ON THE LAND

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 29 June 1916, Page 3

ON THE LAND

HOME SEPARATION AND

CALF RAISING,

A LEADING dairying journal answers the following question relative to calves and skim milk: —

You say in your paper that calves thrive best on Alfa-Laval skim milk. I always had an idea' that the ' cleaner the separator skims 'the poorer the milk will be for feed. We have a No. 10 Alfa Laval separator and think it is simply perfect. I will admit our calves have averaged better since we had the' separator than before. We are raising four calves this year. My husband says they are the best calves we ever had. There must be something in what you claim, but I would like to see it explained. It certainly is a lot less bother than before we had the separator. Please send me the special bulletin on separator skim-milk.—Mrs O.C.T.

We are glad to get your letter, as it gives us an opportunity to correct a popoular misconception. Probably 99 farmers out of 100 have the idea that, the butter-fat in milk is the principal food element, and that the value of milk for feeding purposes is in direct proportion to the amount of butter-fat it contains. This is erroneous. Fat is the heat producer, but this necessity no longer exists, as the modern farmer who uses a separator also has some shelter provided for his calves. Your own experience tells the whole story. You are raising better calves now than you did before you had the separator, although your skim milk those days probably contained ten to twenty times as much fat as does your Alfa-Laval skim-milk to-day. The amount of fat left in the skim-milk of even the poorest separator sinks into insignificance on a basis of its actual food value as compared with the milk-sugar, the casin, and the albumin. Do you realise that 2^ gallons of sweet skimmilk contains a whole pound of milk-sugar? Milk sugar is not sweet like cane sugar, and therefore, you do not realise how much of it there is present. In In sweet skim milk there is more milk sugar than all the other elements put together, but we cannot see it or taste it, so do not realise that it is there. In eyery lOOlbs of sweet skim milk there are 51bs of milk sugar, and only 3^ibs of cheesy matter. Milk-sugar is one of the most digestible food elements known. It is the basis of aIV nature's food for the young. Practically all patent baby foods contain more milk-sugar than anything else. Milk-sugar is extremely delicate in chemical structure; that is why it is so easily digested, and also why it is so easily lost. All milk contains bacteria. Just the minute the milk leaves the cow's udder these bacteria begin to feed on the milk-sugar. They break down the chemical structure, changing the sugar into acid. When milk is sour, it simply means that the milk-sugar has been turned into lactic acid by the action of bacteria. Feed the skim milk just as quickly as you can after it has-been separated and you will then be giving the calf a ration containing 5 per cent milk-sugar, 3^ per, cent cheese, and we will say, no fat. In gravity skim milk you; would have gained probably a little fat, but you would have lost 10 times as much milk-sugar. There is a sound, scientific reason for your calves being better now than they were before.