THE DAIRY COW.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1646, 13 January 1913, Page 8

THE DAIRY COW.

FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT DISCUSSED,. ' ■ ~! / ■ Discussing the alHmportant question of the feeding and management ot the dairy cow, Mr. Primrose M'Connell has tho fol-i •lowing to sny in the Agricultural Department's Journal:— .. ■ ■

"It must be admitted that a cow not .born, a,milker can.never be made so by any system .of feeding, also that no system of-feeding can increase tho percentage of .fat-dn'tho niilk; as a matter of fact, if the milk-yield is increased by high feeding tho percentage of ' butter-fat' is often decreased. Experiments carried out at the Ruakura Farm of Instruction during last summer and tho present spring confirm this. On. tho other hand, tho quality of in particular—is undoubtedly greatly affected by the nature of the feed. An exceptionally rich pasture will never yield a-good quality of butter, and-it is'well known that, the finest butter in Britain is the produce of cows , which graze oh the herbage of somq of the poorest of clay, soils. 'Of the artificial foods, cotton-cake, and beaiimeal head the list as feeds responsible for the very'best quality, of butter and cheese, the former.' specially influening firmness in texture and excellence of flavour. On tho' other hand, linseed' and Unseen cakes induoo butter of an oily liaturo and flavour, and if fed ; to the'milk cow at all must be fed-in -very small quantities, although-, as far as the health ot' J lie cow is concerned, no bettor food can be given. . /'ln building up a dairy herd of great ■milfeing-capacity it is necessary■ for the dairyman to realise that the quickest way to that end is ; by culling the "robber" or "boarder" cows—that it is only a millitmairq dairyman;'who can afford .to buy scrub bnlis at. fifty shillings per head—' and also that it-is. only cows .of great milking' capacity which, will pay for a little extra feed; while, on the contrary, -the:more he feeds the 'boarders' the, less will be his net profit. He must also realise that a good yield cannot be expected 'from a'cow which conies to her period of lactation in poor condition.

' Importance of Purebrods. , ■ "As to,the respective valuo of tho vari- • oils- milking breeds, this is too delicate a matter : .to' discuss, but of tins lam certain • vit is much:easier .to improve -the milkingqiialities of a pure breed than it is to make ■ a-bi-eed and dmpfove it. -1 am also <iuito ccrtain that more profit can, bo made on , a small farm from ft small pure herd than from a large herd of mongrels, even though it has to : be admitted that some •,'. of the'greatest producers aro. crosses. "If- ivQ look carefully into th'S merits of the . various breeds,' we will invariably if* 'find: that the'greatest butter-fat, producers : are natives..oi,a,':c6mparatiyely,;warm and V genial climate,-and,that the breeds which' : yield'a large but .poor-quality of milk are 1 natives-of .a, comparatively cold climate.' - This, would seem 'to indicate that the' ; energy required to keep up the heat of the body in a cold climate would in a warmer go to the production of butter-, i- fat. •Of -course, I do not mean, to .infer

that by simply transferring. a Holstein }\> .-.cow. to. the Channel Islands you.can .bring a. .'hor. jriilk up to the standard of ,tho Jer- ■ sey, because the inherent qualities of the '7 ; or Holstein are not the'result of ;> 'a ( day, but of many generations, and any' ; ! (phiingo of this nature brought about by a change of. climate must necessarily bo ' very; slow: At the-same'time this should impress up on us the "fact: that: 1 the en-, suring of bodily comfort of;the cow ]iy;reasbnablo shelter is- almost of as' great' suitable feed. It is, of "couKei true 'that A breed , which yields | l com)ittrativelyi'ppor,'-minc''cKil'!l)K''6i'l!lftly .'improved in"tti'at' direction by', careful •selection;' although' no system of feeding will, bo; effectual. '.Asi an, illustration of the flatter fact, I may instance Lord Rothschild's dairy cow which ' was originally placed first in London for the best 'dairy, cow tliis season, anil! although undoubtedly :w6H" feci, ,was! disqualified bemilk .. was'below the: assumed 'M:andaird. A'iioted. authority states': : Jly belief,affe'thirty years' experience 'as a milk-producer, is that food has little or no th<f .richness , of the milk—: it wjllincreaso the quantity, biit not the quality.. • '.' "" '

