FEEDING ON TURNIPS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 22, 19 September 1912, Page 7

FEEDING ON TURNIPS.

INTERESTING DISCUSSION BY NGAIRE DAIRYMEN. ’

At the annual meeting of shareholders of the Ngaire Co-operative Dairy Company on Tuesday a discussion occurred on the effects of turnip feeding on the milk and on the quality of the cheese. The matter was first raised by Mr Thomas who, while disclaiming any intention of indulging in personalities, said one of the directors had been feeding his cows indiscriminately on turnips. The question was whether this was allowable. He wished, to know, because if he could feed his cows on turnips he could send in a good lot more milk. As far as his knowledge went, a little turnip would not hurt, but where there was indiscriminate feeding there would be second rate milk.

Mr Taylor said he thought there were a good many more besides the directors who had fed:,their cows on turnips-, last autumn. Feeding on swede turnips in-the spring, however? was not a, good plan. He considered that'they could feed a certain percentage of soft turnips to milk cows in the autumn, providing that they were fed in reasonable quantities. Mr Taylor continued that he supposed lie was the director referred to by Mr Thomas, as he had fed his cows with a certain percentage of soft turnips.Mr Thomas: If the cap fits. (Laughter.)

Mr Taylor continued that he had had very good results. Moreover, when ho started to feed his cows on turnips he told the factory manager what lie \yas going to do, and if there was anything wrong with his pi ilk to send it hack. He did not tell Mr Robertson the date on which he was going to start feeding with turnips, and Mr Robertson was quite unable to detect anything wrong with the milk, unless by some oversight the cows had been allowed to stay on the turnips until about two in the afternoon. There was then a slight taint in the milk. Indiscriminate feeding was absolutely bad, but there was nothing wrong if it was done the right way. Cows must not be fed on turnips alone. There must be plenty of good grass, or else an abundance of hay. Mr Thomas: You’re a very good speaker, but you’ve got a very bad case. No man who has got plenty of gqod grass would feed his cows on turnips. (Laughter). Mr Morison: I don’t think I am a sinner in that particular direction. I have not been feeding on turnips. A voice: Sit down! Mr Morison went on to say that he thought that if the suppliers would do as Mr Taylor had done, and tell the manager, so as to give him every chance of detecting it, that would be'a fair thing. Mr Fryday said that he knew that in Southland cows had been fed on turnips alone. A voice: For a butter factory? Mr Fryday: Yes. Mr Taylor: If you have plenty of grass you don’t want to feed all on turnips. Mr Harrison said that soft turnips could be fed to cows judiciously. If the feeding was done in a. practical manner, there was no telling that anything was wrong with the milk. He admitted that he had fed fairly extensively on soft turnips. Mr Jones: We all know perfectly well that you cannot feed dairy cows on swede turnips without tainting the milk, no matter how you feed them. A voice: You’re wrong.

Mr Harrison: I have fed hay first and the swede turnips after dinner and no one has detected it.

The manager admitted that turnips had been successfully fed to cows. It was generally found that it was not the actual feeding on turnips as the system of feeding employed. Oows were overfed. Swedes, rape, turnips, watercress were all of the same family and gave the milk the same flavour. Very little milk came to the factory from

turnip-fed cows that the class of feeding could not be detected.

Mr Jones: If I brought in my milk tainted with turnips you would refuse it. The manager: Yes, that is so. I have known farmers to be feeding on turnips without being able to detect it in the milk, but that was not here. The farmer must use his own judgment so as to stop feeding when the milk gives evidence of being tainted. A voice: You can detect it when you’re milking. In the sumrncf time you can always tell the cow that breaks into the turnip paddock. (Laughter). Mr T. Coleman spoke right against the feeding with turnips. The by-laws forbade it, and it should not be encouraged. Mr Harrison : Yet you think if the milk passes at the door it’s all right. Tho manager: That is correct. Suppose we take a sample of milk and treat it to 150, and that milk remains perfectly clear in flavour, it is quite satisfactory, and a man is quite justified in feeding that way. Mr Harrison : Ensilage feeding is detrimental ; so is mangold feeding, and green oats. If we are going to bar soft turnips, why not other things, which are also objectionable when not fed judiciously. We have no right to condemn turnip feeding out and out.

The manager: A man has a perfect right to feed on what he likes so long as he can send his milk in good order to the factory. The man is quite justified. The main thing in feeding your cattle is to give a mixture—a good percentage of hay. The whole thing rests on feeding judiciously. The only alternative a manager has is to retifrn milk that has ,a bad flavour, whatever the cause may lie. Mr Falconer went on to say that he would not give them any warning and the milk would be returned straight away if it did not satisfy him. (Applause.) The chairman entirely endorsed the manager’s concluding remark and said that in his (the speaker’s) case he hoped that if it was wrong it would be sent right hack. (Applause).