THE RURAL WORLD.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 634, 14 January 1914, Page 6

THE RURAL WORLD.

ELECTRIC STERILISATION

The importance nowadays attached —after age-long neglect—to securing milk in condition as nearly as possible free from disease germs of every kind gives special interest to a mode of electric sterilisation invented by a Liverpool doctor. Hitherto the mode pursued to preserve milk in full freshness of condition for the considerable length of time necessary for its distribution and consumption has been to heat tho liquid to a temperature which kills the microbes, and then prevent the access of further microbes by securing it in air-tight bottles, after which the freshness seems to be preserved indefinitely. An objection to the method is that the heating of the milk is in effect a cooking process, which so far changes the nature of the constituent as to render them less readily nutritious. Dr J. M. Beattie, of Liverpool, however, sterilises the milk by electric current and thus avoid heating it all.

DURABILITY OP A HORSE.'

A horse will travel 400 yards in four and a-half minutes at a walk, 400 yards in two minutes at a trot, and 400 yards in one minute at gallop. The usual work of a horse is taken at 22,5001b raised one foot per minute for eight hours per day. A horse will carry 2501b 25 milea per day for eight hours. An average draught horse Will draw 16001b 23 miles per day on a level road, weight of waggon included. The average weight of a horse is 10001b; his Btrength is equal to tu <t of five men. In a horse mill, moving at three feet per second, track 25ft diameter, he exerts with the machine the power of four and a half horses. The greatest amount a horse can pull in a horizontal line of 9001b; but he can only do this momentarily; in contined exertion probably half of thiß is the limit. He attains his growth in five years, will live 25 years, average 16 years. A horse will live 25 days without solid food, 17 days without eating or drinking, but only five days on Bolid food without drinking.

TAKE CARE OP THE CREAM ON THE FARM.

I visited a farmer recently who washed his cream separator only once a day. Yet he couldn't understand why the creamery "kicked" about his cream so persistently in summer. It is the old story of carelessness and laziness. Every farmer by the observance of a few simple rules should be able to deliver clean, sweet cream every day in the year. This article will take up some of the principles of providing sanitary cream. It is taken for granted that th 3 barn is kept eo clean that milk cannot become contaminated during milking. Dirty separators probably spoil more cream than any other cause.

HOW OFTEN TO WASH IT,

The separator bowl should be taken apart and washed, together with all the tinware, every time the separator is used; if it is allowed to stand for even one hour without cleaning there i 9 danger of contamination to the next lot of cream from the sour bowl. This applies to all separators. Wash with cold water first and then follow with warm water or hot water, using a brush to polish the surface and to clean out the seams and cracks. Finally, scald with boiling water, leaving the parts of the bowl and tinware to dry where they will be protected from dust. Do not wipe either with a drying towel but heat them so hot with steam or boiling water that wiping is not necessary. Aa a final precaution, rinse the milk receiving can and separator bowl with a quart or two of hot water jußt before running milk into the separator. Cream should be cooled immediately after it comes from the separator to a temperature of fifty degrees Fahr., and kept cold until delivered. This may be accomplished by providing a covered and clean water tank for holding the cream :ans, changing the water frequently enough so that the temperature doeß not rise above sixty degrees. Running water is beiter, however.

PRECAUTIONS TO OBSERVE

Never mix warm and cold cream, nor aweatned slightly tainted cream Skim the milk immediately after aach milking, as it is more work to save the milk and spearate once a day, and less satisfactory than skimming while the milk is warm, since the milk must be heated when saved until another milking. A rich cream testing 35 per cent. fat or more is the most satisfactory to both farmer and factory. The best separators will Bkim a rich cream as efficiently as a thin cream, and more Bkim milk is left on the farm when a rich cream is sold. Cream should be perfectly sweet, containing no lumps or clots when sampled and delivered to the haulers or parties buying it.—Wm. A. Freehoff, in Farm, Stock and Home. DEVELOPING THE DAIRY HEIFER. More and more, thoughtful dairymen are coming to realise that in order to have profitable herds they must raise and develop their own cows. Men who have good cows are not anxious to part with them, and the dairyman who depends upun the purchase of mature cows to keep up his herd is forced to nay someone a handsome profit for raising them, or else be content with the culls of other herds. Even wben he pays the high price he ia not certain that the cows he

buys will prove a profitable investment.

