FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 201, 29 September 1909, Page 1

FARM AND DAIRY.

MOA DAIRY COMPANY. The following is the annual report of the Mo a Farmers' Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd., to be presented to | holders on Saturday next:—The amount I of milk received was 17,445,8981b, proi duping 683,343.031b of butter-fat, from ! >vhiuh waa made 781,1091b of butter, i qiml to 348 tons 14cwt Oqr 211b, or : about 14V. tons more than last year. , It took an average of 22.331b of miik to make lib of butter, and from each Ilk of butter-fat was made 1.141b of butter. Th:' average test was 3.017. The averagi price received for butter was 11.31 d. Suppliers received an advance of lfld p-i lb ou butter-fat throughout the season and ill addition were paid a bonus of Id per lb 011 lintter-fat supplied during tin export season—October to March in elusive. Out of the balance in hand o'n 31st July, a COnus of one-third of a penny per lb on the twelve months' sup- i ply has been paid, absorbing the sum of £O4O le Cd. Suppliers have thus received what is equivalent to 11.12 d per lb of butter-fat for the season. Interest at the rate of 5 per cent, oil sliarc capital subscribed to 31st July, 1008, amounting to '£2)3 12s, was also paid, leaving the sum of £53 12s lOd to be carried forward. You will be asked to elect seven directors in place of thoße now holding office, all of whom retire in accordance with Article No. 8, and all of whom are eligible for re-election. Yoy will be asked to appoint two auditors, and the services of Messrs. Jlopson and Dewhirst are again available.

A SWISS DAIRYMAN'S OPINIONS. Recently whilst travelling round tie Eltham district an Argus representative got into conversation with a Swiss who lias had fair experience in dairying in his country and who has only had a few months in the Dominion. He is not enamored of the milking cows lie has seen, and says they are too much tin the beef side. In Switzerland the milking cattle arc shorter on the legs aad longer in the body, but not nearly 60 naassiv?. A cow there that \vo*>'t give over four and five gallons is not bothered with; she goes under the butcher's knife. He was surprised when told that farmeis often dry off a cow for a few months to enable her to put on condition prior to calving. In his bind they milk a eow up (o a fortnight before calving, and there is no building up condition, as the cattle r.re always well eared for. In the winter time the cattle are stalled and milked continuously. With regard to bulls, they bring good prices, averaging something like €4O for a decent strain. A hull intended for stock purposes is allowed to pass his second year before his services are required, and only one cow a day is kcrved. .Although they have six months of winter in Switzerland, the pasturage is good, the snow being a good fertiliser, whilst the M-nrin sun pushes the grafts along in a surprising manner. The good pasturage has a lot to do with the heavy milking of some of the cows thai have come under his notice. "Out here," lie concluded, "you have cows that look and probably are more fitted for beef than milk, and the grass here hardly seems <i contain the nourishment the snow-fed •oil of Switzerland holds."

In the Teninka district (says the Lrtteltou Times) the digging ploughs are being well tried this season. One farmer tvho has four at work is turning up the soil for wheat to a depth of ten inches. This thorough tillage is covcring-in grass and weeds very thoroughly. The digger brings up a fair amount of clay subsoil, ivhich, it is said, soon becomes disin. legrated and mixed with the blacker so.l that has been cultivated for some years. It has been stated that the crops on the land which receives the digging will produce an additional twenty bushels per lcre, the yield increasing from thirty lo iftv bushels. Land that requires sub- • oiling—which is really the operation oi' he digging plough—will no doubt be ,'reatly benefited, but the increase ill ield that is claimed cannot be looked ni' in anyi but special cases.

Lamb#, calves, and foals should never k» allowed to suller privation sullicient o slop them growing; a feed in time >avos nine. The high character attained by our nodern dairy cow is the result of intelligent selection and the most careful feedng for generations. A cow not given to milk will not beome a good milker on the best of food, ind no cow can yield a large quantity :>f milk on scanty rations of inferior food. There is really no element of chanco in the special-purpose cow, while on the other hand the dual-purpose cow is often an unknown quantity. On Ist April, 1873. the first butter factory in the world was completed at Manchester, lowa, U.S.A. llr. Van Ducs-mi pioneered the work, He commenced in a small way, purchasing milk from his neighbors. The demand for his butter at once became so great that other faslories were <?oon established, and the factory system soon spread throughout th? United States. To arrive at- the price you would obtain for your butcct-fat if the factory vas making cheese instead of butter, multiply the price of cheese by 2.5 and from the result deduct 1.0 as the cost of • manufacture. Cheese at fid per lb equate Isd, which is reduced to 13.4 d by the deduction of the 1.6(1; at per lb, 13.75, 12.15; and 5d per lb, 12.5, 10.9. Many dairymen rug their cows during the cold months, and undoubtedly tho noney and labor expended returns a *ood profit, but the general practice is o allow the <*ow to remain covered from •he time the rug is put on in tho firnt . nstancc until permanently removed tor the warm weather. On the score of expediency this practice may have n good leal to recommend it, but it is far from 1 proving ns beneficial to the cows ae : might be. • ■ mum j Experience shows that certain quasi- ' lie? should characterise rations for dairy ; cows if they arc to prove satisfactory. In the first place, the food should be s>l abundant a« to quite satisfy the co*v I without encouraging her to eat all she .'an get. Lastly, it should be so hign :n food value as to ensure a sufficient Amount of material for milk production 'icing left after life has Item maintained. Probably it is by no menus generally known that, given n good nondescript female, five generations of female olT<prinj mated successively with pure males of the desired breed will result in progeny which, if similarly mated, will nvariablv breed true to type. In other words, five successive crosses with pedigree males of the desired race will yie'd offspring admissible to the herd booic. By following this principle, from any herd of good cows any desired breed can >e gradually built up. and the new herd thus produeod will be possessed of in creased stamina by this refoundation. This is true with all kinds of agricultural stock.

The reason for the high price at present ruling for apples, in the opinion of. some leading fruit merchants, is that the demand for good apples is greater than the supply. At the present time, one merchant states. Auckland is being supplied with shipments from Tasmania and the South Island. The average price paid was about 10s a case, which meant that after 3s 9d a case had been paid in incidental expenses, a« well ns duty and brokerage, Ihe Tasmanian grower gets between 5s and Gs a case for his fruit. For good eating apples the local grower would, taking the season right through, get at least 8s a case. Christchnrch consignments al present reaching tho Auckland market were selling at 12s a case, and fruit out of the local cold stores was selling at equally good prices, some beifl" las high as Ms to 10s the 401b case, n