The ' Balanced-ration lclea. .''.TV'ith' reference to,.a' finely-balanced ration, my own opinion 'is tliat as far as-tho milk- cow' is.eonoerned : it : is not of such, ■vital; importance as' many, would lead us to"b6lioVe. .".Mr.. C:' Crowtner, Lecturer on' Agricultural Chemistry, at' Leeds Univers-ity,-and author'of Alilk, Investigations at Gartorth, . concludes a very able article on .. rations ' by stating that In the'pre-" .'sent' stato' of our;knowlcdge, 'standards or other, rules'for the, compounding', of rations can ; ohly serVe to supplement' intelligent observation and ,the judicious appli-cation-oil the .part of -the feeder of practical experience.' 1 ('"Balanced' rations-aro of -greater importance when highly concentrated food in largo. quantities is being given, as is usual- among,the. dairy herds' of Britain; but we in 'Zealand have to pay such a high price -.• for this class of i.feed that it is. only, in very ; exceptional cases it can bo fed profitably; Thus the first object 'of the New Zealand fanner should be to.produce on his own' farm everything which his dairy cows consume. In sum'm'4i' .a : good pasture is 'all that is neces-saTy-for .milk-production, and any extra feed that.may be given, in nine 'Cases out'of ten, ;is not fed profitably. Although'it is-possiblo to/6lightly. increase :tlie yield, tlw value ,of tho increase,is more' than balanced by tho extra cost of tho feed.

The Best System for New Zealand. "Tho aim of the dairy-farmer 6hould bo to feed profitably, and this cannot La .accomplished'-cither..by a:starvation diet oh the one hand or by a too liberal diet on. the other. He must, of-course,- be prepared,to fans periods' of drought, and, lucerne, must- grow, forage crops thiit'.will fill the place of pasture in such an emergency. In growing 'these crops lie. should mix,the .legume with the.nonlegume, as tliis is-not' only better feed for his cows, tut it is also better for his Soil. ./.Apart from lucerne, no l'ecd that I: know of is equal to oats and tares, anil, 'ns/far qs iriy experience in New Zealand goes,, the winter tares succeed better than any .other variety. Two other good mixtures aro millet and peas, and maize nnd ' peas'. These crops should bo sown at intervals, so' that .they may be'cut in succession. Tho drawback to all Such crops is .tho. labour ; in connection with them. For each crop " the land must be ploughed, thoroughly cultivated, 'manured, and seed provided and Sown. . ' "Is tli'oro'any'remedy'?- Undoubtedly there is, and that remedy is lucerne. A ■good stand once secured, it remains for years with little or no expense in tho way of cultivation.. With a good lucerne-pad-dock ..tho dairy-farmer may defy any drought, for When his pastures dry lip he can provide fee'd.'iii-nbundance, and of the very highest.■.■quality. On previous occasions I haVO said much in favour of this plant, niitl. the'moro I see of it tlio more do I falL iii'love with it. A most .striking iastanco of tho incalculable value of lucer'no ,has"> just- been brought to' my iiotipei:;:'J > rfiV«us;'tp the, 'great''.-Australian drougltt:;'whidh; commenoed--in 1902, ono largo Sfjualt6r had :almo3t. ; brou'ght':himself to: baiikru'ptey sby Jlhe cost, of:'irrigating 300 jicres and laying'it-down to'lucefno; in ffact; ho . ffas such,', a; great .enthusiast :over. .itrigfttion • and'-lucerne-growing • that 'his neighbours;looked.upon .him'; as a. mild kind;'of.' crank.;': -T^e; result 'was'-that at "the'ehd of ;tho ,'di'ought 'hiy.oOO acres of 'lucerne. 1 lmd..liot. 1 only.''snyert '.the'whole of Twa -'flo'ok, but liad : also: enabled him to buy",'up.. his.', neighbours^'starving sheep and'fatten and sell:them'at an enormous During ono month of the drought the lucCirne-padjlock carried an avorago of 75 sheep'-per'acrei and, whereas at the beginning of the;drought the squatter in' question-wjs in a bankrupt condition, by ■tho- end of it. he had ..inado- a-handsoiuo fortune. On the other hand, a neighbour who owned: 225,000 of tho famous Wanganolla merinos, worth .£2 per head, although he spent a total of over ii per ■sheep'in the purchase of hay,"etc., lost 125,000 head, and the end was disaster. Surely no further instances will ba needed to convince the dairy-farmer of the fabulous value of this plant. "For, winter cow-feeding nothing more is necessary, than a good supply of hay arid a few roots—mangels anil lucerrio hay for " preference—and; as weviously stated,

it is essential to bring the cow to her calying-time in good condition. A cow which is starved during winter cannot possibly givo a good record tlio following season."