THE FARM.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 107, 12 November 1915, Page 4

THE FARM.

Calf Feeding. The Becret of success in handfeeding ot young calves lies in giving them for the first Wo or three we.kp, little and often, of their mother's milk fresh and warm from the fountain. For the fiftt three or four days it is best lor the calf and its dam to let it help itself at will, or, st least, three times a day, of the colostrum or tirat milk which nature designs for moving its bowels and giving it a proper start in life. It is a mistake to be id a hurry to teach the calf to drink m'lk by the mouthful. The good eld plan of giving it the lingers to tuck while it is drinking is all right, and the longer this is continued, in reason, the better for the calf. It is nature's way to give the milk alowly to the calf, it having to work Lr it, and thui call into use tbe glands of (he mouth, which aecrete the saliva to be mixed with thi milk and aid digestion. Tha next best thing ti nature's nay would be tbe use of a rubber nipple, through which the calf could take its milk, but care would be necessary to ke«.p this actupulouely clean. Watm milk f old tha tow should be fed in small quantity three times a day, for the first two or three weeks at least, and if fur a month all the better for the calf. After the second week, one half tbe feed may be of warm Bkim milk, and tbe feeding twica a day 4 gradually getting down to skim milk as the full feeding. —"New Zealand Llalrjmati."

Milk Veins and Weils. in talking of dairy cattle it is a common occurrenrs to hear people versed in dairy lore apeak of milk viins. "To sonu thi3 is doubtless a vague term, and many who know where they are have a somewhat er.oueous notion as to what they are and what is their functior. Tbe veins thit can be traced from thi front of tne uddsr a bug t e under tide of the body are those to which reference is made. Thi term in itself is somewhat of a misnomer, and a little mi - leading. No milk ever passes through the Viina as some suppose. At the time of milking the tlaborition of milk on very lapidly, calling for an increased supply of blood to the -udder. The blood circulates through the minute glandß in the udder and a part of it is there changed to milk. Th> flow of blood through the udder of a heavy milking cow must be very rapid, and tbe channels through which the unused material returns to tbe lungs and heart must have ths capacity to do rapid work. Instead of. ttis waste or venous blood running through veins within the abdominal cavity, where there wculd be more or less resistance, tbe veins sometimes pass outside tha retaining walls of tte abdomen, just beneath tbe ekin. Where these ver s enter tbe abdomen to carry the bluoJ to the vital organ to be purified and Bgain pumped into the circulation, there are hobs that are called milk wells.

Tbe importance that is attached to these milk viens and wellß comes fiom tbe fact that ths greater may be (he amount of tlood that can ba nred for in ih 2 udder at milking time, when the milk is formed fastest, tbe better will be the cow as a milk producer. Bv having them hrge, tortuous, and branching, extending well up toward the ftont legs and entering the body thruugb numerous large wells their capacity is increased, hence the cow is looked on as being strong in tbis dairy point.—"New Zealand Dairyman."

Cross* Breeding Dairy Cows Several yersa ago some milk producer?, against advice from various quarters, started in to crossbreed dairy cows, says tbe "New York Farmer." With most of them the aim is to produce "cows able to give Holstein quantity with Jersey quality." Their idea of "quality" was confined to the butter-fat percentage of the mi Ik. Reports of their work are comiig in row. The results are exactly what any well-informed breeder would expect. The cros?e* are mongrels. The cows are larger than Jerseys, but smaller than Holstein-Friesians. Some of them give a ittle more milk tbun the Jerseys in their ancestral linef, but none of them give si much milk as their Hoistein-Friesian ancestors gave. Some of them put a little more butt:r-fat into their small yield of milk than their Holstein-Fresian ancestors put into their larger yield, and none of them equal their Jersey ancestors in butter-fat percentage, in short, these cases ot cross-breeding purebred animals have resulted in the production of animals that are failures. Ihty are worthless at the pail. They are dubious as breeders. Th»y combine more of the defects and the weakness of their ancestors than they show of their merits and their best traits. The moral is that cross-breeding is a mistake for the farmer No breed ot cows is likely to be produced that will "combine all the merits of all the milk breeds." The crossing of breeds is the work of expeits, of scientists, of students, not the work of the average practical farmer, on average farms. Each dairy breed is a distinct entity with peculiar merits. Crossing one breed with another simply breaks down a definite valuable union and sets it* elements free to form new combinations and in the nature of things the new combinations cannot be superior to the old farmers cannot hope to accomplish great or even good things by throwing pure-bred cattle, horses, sheep, swine and poultry over into mongrelism. I