FARM AND DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 58, 28 August 1911, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY

NEWS AND NOTES. j Success is due more to good imuiage- ', merit than to anything else. | If you do not know cows do not buy one; get a friend who understands to do the purchasing for you. It is not "more acres and better land" that men need, but more and better stock, more manure, and more intense cultivation of the land they have. Honor yourself by honoring your, occuptkm. Silage is more conveniently handled than dry fodder. Silage produces fat beef more cheaply than does dry feed. Encourage persistency in milk produc-

tion by extra care and feed. Stale milk, etc., lying in cracks of the floor soon ferment in hot weather

and cause great trouble to the cheese and butter-maker. Always keep the dairy floor as clean and dry as possible.

All cracks in cheese should be filled up.with lard or whey butter, in order to prevent the flies laying eggs therein. No one need hope to rise above his present situation who suffers small things to pass by unimproved, or who neglects, metaphorically speaking, to pick up a farthing because it is not a shilling. Should the mare's udder after foaling become hard and hot, warm fomentations should be applied, in the hope of preventing the inflammation from spreading, as if it does so the case is almost sure to become serious.

Slow, steady churning will get more fat out of the milk than .rapid churning-

Desirable qualities in a herd are fixed by a long line of careful selections and breeding. The two important factors for the brood sow are proper food and plenty of exercise.

Making bath ends meet is not half as bad as trying to tie them into a fancy bow knot.

Use soda only when utensils are very greasy.

You cannot afford to buy all your home supplies, no matter how big crops you grow to sell.

All utensils used for milk alone should be first rinsed out with cold water. This makes the after-washing easier, and warm water may then be used to remove all dirt and grease. A churn that is not properly scalded before each churning is liable to introduce enough germs ir.*o the butter to hasten its spoiling. Idleness is death, and a search for pleasure is sure to wreck life in shallows and in miseries. Safety and sanity lie in systematic useful effort.

■ Considering the amount of capital invested, if well cared for, there is no animal on the farm that will bring in so good a return as the brood sow. The great ruling proposition with the breeders of dairy cattle should be the elimination of the scrubby bull. The dairy farmer must be educated up to the point where he will see 1 that his future as a dairyman depends upon breeding from a purabred dairy bull only. Surely there is no missionary we can send out for the conversion of men to the dairy idea, like a well-bred dairy bull, and a fine herd of well-bred dairy cows would clinch the argument. The breeders of dairy cattle are not competing with each other half as much as they are with the scrubby bull. He is the fellow they need to get after. Rape, in common with other plants having broad leaves, obtains comparatively large quantities of carbon from the atmosphere, which, when large residues are ploughed under, as is profitably practicable with this crop, adds much to the humus of the soil.

There is no class of labor which performs its tasks with cruder appliances, which has less consideration shown it, which puts in longer hours, or gets less reward than the average settler's wife; and there is no class of labor so important to the individual or to the State.

111-bred animals of all kinds eat fully as much, if not more, than good-bred animals per meal, and they do not thrive nearly so well upon what they do eat. Well-bred stock will always command a sale, no matter what the state of the trade may be. 111-bred stock, on the other hand, can never be sold without difficulty. The floor of the dairy should be of cement or concrete, having a smooth surface, which is free from cracks or other places wherein whey, milk, etc., can lodge. I

It is safer to patronise a sire who has shown his ability, even although it may be. a little more expensive or cause more trouble.

The weakling, the bad thriver, the narrow-chested . beast should never be allowed to sire any offspring. Nothing is of greater importance to a herd than the choice of sires.

Fads and markings go for naught when balanced against dairy hereditary, the dairy strength of generations behind a cow, and that strength sought for more largely on the sire's side.

Small breeders are apt to overlook what they consider trilling matters, and ill-associated parents are expected to produce saleable, if not valuable animals, which they very rarely do. Durhig the time the sow is suckling her pigs she should be fed with very rich milk-producing foods, else she will run down to low condition and not be fit to breed from for a long time.