THE PHENOMENAL MILKER.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 555, 2 April 1913, Page 6

THE PHENOMENAL MILKER.

In these days when the cow of phenomena! milking capacity is attracting'so much attention, it is well to sound a note of warning. It should not be imagined that there is no limit to milk producing capacity. Some of our American friends may not think so, but the fact is plain and striking that there is a limit beyond which we cannot go, co: if we attempt the impossible, nature will have its revenge. With this fact before us we must proceed with great caution in our breeding onerations. Above all constitution must never be overlooked. This factor in successful production is of great importance in the breeding of all classes of live stock, but with dairy cattle it is of vital significance. It is only natural to suppose that the exceptional milker if not handled with the greatest care, is more prone to the common troubles of dairy cows, such as abortion, mammitis. etc., while there is always the risk of a cow giving an exceptional milk yield proving a poor breeder, especially when she has been forced to make a record. True, we have not the high and costly methods of feeding in the rage for records which we read of in American dairying literature, but the warning is there for us all the same. Our main objective in the work of cow advancement should be to see to it that every opportunity is given the cow to develop a vigorous constitution, by feeding it to the best advantage and caring for it in an intelligent manner. Then the Dutch method should guide us when the breeding age is reached. If, as is most advisable, the heifer is to be bred from an early age she should have a rest between her first and second calving in order that every opportunity may be given her to build up that strong constitution so necessary if she is to produce to her maximum capacity, and at the same tima rear healthy stock. At a mature age the dairy cow requires to be handled with the greatest care, for she is practically of man's creation an artificial product, which demands the best thought and intelligence to be truly profitable. The more the dairy type is improved the improvement is generally made at the expense of some other quality, and a fatal degeneration will take place if productive capacity is the only thing considered. Tbe phenomenal cow is assuredly a risky problem to tackle. Better far to possess a whole herd of uniformly good milkers than one or two exceptional cows and the rest unly moderate performers. It is not the great return from one or two that determines a man's profit, but the average for the herd, while the breeding operations with the latter will probably be much more satisfactory than with the former. Compare the phenomenal cow entailing infinite care to safeguard her from harm with the greater tendency for her to contract disease, and the liability of her failing to breed, with the merely good and profitable producer, which carries a calf without any trouble every season, which does not go off her feed and when exposed to a contagious disease is not iikely to succumb to it, although she may not be absolutely immune. Obviously the greater profit will come from the herd with a uniformly good yield than from the in and out herd, even though a few may be record breakers. It is no doubt a fine advertisement for a breeder to possess a record milker, and but the man who is depending on his milk supply for a livelihood may assuredly be content with good average cows which cause him a minimum of anxiety, and can be always depended upon to go safely through the season, and furnish a supply of milk that can let be depended upon. By all means let us endeavour to advance milking power in our stock, but we should be well content with stock whfch are really profitable on the average, and leave the recordbreaking business to men who can afford to risk it.

CONGEALED MILK

Milk frozen into cubes weighing twenty or thirty pounds apiece is a new idea adopted in the Brazilian pro vince of Minas, Geraes, from which Rio de Janeiro draws most of its milk supply says "The Toronto," Ont. Telegram. The milk is sterilised first and then is frozen into blocks. A number of these cubes are placed in cans having insulated walls holding about 300 quarts. The cap are then hermetically sealed and are cooled to 39 degrees Fahrenheit. It is said that milk shipped after this treatment will stand a journey of from fifteen to twenty days without injurious effect, and that the melted milk blocks taste just like fresh milk.