FARM AND DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 227, 19 January 1911, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY

NEWS AND NOTES.

When calves are reared by t'heir mothers a good half of the profit in the cow is -lost; there is no need to run the young one with its dam. It is a fact within the knowledge of cheesemakers that some of the. erossbrcds give a better cheese-milk than the purebreds of their class. One of the most important branches of the business of the dairy farmer is in the raising of his heifer calves. There it is whero his future profits are. It is waste of time and temper to persevere with a coiv which is a poor doer at the pale. Usually she is not good anywhere but at the feed-trough. Sweet cream butter is the most delicate in flavor, but it is not the butter for which the best price is to be got. The consumer wants a stronger flavor. The digestive and food-supplying qualities of the cow arc, great factors in milk production. A cow which is a good doer is pretty sure, to be a good milker. Rye is one of the foods relied on in Denmark to put condition on pigs, but it is not as good as wheat or barley, and the llavor of the pork is different. The idea that the udder is a reservoir in w.liichmilk is stored is a mistaken one. The milk is held in a spongy substance all through the glands of the udder. When Dr. Babcock, the inventor of the milk-tester, churned sweet cream, he obtained 141b of butter from liOOlb of cream; but from ripened cream he got 171b. Only an experienced milker should be allowed to handle a heifer at her first entry to the yard if the best is to lie got from 'her and she is to make a good cow. The percentage of losses of sheep and lambs from internal parasites is greater than the deaths from all other causes combined. 1 Considering the amount of capital invested, if well eared for, there is no animaljon the farm that will bring in so good a return as the brood sow. In forming a comparison between the liquid manure ami the farmyard manure, there is a dilference of (iewt of'produce in favor of the liquid form. An over-supply of fat in animals at an immature age means that the generative ' organs have been prevented from making full and perfect development. A marvellous report has just been issued regarding the farm products of (he United States for the present year. It appears from this document that their aggregate value amounts to £ 1,75'0,000,000, a total which exceeds anything' in the past. The effect of such a prodigious result as this is already being seen in the renewal of prosperity all over the country. Agriculture in th'.t United .States, as in ■! very other part of the world, is the basis of national wealth. If agriculture prospers the,country at large prospers, and every other industry benefits. At the present time the Patea 'Farmers' Co-op. Freezing Co.'s works are kept working at t'heir fullest capacity in order to cope with the work of handling the stock now coming forward (says the Press). Lambs bulk largely in the output at present, from 400.t0 5110 a day being the. average. A good many cattle arc also being slaughtered daily, 48 head being put through one day last week. The new engine and machinery installed at the beginning of the season are working splendidly and are kept going continuously at their highest capacity in order to cope with the work. The new machinery and additional freezing space have quite doubled the capacity of the works, and it is gratifying to know that expectations have been realised in this direction. Siiys the Ilawera 'Star: —''Prominent stock breeders are beginning to regard with a s.rious mien what may be termed 'The Jersey (iambic,' which threatens to react prejudiciotisly against a very meritorious breed. These stock breeders and stock connoisseurs aflirm that many dairy farmers are buying Jerseys without having any assurance of their milk-producing qualities. The breed is of undoubted merit, but individual animals may not all be of the same stump. What it is appre-j bended may happen is that some purchasers may discover that their Jerseys are not what they were led to expect, and the result will be that the breed will be unjustly condemned. What is being neglected is systematic cow-testing. It has been demonstrated b'yond doubt that in international dairy tests the Jersey lias won all round. They gave more milk, made more cheese or mor.' butter, requiring less milk to the pound of cheese or butter, and produced butter at less cost than any other brcal. Thus the Jerseys are ideal dairy cows. Put what is wanted in Xew Zealand just now is authenticated tests. The Xew Zealand Cattle Prc.dei's' Association offers facilities for testing, and it is in the interests of the breed that every animal should be tested. When breeders of Jerseys are gravely apprehensive that the breed may be prejudicially affected in course of time, through the. system of 'taking it for granted,' without individual authenticated tests, it may be assumed that they Ihave good grounds for taking a serious view of the matter."