Argentine Republic.

Northland Age, 20 September 1904, Page 3

Argentine Republic.

Australasia’s Chief Competitor (Continued from last issue.) Before dealing with tho actual buttermaking port of the business, I shall describe roughly the methods of milking which prevail in most milking districts of the Argentine. The herds, large or small, are driven into what may be called milk-ing-yards, which arc fenced with wire, generally a special woven wire manufactured in the republic. Nearly all the dairy' cows in that great republic ure milked with the calf by the mother’s side; as a rule, it is tied to the leg of the cow. Although the milking-yards are not very large, you will very often find large herds of cows milked in them. The animals are milked for a great length of time in the same yards, until Bin. or loin, of manure oollects. They are then

changed to another place, and this manure is allowed to dry, after which it is cut into squares and stacked up like wood, and utilised for fuel. This system is carried on in districts where wood is scarce and cool dear. As can be imagined, after a heavy rainstorm, it is not a very pleasant business to milk cows in a milk-mg-yard such as described above. Of coarse, at a few of the “ estancias” they have fairly decent places for milking. There are two systems of milking; at least, two of them I have seen personally, and these systems seem to prevail nearly all over the milking districts of the Argentine. The idea seems to prevail amongst the native people that if the calf is taken away from the mother she will not give down her milk, and will, therefore, be rendered useless as a milker. I was astonished to find the people of the Argentine carrying on the milking business in this crude manner. When in Africa, I was not surprised to see the Kaffirs in Natal milking their cows in nearly the same manner ns the majority of the cows in the Argentine are milked. The Kaffirs in Natal firmly believe that ao cow will give milk unlesß the calf is with her at the time the milking takes plaoo. The slight difference between tho Kaffir system and that which is in vogue in the Argentine is that the Kaffir allows the calf to suck whenever he can get a chance during the process of milking. At stated above there are two systems of milking in the Argentine. One is to allow the calf to suck a portion of the milk from the mother before the operator begins the milking process. After the calf has taken his share of the milk, he is tied to the mother out of reach of the udder. The other system, and one which is generally adopted, is to milk about two-thirds of the milk from the cow, and then to unfasten thu calf and allow it to tuck the balance. This latter portion of the milk, which, as a rule, would be about one-third of the milking, and which also contains the largest amount of batter-fat, the calf gets. I am quite sure that if this portion of the milk of the bulk of tho Argentine cows were ■it would be found to contain 6J Kent, of butter-fat. Butter-fat Hr pound is pretty expensive calves, particularly where to dairy for a profit. is done largely throughHwrving districts by Bastous; very few of the native “ Spanish ” people care to indulge in this kind of labour. The Bastous, I am informed, emanated from the southern part of France. They arc said to be a very industrious people, and make first - class milking-hands. They seem a contented people, and although they do not have the same facilities for entertaining as the people in the cities do, they always seem to have their own fun on particular holidays. The homes of the Bastous on the farms or eatanciat are rot very elaborate; any sort of a rough hut of slabs or eods, covered with a tin or thatched roof, answers the purpore. In such a comparatively mild climate as the Argentine they do not need nearly as much protection as we do in the cattle districts of our country, particulnily in the South Island of New Zealand. It can, therefore, easily be imagined wlmt an advantage a country like the Argentine, as a dairying country, lias even over Canada, United States, and Russia: abundance of grass and water and sunshine almost the year round.

In tho Argentine, silos for the curing of green fodder arc a thing almost unknown ; there are a few, but they can hardly be called “silos.” Where the cattle arc fed on any fodder, it is principally alfalfa or full-grown maize. The maize is rarely ever cut green and fed to the cattle, as is done in other countries. In some cases the maize is fed to the row* in the ear. In most dairying districts of the Argentine, however, it is not necessary to provide much, if any, winter food for the cattle, grass being in abundance the winter through. I think the Argentine is the finest grass country in the world. This, together with the beautiful water, which can be obtained nearly all over the country at a reasonable depth, makes stock-growing cheap and easy. In many districts farmers do not require to sink more than 15ft. to 20ft. in order to strike a good supply of water.

Of course, in some places it is necessary to sink artesian wells.’ Where this is done the water supply is never-failing. It is also claimed by experts that the water - supply, generally speaking, throughout the Argentine is a very pure one. This may be accounted for in some of the districts which I visited by the fact that the water in many wells filters through sand-beds—that is, after you go down a certain depth. Take it all round, I think the Argentine has the clearest and probably the best water for buttermaking purposes that it is possible to find in anv country. The following is a list of the names of the butter-factories in the Argentine and their respective daily outputs at the time of my visit at the end of March, 1904: Name of Factory Daily Output and Situation. in Founds. La Union Argentina, Buenos Aires City 30,837 La Tanuera, Tandil, on the Great Southern Bail way .. .. 5,606 Progrewo, Buenos Aires City.. .. 5,506 Co-operadon de Cremems, Buenos Aires City .. 8,119 La Marlons, vicenote CVares, on the Great Southern Railway .. 4,405 La Union Gaudarense, Gaudam, on the Great Southern Railway .. 4,184 , La Delida, Florendo Varela, on the A Great Southern Railway .. 1,7621 La Vritsl, Cflfifconus, on the Great U

I give the above information so that oar dairymen may know the size or outputs of the Argentine factories. For these statistics I am indebted to Benor J. B. Rospide, representative of the newspaper “ Hnritza.” As I mentioned at the outset, dairying in the Argentine is practically a new industry. The first separators were introduced in tho years 1890 and 1891. The butter exported from the Argentine in 1891 was 1,320 kilos. Previous to 1901, salted butter in tins was an articlo of import into the Argentine. In 1895, 400 tons was exported; in 1901, 1,500 tons; and in 1902, over 4,000 tons. According to the latest statistics issued by the Ministry for Agriculture, the export, of butter for 1903 was 5,696 tons, an increase over last year of 1,696 tons. The Argentine Year-book draws attention to the fact that if this rate of increase is maintained, an annual export of 50,000 tons may be looked for shortly. It further states that to obtain this it would only be necessary to milk half the available number of cows in the Argentine, which are estimated at nearly twelve millions. J 1 1

“ So important is this industry becoming,” says the Argentine Year-book, “it would be a mistake to consider it other than subsidiary and complementary to what must alwayß remain tbe principal business of tho country, the breeding of cattle and sheep for exportation, either as live-stock or through tho freezing establishment; its development, in fact, should be regulated in such a manner that the abstraction of butter from the milk may not be permitted to interfere with the life and growth of the young animuls on whose weight and quality so much depends.” If it were not true that calves of good quality and weight could be raised less than a third cheaper on skim-milk with the addition of pea-meal, ground maize, or linseed-oil cake than they can be produced on butter-fat, I would then say the extract quoted was good advice to the fanners. {To be Continued.J