HINTS TO SMALL DAIRY FARMERS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1991, 12 July 1880, Page 4

HINTS TO SMALL DAIRY FARMERS.

For successful home dairying the first of requirements is good stock. There are so many valuable breeds, each with their advocates, that it is hard to choose. Some of the shorthorns are most excellent milkers. Whatever we choose, we must look at the quality father than the quantity of milk. And this must be done by tho lactometer, or milktester, which shows the exact percentage of cream in each cow’s milk. Though a farmer wishes to buy only a single cow, he will find it better to apply careful tests to the milk before purchasing the animal. In the case of a dairy, no profits can be realised unless we know what each cow yields, and fatten up and sell those which fall below the standard. If we wish to produce a good article of butter, the utmost care must be taken of the pasturage. It must not be cropped too much, or it will soon run out. Noxious and poisonous weed] must be destroyed, and if the sod wears out, the pasturage must be broken up, reset with suitable grass or clover, and properly fertilised, if that seems necessary. Good dairymen often practise the soiling system, by which there is no waste of food, it being cut in the field, and fed, day by day, from racks under sheds. So much has been said about the value of alfalfa, ’that we need not further urge its growth in suitable localities. But it seems as if sugar or sweet corn and the sorghums were somewhat neglected. There is nothing of more value to keep milch cows in good condition through the dry weather than an armful of green cornstalks daily, and tho sugar variety is perceptibly better than the field varieties Even though a farmer has good stock and excellent pasturage, the story of dairy work is not yet fold. The treatment which a cow receives goes far towards deciding the quality of milk she will yield. Dairy stock must have room for exercise, plenty of shade and water in summer, and, if possible, a cool stream in which to stand in the sultry weather. In winter, they must have dry, warm sheds to lie . under. When they are driven from the pastures to the milking yards there should be no undue haste. Send tho laziest man on the place to drive the cows. In milking, the utmost cleanliness is desirable. See that the cow’s udder is free from all impurities before milking is begun. The milk should be taken into the house immediately, strained and cooled as soon as possible. This cooling should be done outside of the milk.rooms, so as to get rid of the animal odours as completely as possible. There is an army of patent pans and a world of discussions on deep v. shallow pans. If wo hava a light, cool, well-ventilated, perfectly clean and sweet milk-room, it makes comparatively little difference which system we follow.