It will be found much cheaper and more certain for the average dairyman to raise his own cows than to pay someone a profit for raising them for him. It is a fact that most of the best-producing herds in the country have been bred and raised by the men who own them.

The heifer cavleß raised should be those from the best cows, as at least one-sixth of the cows in a herd each year reach an age when it is no longer profitable to keep them. Therefore, by raising one-sixtb as many heifer calves as there are cows in the herd, those cows which must be disposed of from year to year will be replaced. The heifer calf which is to be raised for a future producer in the herd should, of course, be the offspring of animals of proved milk-producing power. But that will not necessarily mean that she will develop into a good cow. The care and feed the calf receives from birth to maturity is of utmost importance. The best heifer "calf in the world nan easily be ruined as far as future milk-production is concerned, by improper feeding and treatment. There are a few simple rules, which, if followed and supplemented by a little judgment and experience, will produce results well worth the effort.

During the first three or four days the calf may be permitted to run with the cow, or it may be taken away after it is a few hours old. Both methods are used successfully. For at least two, and preferably three, weeks, the calf should be fed its mother's milk out of clean pails three or four times a day. The number of feedings?will depend upon the strength of the calf, and the amount will also have to be determined in a like manner. An average calf, however, should receive four to six pounds of its mother's milk at a feeding for the firat two or three weeks. The change from whole mi'k to skim milk should be gradual, and by the time the calf is on a skim milk diet the number of feedings should be cut down to two a day.

The amount of skim milk a calf will consume is not aii indication of the amount to feed. A calf will drink more skim milk than is good for it. Feed so that the calf will look for more when the pail is empty, but don't give more. By the time the calf is three months old it should be receiving about twenty pounds of skim milk a day, the increase to this amount being gradual. Don't try to force growth by heavy feeding or the result will be a sickly, stunted calf. An average calf should, however, rceeive about twelve pounds of skim milk a day until it is six weeks old. This should be gradually increased so that the calf is drinking at least twenty pounds a day by the time it is three months old. By this time the calf will be eating enough food other than skim milk, so that it will not be necessary to increase the milk ration over twenty pound a per day.

A great deal of the success of calf •feeding depends upon the judgment of the person who is doing the feeding. This judgment is not an accidental acquisition, but instead is the result of careful study. One uf the most vital considerations in feeding the calf is to have the milk —whether whole or skim milk—warm and sweet, and just as fresh from the cow as is possible. It is here that the hand separator is valuable. While separator skim milk does not contain as much fat as gravity skim milk, it is clean, warm and wholesome —which often is not the case with gravity skim milK. The pails from which the milk is fed should be frequently clean and saddled, so that the milk which the calf drinks will not be contaminated. If clean, warm skim milk is regularly fed from pails that are kept in a sanitary condition, and the amount of milk and time of feeding are properly regulated, there is practically r.o danger of scours. A calf will not do well on skim milk alone, and consequently it should be taught to eat a little grain as soon as possible. Many feeders add a little oil meal to the skim milk, and let the calf lick it out of the bottom of the pail, but as the calf must learn sooner or later to eat grain without milk, there is nothing gained by postponing teaching the calf to eat in the proper way. After the calf has finished its milk do not let it out of the stanchiun, but instead put a little grain before it and it will soon nose around and begin to eat. A good way to get the calf interested in the grain is to put a handful in its mouth.

A mixture of equal parts of bran and ground oata forms an excellent ration for the dairy cali. Incidentally, it may be well to mention the fact that unground oats are one oft he be3t cures for scours. In case the calf is vary thin, a little corn meal can be added to the ration.

Not only should the dairy calf have a ration of grain., but it should also be encouraged to eat a large amount of roughage, as this will have a tendency to develop a capacity for consuming a large amount of food. Capacity ia one of the most important characteristic of a good cow, and every effort should be mad 3 to develop it.

If it is possible give the calf an abundance of lucerne hay, as it is one of the best growth-producing feeds in the world, and beside l * it has a very good effect on the digestive system of the calf. When lucerne is fed there is practically no need for feeding any grain except in very small quantities, The heifer should not be bred under any circumstances until she is at least eighteen months old, and no harm will result from lotting her go a few months longer. Too early breeding has a strong tendency to stunt the growth and vigour of the animal and seriously reduce the profitableness to which she may be developed. After the first calf, milk the young cow three times a day, as frequent milking will develop the udder and increase the flow of milk. There is an old saying that "the more you milk, the more you may."