ON DAIRYING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 959, 28 October 1910, Page 8

ON DAIRYING.

■<<; MR.-REAKES.SPEAKS OUT. ,-v; . CHANGE .FOBESHADOWED. ; On Wednesday evening the.Chief Veterinarian, Mr. C. J. Realces, delivered an. .interesting speech at .the, annual smoke concert of the Wairarapa E. and A. Society, in which he spike.out very plain,ly ;on ! subjects, of. importance,.: Portion of-Mr. Eeafc«s's: reniai'k's'se«m'to confiTiii the impression that the Department : of Agriculture intends.making.-the.pasteuri-sation of .the. by-products, of milk compulsory. . ' i . ■:'■. -■'■■.;'' Curse of' Mongrel Bulls. , ; ■ : There was; said Mr. Reakes, room'for very great improvement in the quality, of .the dairy herds in New Zealand both as regarded breeding; and : as regarded milk yields.'' Respecting breeding, one of;the most essential points requiring improvement' was : the provision ■ of better class.bulls. , . The bulls of the present" time were one of tho greatest curses of the dairy industry. He was glad to see that the Wairarapa was tak.ing. the lead; in instituting,' with the assistance of 'the Dairy Commissioner, a system of testing the milk yields, , and it was satisfactory that similar work was being taken up in other parts of the island. He hoped that soon it would become a general practice among the dairy farmers.to systematically, test, the yields of their, cows.. \ •• ; l ..'.- '■' '. ': Another matter requiring improvement was the feeding of calves. At the present, time many dairy calves were very badly fed and very "badly cared for. ■ That was a bad mistake, as in duo time.the heifercalves would become the "cows, and the bad treatment'they had" , received would tymdto weaken their constitutions. . ■ Tuberculosis. ■: . ■.■■>• Speaking of' tuberculosis, "■ Mr. Reakes emphasised ' the necessity of pasteurising all ; skinimed rnilk and ..whey at dairy factories. ;..Though many cheese factories had commenced pasteurising, the butter factories wore lagging behind. He considered thati in. the interests of the dairy industry generally it was necessary that all; separated milk and'all whey should ba pasteurised, and the sooner, the factories realised jt the 'better, seeing that everything pointed to ■ the fact that pasteurisation had to'come and had to come quickly. . -.. '■ : : .'... Treatment of Diseases. Mr. Beakes went on to describe certain diseases,. particularly contagious abortion, contagious mammitis, and septic metritis. Septic metritis, he said, was causing considerable trouble this year, and he briefly outlined the symptoms and the treatment. He pointed out the necessity of farmers when treating their herds of carrying out the operations thoroughly. If they wcro not properly dono it would only bo a case of time wasted. Hβ instanced a case where a large dairy farmer had for two or three years left the carrying.- out of such work to his men, after supplying-them, with every-thins; required, but the disease continued,.to be troublesome. Last year the. farmer determinedto do the work himself, and he did things thoroughly, with the; result- that he rid his herd entirely of the disease. DAIRY INSPECTION. REMARKS BY MR.' SINGLETON. Since the'reorganisation of the Agricultural Department, more especially during last winter, the Department has had tea men w.orlrinp (as their other duties would permit) in connection with the inspection of dairies, and'the instruction of dairy farmers, said Mr. Win. Singloton (State dairy expert) at the Wairarapa P. and A.. -annual "social', -on

Wednesday night. Last winter a large number of dairies had been visited, and the owners instructed as to the improvements necessary to make conditions sufficiently sanitary for the production of a good quality milk. ■ This work had been conducted ou similar lines to tbo instruction at factories which had become so popular throughtout the Dominion, and which had won the confidence of the factory managers. The Dairy Division of the Agricultural Department believed that the extension of the work to tho dairy farms was bidding fair to win the confidence of the dairymen. As he had already stated, a largo number of farms had been visited last winter, and at the headquarters in Wellington they had yet to receive the first complaint from any dairy farmer.