INFLUENCES OF SOIL AND PASTURE ON MILK.

Te Aroha News, Volume XI, Issue 1739, 15 May 1895, Page 2

INFLUENCES OF SOIL AND PASTURE ON MILK .

No matter how good the constitution and milking capabilities inherited by the .cow, her value depends entirely on the conditions under which she exists. It is not only impossible for her to make something out of nothing, hut her profitableness will depend entirely on the exercised by her owner on those, matters which effect her milk yield, either for the day or for the season. In New Zealand dairying, practically the whole of the food of the cow is grown on the farm, being either fed in the growing state or as green fodder, hay, etc. What I wish to speak of now is the .effect of the pastures on the milk. Undoubtedly, the ‘ land ’ and * the ‘ herbage ’ comes-in for most of the blame .when there is a failure in dairy work ; in fact, their influences are greatly exaggerated in many cases the true cause being either unknown or unpleasant to confess. ;, V ' '

The soil can only reach, the milk hv the soluble salts which pass into it by way of the food. The porportion of phosphate-forming- materials varies greatly in different plants, and also iu the -same plants, according as to whether the soil on which they ave growing is rich or poor, in available phosphate. There may be, therefore,' an unsuspected excess or deficiency of calcium phosphates iu the. milk brought from any pasture or fronfthe hay made therefrom; in fact, any food, which must, of course, have been produced by some soil,, will exert an influence in varying degrees. Milk' so affected will behave differently ia manufacture,.and the subtle quantity whichrules its behaviour may properly be called ‘character.’ The ‘ character ’ then "may* vary .with the soil, Calcium phosphates are capable of influencing; the coagulation of casein helpfully or in j uriously, according to the proportion present, and it may he - readily admitted that in cases where the variations are not recognised, and an unvarying line of practice is followed in the dairy, inferior articles will he pi-oduced, and irregular results cannot fail to follo w. The influences of other alkaline salts, all hough not fully kuo wn, as far as can be judged are small compared with that of calcium “phosphate, and the whole can he remedied,in the dairy bv experiment and slight changes in the details of management. • * V.'

In tuiiPcg our attention to the herbage, other difficulties are met with .in the- endeavour, to obtain, a un : f >rm sample. The plants commonly considered good for dairy cows a.e a source of no trouble, but these are ! commonly associated with, othoys wh'ch are mischievous. The usual pasture | grasses and leguminous forage plants [ may cause changes in the quality of [ the milk, accoi-dingto the proportions ! in which they are present, but they in no wav interfere with ibe dairy processes, or impart to the products objectionable qualities. The mi.scellareplants, among which may he .claused weeds, include some which are dangerous to the health of the cow, others, a moi’e numerous class, which affect the flavour of milk, and a few which colour milk, or produce irregularity.' Cows most certainly eat these objectionable plants, but generally the amount is not sufficient to trace the influence to any particular plant. Cases in which this occurs are, however, of sufficiently frequent occurrence to make the matter one of considerable importance I believe that very considerable harm is done daily by plants which, although incapable of giving a distinctly bad flavour to the milk, in their | many kinds combine to give a gener- ! ally inferior article. The only -cure for this is clean pastures. If a weed is a pest in the cornfield it is a much greater one in pasture, where it not only occupies space which might be filled by a better plant and hinders the superior growth around it, but also does direct damage to the milk. Weeds are the natural and almost inevitable result of neglect. There are very few pastures which can keep clean by the mere force of natural conditions. Draining and manuring will do a good deal in reducing the miscellaneous plants to small numbers and the more innocent kinds, and a constant war against them should be maintained.-—* Star. ■ l