Farm and Dairy.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 202, 24 February 1914, Page 7

Farm and Dairy.

| TUBERCULOSIS AND THE CALF. ■SOME BRITISH EXPERIMENTS. . Thi' British Royal Agricultural Soci'.ety linn been for thri-u years carrying out at Wolmrn a scrips of tests to <!■■- ■monstrate that by isolation it is possible to voar healthy stock from tubcr.culous parents. The. report of the result of these experiments has just become available.

The buildings intended for tlie reception of the young calves were provided with a new impervious concrete .floor, with surface, drainage, the object ■being to render cleansing and disinfee.tion easy. The lloor space was divided .up by wooden sparred partitions into pens of a size suitable for calves. Two buildings of this description were made ■available, these being separated by ii smaller shed, which continued a large open copper for heating the milk, and providing the boiling water for washing •and scalding the milk-vessels and feeding pails. .Arrangements were made with several owners to allow their cows to be sttb.mitted to the tuberculin test, and to place at the disposal of the committee •any selected as being suitable until after they had calved. As soon as possible. after the test had 'been carried out the selected reacting cows were sent to tlie society's experimental farm at Woburn. and kept there until they had calved and gleaned, after which they were returned to their owners.

j The bad to aim at making it impossible for tubercle bacilli to reach the calves either directly or indirectly from tuberculous animals, and especially from animals of their own ■species. The moat immediate risk obviously was that the calf might become infected from its mother. To guard against this, each cow at the time of ealving was tied up, and as soon as the .calf was born it was carried into a building that had not previously been used for cattle, where it was rubbed dry. As soon as possible thereafter it was removed by cart to the ealfrearing premises, a mile distant. Further, a man in charge of the calves was kept entirely for this work, and had no contact with other cattle.

' As the calf houses here had been to a large extent reconstructed, providwl with a new floor, cleansed, disinfected, to assure that there was little or no • risk that the calves could become in-fected-by bacilli remaining over from •the previous tenancy. The milk on •which the calves were fed was obtained 'from si farm in the neighborhood, and '-before use it was raised to a temperature of not less than 100 (leg. Fahr. by immersing the vesseh? containing it in •water which was kept boiling' in the •copper. Assurance, was thus obtained that any bacilli which might have been •brought' from the cows at the neighboring farm had been killed. . '. When milk diet was stopped the calves were kept on two fields which were reserved exclusively for their use, and they were never allowed to come into contact with otlwr animals with the exception of the bull, which was put with them to serve the heifers in September, 1912. This bull had passed the tuberculin test before he was brought to the place, and, after arrival, he was again tested, with the same result. Inasmuch as no evidence of tuberculosis was found in any of the animals after they were slaughtered, these experiments may be held to have demonstrated "that by means of isolation ft. is possible to rear healthy stock from tuberculosis parents." The cows which gave birth l<> the calves were not submitted to post-mor-tem examination. To furnish absolute proof that the cows were tuberculous was sot considered necessary. The experiments prove that by means of isolation it is possible to rear non-reacting calves from reacting cows. Although the experiments assumed were not intended to prove, the reliability of the tuberculin test when properly' carried out, they do add further testimony to its value. For, on the assumption that the test is quite untrustworthy, there does not appear to be any reasonable explanation of the fact that, with one exception, none of the calves reacted, while among llli apparently healthy eows 32 (or 27 per cent.) reacted distinctly. The ease of the calf referred to illustrates one of the sources of error in testing tuberculin. Tke facts set forth in this animal's record indicate that it suffered from some temporary illness, of which the cause was not determined, and that this illness was responsible for the rise of temperature after the injection of the tuberculin.

CULLIXG OCT POOR COWS. An English dairying authority nays: The elimination of the worthless animal should lie ony of the thief objects "f the cowkeeper. On the average the cows that compose the milking herds of cattle in this country yield about 500 or GOO gallons of milk per head per annum. There is not a very large margin of profit under such circumstances, however, and it is probable that many such animals, and especially those whose yields drop to, say 400 gallons, I hardly pay for their keep. Milk records kept carefully and systematically furnish reliable information which enables a cow-keeper to detect these worthless animals: and it pays him to dispose of them at once. There are some farmers, of course, who may be tempted to rely wholly on their own judgment as far as the milking capacities of any cow ia concerned; but guess-work of this kind can teach nobody what it costs to feed cows, nor whether such food is being economically fed in relation to the average quantity of milk produced. llilk producers need to study this question of cost of food in relation to j milk yield very carefully indeed. The fact is clear that a cow giving, say. HOO gallons per annum costs practically no more to feed than one which only gives 1)00 gallons: yet. comparatively speaking, there is a loss of .CO on the latter, if the milk be valued at 7d per gallon. Xo doubt many farmers who have adopteil milk records on a syslemati* Ikisk have encountered some surprising result'.; often the heifer calves from heavy milking cows turn out to lie quite worthless as milk producers. Similarly, in tile case of twins, one will be good and the other bad. This shows very clearly that the old guess-work system of selecting cows for the dairy is altogether wrong, for you can never be certain of what any animal will turn out to be as a milk producer. In pedigree stock especially this guess work system is entirely wrong, and often very misleading, first hand information regarding the milking capacity of any herd of dairy cows can never be obtained except by means of cure-fully kept milk record-'.

