FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 183, 7 September 1909, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

1 DAIRYING! 011 SHEEP? A CASH CONTRAST. A writer ia the New Zealand Farmer ha» made a calculation of tiie average financial results of dairying and sheepfanning. He says: "Take a section of land that is about equally suitable for dairying or raising fat lambs, and that will carry .'1(H) ewes and their lambs trom February 1 until the same date the following year. The system carried out is that the supply of bleeders are obtained from outside the farm—that is, all the lambs are sold as fat—and the ewes are also all disposed of every year, or, if not, tliere must be something allowed for depreciation by old age, which 1 set down at 2s. per head. With regard to rent, there is little land lit for dairying or fattening lambs at less than at the rate of Bs. per head for lambing ewes, or £ll a head for cows, the rent being ia each case the same- ~CJ'2O.

"Allowing that the lambs fattened Amount to 90 per cent, of the ewes put to tlie ram, that gives 270 lamb* at 12s. The wool of the ewes I have set down at ">s. per head, leaving l.hc mcount stand thusj Dr.: .'MM) ewes ni J.)s. £22.">; .1 rams at .01, C2II; rent, H.s. pi-r head on 3110 ewe*, CliiO; total out lay, £3<i.">. Cr, : Wool horn ewe* at jw. a head. £7l ."is.; 2711 Intuits Mild [at 12>'., £llf2; value of 2Mj ewen oil hand ur sold, allowing per renl. death rate (135.), £lB5 5*.;- lolal receipts, £4IH ."is,, leaving a balance of only £.">3 .Is. for labour and management. "Now, let us see what -12 cows would give iih, taking the rutin uh fit eig/it sheep to one cow, which in a fatr averages on most liiiklh. On Hie debit side we llnd 42 cows at £7 a head, £204; bull, £10; luu'mV, euvt., and caim, £3f>; total outlay, £331). While on the credit side 1 consider a return of £8 per cow at about the average; in fact, it is to be feared that more herds return less than that, taking the Do- 1 minion as a whole. This gives 42 cows milk at £8 each, £330. After deducting 10 per cent, of the value of the cows and plant when starting, there will be to put to credit £3OO 125., making a total of £O3O Bs. ( from which has to be taken the initial cost of cosvs and plant (£334), leaving £302 12s'., less the same rent us for the sheep ( £120), leaving the substantial balance of £lB2 125., in comparison with £53 Ds. received from the fat lambs. "There is the labour bill to be considered, however. A fair estimate to make would be that one man would have to he engaged for the year who would attend to 30 of tlie cows, and the extra work belonging to tlie lot, leaving the 12 cows to bhe farmer to milk as an oifaet against nothing set against the sheep for looking after them; this would mean £lO4 a year to be debited against tlie cows, leaving the farmer £7B 12s. for his work. Of course, if there is a family that can do the work themselves, some may consider that there is no labour bill. Still, the correct way to make up a balance is to take it that the labor involved has to be paid in one way or another. And although the farmer putb' all the milk money in his pocket, yet he must remember that he would have to do this when rearing lambs, when they think they have nothing to do. "There is no doubt that dairying is the wan-with-the-family's ideal in many ways; but, like many other good things, at times, too much is made of them; and wheat making a computation -it must be done commercially."

| BUTTER FAX. j ITS RELATION TO CHEESE. As a result of a statement published in the Wellington Times, in which the Dairy Commissioner (Mr. D. Cuddie) emphasised the fact that the butter-fat contest of milk was a sound basis 011 which to calculate' the value of milk for cheese-making purposes, a newspaper controversy has been taking place in the Carterton Daily News' lietween Mr. Coleman Phillips and Mr. N. J. Daysii. The former exemplifies in his communication the truth of the old iulage Jitat a little knowledge is a dangerous thing; and lie has been well answered by his opponent, who has a very good understanding of the position. Why we make reference to the matter here is to remove a misapprehension being created by the controversy in regard to a statement made by Mr.'W. M. Singleton, at the late cow-testing meeting at Carterton. He is credited with stating that "the cow producing a large quantity of milk between 'the calvings upon a fairly low test gives a larger yield of butter-fat during the season than a cow producing a smaller quantity of milk giving a higher test. What Mr. Singleton actually said was that it was not always the cow which gives the high percentage of butter-fat which produces the greatest yield of fat in the year. It is more often the cow with a moderate teat, but with a consistently higher yield of milk, that comes out best at the end of the season. Take, as an instance in support of this the world-record cow for butter-fat, the Holstein leow Cohinthia Kkwrth's J'ohanna, which put up the great record of 998.2(i1b of fat in the year 021 an average test of 8.(14 p.e. She gave the phenomenal yield in the twelve months of 27,432.51b of milk. Of cours'e, there are cows which, on a big fat percentage, produce a great annual yield of the valuable milk constituent. For instance, the second best cow in the world, tile Guernsey cow Ycksa Sunbeam, gave 857.101b of butter-fat in the year on a 5.74 test, her milk yield being 14,9201b, or not much more than half that of the Holstein wonder.

SOUND ADVICE. There is a man in the Ekelahuna district, Mr. 0. Hoist, who gave the suppliers to tlie Nirea'ha Co-operative Dairy Company some very sound advice the other day; in fact, he preached about the most telling s'ennon on herd advancement Ave have had. After referring to the need of providing against' sawon* of adversity Mr.. Hoist said every man who milked should know whether the cows kept him or 3ie kept the. cows, and the -only way to ascertain this was by a thorough system of testing, THE 11E11D ROBBERS. Mr. Hoi at told of a fanner who possessed an Ayrshire cow, "Daisy," which 1 lie considered by her appearance was a tip-top butter animal. "The man," said Mr. Hoist, "brought me a sample of the milk to be tested, and the result was a 2.5 test. Every farmer has a ''Daisy" or two in his herd, and the&v. were th animals that conduced to retain the dairyman's nose to the grindstone. TIIE DANISH LESSON. In Denmark cow-testing associations existed, and these had proved an inestimable boon, the yield during the past few years having increased by per cent, as a result . The liovernmeut was talking about establishing testing associations, but his advice was not to wait, for the Government. They should start I an association among themselves at | once, and endeavour this s'eason to have j the individual cows of their respective j herds tested. THE SCRUB BILL.

In conversation later with an Ekctahuna Express reporter, itr. Hoist (stilted that testing could irot prove of permnpent value unless systematically followed up. "What,' said Sir. Hoist, "would lie tile advantage of having a herd that tinted well if the progeny were to prove 'w:is>rs"; Some dairymen have good euttvi, and retain the calvee of these got by a male animal purchased in a saleyard for a pound. This is the crucial point in dairying. In Denmark associations give enormous prices for .pedigree hulls, and it pays them handsomely. In this district a male animal of a milking strain would prove of great value if used in conjunction with 11 testing association, wliich T trust dairymen will see the advantage of inaugurating." CUM* WOIiSE THAN USELESS. As to heavy culling proving disastrous to those who could not afford to replace animals thrown out, 51r. Hoist said a dairy farmer conld always receive Some figure for his culls, but even if not replaced a inau could make more money with them oil' his farm. Dairying was like any other business—it could not he. made to pay while "wasters" abounded.