FARM AND DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 261, 14 March 1911, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY

DANISH AND NEW ZEALAND BUTTER. THE DiSPAIUTY IX PRICES. The Mercantile llazettc contains some interesting comments oil the disparity between the prices of choicest New Zealand butter and Danish butter, and gives the following quotations furnished by the High Commissioner's office for a. period of five vears:

Danish butter is now 17s higher than New Zealand butter, while at the corresponding period last year the difference was only 7s, and in the year previous !)s. Another striking disparity is that compared with last year New Zealand butter is 12s lower, while Danish is only 2s lower. From this it would seem that the Danish product is not being affected by New Zealand, while New Zealand is apparently suffering from the competition of Australia, Argentina, and, to a less degree, Siberia. In the factory New Zealand butter is as good, if not better, than Danish, but that is not the comparison that controls the price in London. It is fresh Danish butter against butter forty or -fifty days old carried in cool Chamber, and the fresh butter must always prove the better and more saleable article. Another point to bear in mind is that Danish butter has its own circle of customers, and up to a point these customers will/Jontiiuie to buy the butter. When, however, there is extreme scarcity, as was the case in 19(1S, they are ready enough to turn to the products of other countries. At the moment Danish butter, owing to Continental demands, is not in so heavy supply as usual, and the advance of a shilling or two per hundredweight makes no difference to the customers, at least not sufficient to drive them to buy other butter. The eoimimers of our butter are ready enough to buy other imported butters that have been transported long distances, provided the quality is not markedly inferior. Now Australian butter has been reaching the Lbndon market in very 'heavy quantities this season, and the quality is superior to what it was in the previous season. Heavy Australian supplies of reasonably good quality and increased supplies from New Zealand explain the whole position. The conditions prevailing this season will be no guide for the next season, because butter is dependent upon climatic and other conditions. There may be a shortage in the make in Australia and even in New Zealand, and 9iich a shortage would make for'high prices. The present state of the butter' market is normal and quite in accord with the known conditions. It is unfortunate that the price should be so much less than it was a year ago, for it means heavy losses to many people, but that is one of the ordinary risks Of the business. NEWS AND NOTES. Calves can be best fed when kept separate, and it is a good plan to provide some sort of little stalls to feed them in. An experiment was conducted in some large livery stables in Chicago, and it was then found than 101b of sprouted grain is a sufficient ration for an ordinary working horse per day. It is now being used ill that quantity where a horse used to get half a bushel of oats per day. Mr. A. Kidman, the Australian cattle king, is visiting the United States enquiring into the possibility of opening up a trade in meat between the United States and Australia. In the course of a recent interview, he said that if Congress would abolish the duty on meat imports Australia could supply America with beef and mutton in carcase, landed at the wharf, jit 3d: lamb at 4d and butter at Is. Mr. Kidman says that Australia is the land of golden opportunity, and is the source to which the United States should logically turn for its beef, mutton and other produce, which could be supplied at prices far more satisfactory than those now obtaining. Til selecting a brood mare, remember that constitution, soundness and type are of even greater importance than pedigree. In Asia, where the records of the oldest civilisation are found, the survival of the fittest has compelled intensive cultivation. It is a good way to win money to bet that a stunted cow was a starved calf. If you are keeping pigs in the sties,

see to it that they have fresh-cut grass every day. A sheep named Nellie, said to be the oldest in England, has died at Messrs Pagent and Son's farm at Avlestone, near Leicester. She was in her 23rd year.

The more comfort and quiet there is in the yard at milking time the more milk there will he in the dairy when the cows are put through. If young pigs scour a change of food should be at once made, anfl the affected litter given a dose of castor oil or milk of sulphur, to be followed by 15 minims of dilute sulphuric acid to each pig, given night and morning in the food. Milking with wet hands is coming more and more into disfavor. Even many men who follow this practice admit that it is a filthy custom and explain their persistence in milking in this way by saying they have formed the habit and find it difficult to break away.

Hood care pays. Farmers too often overlook this.

With a good cow to make milk you can always afford to put in feed and take out butter.

Do not curve the fingers more than enough to give you a good grip of the teat when milking. If the man in the milking yards wants to smoke, let him get away from the cows, and especially away from the milk. The horse that lasts longest is the horse that is not abused, especially when young. A young calf is a good deal like a young baby in many respects, particularly in its .ability to digest food. It is perhaps true that more babies and calves are {tilled by over-feeding than any other cause.

A good remedy for bloat, which often follows the eating of green food, is to drench the'cow with about a quart of linseed oil.

How long does a cow remain profitable in a herd ? This is a question that a dairy fanner has to settle many times each year. Most owners have had individuals that remained good milkers till beyond their twelfth, or even fourteenth year, but the grent majority have "petered out" long before that time. ,At the other end of the scale is the ,jie\vly-broken-in heifer, which seldom milks well for the first year, or until she has been drilled up, as it were. It is, indeed, generally considered that on an average cows improve up till their seventh year, and begin to decline after that. In the case of a good animal, however, the decline is not very bad till the tenth or even the twelfth year. In contradistinction to this, however, is the liability to disease—milk fever, tubercle, etc., anv of which may carry the animal off prematurely or compel her to be "scrapped." Do not give the cow all she wants to eat till about the fourth week after calving. Nature has charged it with an aperient for the medicining of the calf. When the cow is made nervous by the manner of the milker she does riot give as rich milk. The fats are' hcld'fn the secretions.

N.Z. Danish Feb. 18, 1911 100s 123s Feb. 11), 1910 .. . 1-183 l-25s Fcl). 20, 1!X>!) ... I07s 116s Feb. •22, 11)08 14lis 148s Feb. 1, 11)07 10 Is 112s