NOTES. Hundreds of farmers purchase fertilisers every jcar in order to provide plant

food for weeds. Til,' weeds in a held will sometimes take more nitrogen than is furnished by the fertilisers supplied. Therefore, if farmers will give thorough culture, they will stive the value of fertilisers appropriated by weeds. The diligent use of the hoe between potato rows will go far to make all the difference between a good and a poor crop—and keep the young "rowing .«iops free from trespassers that steal their food.

NEWS AND XOTI'X The Danish co-opcr.itivc dairy. Pi'dersborg, has in the past year used nu an average onlv 23.8-llb of milk t ;ike lib of butter, against 21.."1b in the previous year. The average for all controlled dairies in l!l]2 was 2,'i..~>. A Fiiueii fanner with live «ows hail an average production of 10,0118 Danish pounds of milk per cow in 11)12. One of the cows produced 15,12411) of milk, with 1.2 per cwt. of butter-fat and 0821b of butter. —From the Smor-tidcndc (Danish Nutter Trade Journal,', November 28lli. IDL'I. V . It is a direct financial loss to dairy farmers if they fail to have their cows milked regularly (remarks the Otago Daily Times.) Tliis is why dairy funning becomes, as it is termed, a "slave's life," and even the joy of the distant picnic is lessened because there must be a clattering of pails at sunrise, and no escape from the work at night when all are fatigued after a day's outing. There is no relaxation. In addition ta the loss of a decreased milk cheque, when cows are not regularly milked there is danger of other expenses. At Owakn a Catlins dairy farmer was charged with cruelly ill-treating eleven head of dairy cattle fiy neglecting to milk the same between December 14 and l(i, thereby causing unnecessary suffering. Defendant pleaded guilty', and it was explained that; the failure to milk the cows was unintentiomil. He was lined .1:1. in default seven davs' hard labor.

Farming as an occupation for women is receiving attention at Rochester (Victoria), where irrigation is necessary to enable the soil to be cultivated. Settlers' (laughters are frequently seen driving lucerne mowers and rakes, and .between the daily tasks, helping to stack the crops. The outdoor work is healthy on the whole, although sonic of the women workers along the channel ways suffer occasionally front rheumatism. Another example of the industrious character of the settlers is provided by a family, every member of which may be seen working by moonlight.

Speaking at a banquet tendered him in Tiniaru last week, Sir William IlallJoiies stated that while in the Old Country, had he had his wish carried out. he could have opened up a large market for mutton and butter, lie referred to France. The President of the French Republic, to whom he had shown New Zealand produce, was delighted with it, and astonished with the price at which it could he obtained. If that could have been followed up by business dealings, and conditions arranged with France in regard to tariffs on certain article*, it would have been greatly to Xew Zealand's advantage. He niight have been as successful "with France as he had been with Switzerland and New York. That, however, was a work for the Government, and he believed it could get the meat into France without any difficulty if the proper means were used. This, of course, would mean the increased prosperity of the Dominion. (Applause.)

The amount, of cam that can lie allowed to horses differs with the charaotor of the work they are performing. If they arc doing no work at all. 211) or 311) is all that is necessary; hut when in full ration, up to 1-211) of oats may be given. Town horses are usually fed larger quantities of grain than those in the country, and the 121b limit does not apply to them. Farmers, too, sometimes exceed this, and as much as 181b of crushed oats given with a little linseed cuke have been known to be fed. although this is rather costly feeding, with an unlimited quantity of hay.

Two American college girls, both teach, ers, recently decided they profcniod a farmer's life, and have bought h tract of land in Texas. They expect to lind more profit and pleasure in milking flows than in demonstrating difficult problems in trigonometry. Instead of digging at Latin and Creek roots Ihev will dig for potatoes. Thev will do all the work themselves, from' feeding i|„. chickens to ploughing. Roth voung women are athletic, last sum r thev paddled a canoe on the Hudson liive'r over 100 miles.

Dam-men have had a good innings here this season (writes a Orevmoulh correspondent). In the early part the rain kept the grass growing exceedingly well, and a copious supply'of milk was the result. Latelv. however, a dry season set in. and the cows are going oil', though last night's rain improved ters. The season has produced' an abundance of hay, and the dry feed will not be short this coining- winter. The local cheese factory has done well during tlie season.