MILKING QUALITIES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1403, 1 April 1912, Page 8

MILKING QUALITIES.

DISCUSSED OX SCIENTIFIC LINKS.

An interesting article appears in a recent issue- of tno "Agricultural Gazette" (kiiiglaml), which sta:cs that as yet nothing has fcen published as. to t'lie inheritance of quality in milk, further than a paper based upon the analyses of the yields of about 300(1 Ayrshire cows, which showed that quantity and quality are inherited separately and independently; but wo know that, among full-sized cow? like .Shorthorns, milk yield is inherited in a manner similar to the inheritance of coat colour in Shorthorns. So writes Professor James Wilson in "Hoard's Dairyman," and he goes on to add that it would bo well to mention the amount of caution that must be exercised before the figures usually published as to milk yields can bo made use of. And, first of all, it ought to b« stated that milk yields are very sensitive, and fluctuate with such things as If.™, weather, shelter, comfort, and, above all., with the individual cow's health. If suc'.i causes ns these are operating seriously, they ought to be left out of count altogether. Great caution is necessary when a cow has been in milk beyond the normal period. The usual interval between the births of successive calves is 12 months, which brings the normal lactation pfi'iod to nine or ten months. If the interval l» longer than twelve months, then, by so much as it is longer the lactation period is increased beyond the normal; and the yield is enhanced. We must therefore reduce our thousand-gallon cows by something round about lflOgal. for every month tli3y run beyond the twelve before having their next calf. The reduction must be made with some judgment", because, for one month 'only it ought to bo ■more per month than if it were made for half a dozen. I'o.r. cows giving about "SOgal. in the normal lactation the reduction is about Tflgol. a mouth, and for cows giving aOOgal. it is about 45. »

The Cow's Aqc. '■'-»Another point that must l;e considered is the cow's age. A cow is not mature till : slis is five or six years old. and at that time her yield is about 50 per cent, greater -.-tiian when she had her first calf at nljoiit ;throe years old. These are the chief facts to be considered before we can reduce yields to a norma!. But when all things are considered we must still keep in mind that statement's as to yields can only bo rousli approximates. AVe sneak of a thou-sand-gallon cow; but the ""thousand" is ';i flexible figure, expanding occasionally, under favourable circumstances and in exceptional circumstances, to 1200, and contracting perhaps to 900; and we must allow a similar flexibility when sp?aking of 50fl-ga!!on cows. With these short explanations it may now be said that mature .cpws fall into three grades: Tho 10(10fjallen grade, tlie 700 to 800 gallon grade, and the iiOO-gnllon grade, and that the niiddlc grade is intermediate between the •extremes in the same way as roan is intermediate between red and white. Tn breedini for mill;, therefore, wo nerd only fnlbiy the lines laid down alreadv in coii-sjrf-aring_ how a whitjj*lierd could be converted into-a red. Vts have only to find some 1000-gallon bulls—if we may l>3 nllowed to speak in this way—and male them with low ami in'.ermwiinte grade, cows. ]f mated with low-grade cows, the progeny will b? medium grade; if mated with medium grades, half the nropeny will ):■; high craib; and if mated'with' M>,'li grades, the progeny will all bo high grade..

The Bull Question. There is one serious difficulty, however, and that is to identify the 1000-gallon bulls. A white bull or a red can bo told by the naked eye; but a 1000-gallon bull cannot be told in this way. As yet he can only be told by Hie way in 'which he breads—that is, by the yields of his daughters, and before that can be done he has usually gonn to the butcher. But this •might be suggested, that no son of a 1000gallon cow should be sent to the butcher until his grade is known. ]Te will Ik either high grade or medium, and in either case ho is of value as a breeder. But when it is found that all his daughters by low-grade cows are medium grades, or that, half hi* daughters by medium cows are high grades, or that all 'his daughters by high-grade cows are high grades, ,then he should never go to the butcher at all. And it should be remembered further thai as soon as a bull is identified ns n high grade, his sons by hij;!i-grndo oows are all high grades also. One other point it?rd only be mentioned. Our present method of describing cows as Riving '?3 many gallon* during a lactation is verv cumbrous and by no means accurate. It is always nnsatisfactoi-v to have to us» "corrected" figures. There is a better method of describing a cow's yield, and it is liable to fewer uncertainties. Besides, it can bo used when the eoiv is only two months calved. It will be noticed' that abnrft half the cow's total yieW'for a normal lactation is given by about the end of three months. This part of th° yield, too, is subject to less.variation than the remaining part. Even increased- food has less proportional effect upon it, probably .because the cow is drawing upon what she had saved up in fat before "the calf was born.

The farming property of Mr. A. Clark consisting of 3GO acres of land, subdivided into lots of 120 acres each, was submitted by auction at Featherston on Saturday. No bids were obtained for lot 1, which ivasp assed in. For Lot 2 bidding commenced at .£3O, and increased to £3i, at which price it was withdrawn. Lot 3 : w.is pnssad in at ,£32. The auctioneers were Messrs. Dalgety and Co., Ltd.

When N.Z. Cheese is sold on the London market at 735. per cwt., the factorv trom whence it came has reason to lie jc-yous. Dalcfield Cheese secured the above price lately, its success being pnrtlv due to tho fact that it was made in "Vie- ! 1 t ? ! '" Yati - ~."}'i ci ° r " Booda are profit- . Mulders. M rite for particulars to the milker, Albert J. Parton, Carfcrton - ■Advt.

Chick-rearing is not only profitable but a pleasure, when you feed "A and P" Chick Kaiser. It is a complete and pro-perly-blended food for Young Chicks Obtainable from ail 'storekeepers.—Advt.