FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 56, 31 March 1909, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

TO START A DAIRY HERD. The steady maintenance of good prices for butter and cheese for many years past, due, perhaps, entirely to the fact j that the population of the world is growing faster than the product ot the dairy herds, is having the effect of persuading numerous farmers to take up dairy farming as a branch of their work (says a writer in the Dominion). To these the question of the best way to collect a dairy herd of high quality—say, purebred Jerseys—is a questiou they may find it difficult to settle particularly if capital is very limited. To buy good dairy cows might be too expensive. Good dairy cows are rarely sold at anv price. To buy young calves of good pedigree is more easy, but too slow for most. To buy bad cows is to entangle oneself from the very beginning. The best advice that occurs to one at the present moment, and under the conditions that exist, is to buy a3 many old dairy cows of good records (though of mixed breeding) as one can get, and from these to start to build up a herd of grades. If the intention be to possess eventually a herd of pure Jerseys, a few cows of that breed would also.be required to work out that end. All authorities agree that the least economy of all should be shown h the purchase of the bull.. He should be old enough to have offspring whose dairying performances can be investigated, and he should, o! course, pass the tuberculin test. From this basis a firstclass herd ought ultimately .to emerge. To expect, however, to be able to buy up sufficient good dairy cows, especially of Jersey blood, in these days of a Jersey boon, is to court disappointment. There is a vast opening for the raising of good dairy cows. Only about half tne calves born are females, and a very small percentage of these reach lun.urity. The demand for good performers is' very keen, and it seems likely to liecome keener for some years to come. The obvious lesson, therefore, for farmers who possess some good milk givers is to go in for the progeny that can be got from these, and to use only the best obtainable bulls as the sires.

11l tiie United Kingdom dairying is becoming more and more a skilled anil scientific industry. Rations should be supplied regularly, for the dairy cow is sensitive :o liiicli change, and her milk flow is affected. No description hi writing can give such a good idea of the milch con as inspecting such as have an undeniable record.

When starting or trying to improve a dairy herd the same system applies as to breeding ior beuf, mutton, or wool.

Of all the known methods of treating milk fever, the injection of sterilised air into the udder is by far the most simple. Taking all the different kinds of food used by human beings, probably in milk we find the one in which the consumption is going up most rapidly. The bull, besides having pedigree, constitution, form, and color for dairy purposes, must come from a milking strain, more especially on the dam's side.

Some even of our foremost dairymen pooh-pooh the idea of testing and weighing, thinking they can tell by looking at the bucket what a cow is giving them. Although there are numerous types of milkers, the general conformation is nearly about the same. In days gone by it was only by appearance that cows were valued.

The fcire must have a strong, robust constitution, not necessarily coarse, rather the reverse; not more masculine than just to show clearly by appearance that he is a male.

The ingredients which go to make cream are collected by the digestive organs of the milch cow. Very often it is not more iced that is necessary to make more cream, but better digestion. Now that it hafi been (shown that testing and weighing, which everyone can do, is absolutely the only true test of the cow's value, it should be a simple matter to raise the dairy output. The battle between special and dual purpose cattle still wages. While it is natural that there be differences of opinion, it seems certain that in the end the special purpose army will win. An animal with a defective udder, on the soundness of which the value of a mileli cow very largely de|ivnds. should not be bred from again, but discarded as a milker as soon, an possible after drying off. If you follow the markets, you notice that,, the lowest-selling horses always suffer first when a glut is on. Horses that are well bred, that have weight, substance, and quality, are seldom or ever affected; tliey bring good prices, even in bard times.