years ago. County Agent Weeks said that the 2-12-12 fertilizer with borax and plenty of lime had helped to turn the trick. He advised that these alfalfa crops be kept well fertilized with recommended topdresser or complete fertilizers.

TOO MUCH FEED

W.V. Green of Neuse, Route 1, and Obie Haithcock had about 60 cows per farm, and both were cutting hay because they had more feed than they had cows. Their permanent and temporary pastures were exceptionally good. Haithcock was using his hay drier to excellent advantage during the rainy season, cutting out perfect hay right along.

When 21 farmers were questioned during the lunch hour, 11 reported that they were growing alfalfa, 12, hybrid corn; and 17, permanent pastures. They said that they were getting most of their information of improved farm practices from the county agents, farm magazines and other farmers.

KILDARE FARM

Farm manager C.A. Keisler showed an excellent dairy barn at Kildare Farm near Cary with a curing of about 18 tons of pea-green alfalfa hay from 25 acres on a mechanical hay drier. The crop was cured in 8 days at a cost of about 30 cents a ton for electric current. The complete cost of the hay drier was about $700 when put in last year, and it cured out 80 tons of hay. Each crop of hay was piled on top of the other for curing and it went up to the roof of the large barn, the last curing taking the shortest length of time. Keisler said that heat from the roof was probably responsible for this.

The visiting farmers also saw a temporary pasture on Kildare Farm that was taking care of better than 3 cows per acre. It had received manure, 1 ½ tons of lime per acre, and 500 pounds of 2-12-6 with a seeding of 15 pounds rye grass and 15 pounds of Crimson clover. Keisler plans to increase his rate of seeding to 20 pounds of clover and 30 pounds of rye grass per acre next year so as to establish a still thicker sod and get more days of grazing. He top dressed with nitrogen in late February and up to last week had obtained 46 days of grazing.

“With plenty of gracing and good alfalfa hay our milk production jumped from 75 gallons a day up to a total of almost 125 gallons a day,” he explained.

“That was just about my experience,” chimed in Blanny Franks, who lives about 7 miles southwest of Raleigh. The grazing crop on the Kildare Farm was seeded September 1. Also on Kildare was a native pasture of blue grass and white clover that had never been seeded.