THE COW'S TEATS

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1916, Page 3

THE COW'S TEATS

Cows' teat? are very apt to become chapped, cracked, and very sore, rendering milking exceedingly painful to the cow. and very annoying to the milker. Unfortunately the latter often gets into a temper and the cows suffer doubly.

Great patience and kindness are required in such cases, and the milker should take plenty of time to soften the sore, teats well before attempting to squeeze the teats. When the milking is finished the teats should be annointed with the following mixture: 1 ounce of alum, one acid, four ounces lara Powder the alum and mix well. Another good remedy is the following: Half an cuncc of tannic acid, one drachm cartolii acid, and four ounces of lard, all mixed together.

Troubles with cows' teats are fairly common in South Africa, and it is not to be wondered at, with the tugging they receive at the hands of the Kaffirs. A fairly common trouble is the formation of little pea-like tumors in the milk passage' of the teat, leading, ill some cases, to its complete the subsequent loss of the quarter. Many things have been tried for this without avail, for the teat very soon becomes sore, and milking becomes dangerous, if not impossible. The best way to manage in such cases is to let it continue until the cow goes dry, milking that quarter as well as possible without using any instrument, and then to cut into the teat, remove the excrescence, and let the wound heal over a silver probe. If this is properly done the teat will be as good as ever Needless to say it will require a good veterinary surgeon to undertake this delicate task

INTRODUCING THE POTATO The potato is regarded to-day as such an essential article of diet that it is hard to realise with what suspicion it was looked upon for a long time after its introduction into Europe. Thus we read in a contemporary that in the little kingdom of Belgium no one placed any value upon its nutritive qualities up to the year 1700. Then a small farm was started at Bruges. Still the people looked askance at the tuber. There <vas a superstition that it was poisonous. When the English army was in Flanders in 1713 the soldiers were seen eating potates freely. Still it took some tim«'"for the prejudice to subside, and it was not until 1740 that the potato was sold publicly. Bruges had the honor of leading the way. Then the monks took the question in hand, and in order to popularise the cultivation they compelled their tenants to pay some of their dues in potatoes. When the people saw that the monks at St. Pierre, at Bruges, and other places, thrived on the new diet, the old fears vanished.

SOIL DETERIORATION A Malmcshury (South Africa) grain farmer, who recently returned from a visit to America, reported to the Cape Times on the evidence of soil deterioni tion in N?w York and other States, and expressed his firm opinion that the soil in the Cape South-West, which has been for generations sown to white crops, would deteriorate in like manner unless green manuring and rotation were adopted. That journal now gathers from a Departmental circular that between 1880 and 1010 as many as f),50f1,834 acres have gone out of cultivation in the States of New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania because of soil deterioration The land, in brief, has been robbed of its plant food. Dr. C. 6. Hopkins recommends green manuring with clover and other legumes together with applications of limestone, manure and raw ro?k phosphates.

LENGTH OF MILKING PERIOD The age at which a ojw commences to ."how falling off in milk yield is a ques tion Irerjuently discussed. In some experiments carried out under the auspices of the Leeds University and Yorkshire Council for Agriculture Education it was found that the average yield per head increased definitely each year up to the fiftli calf, rising from an average of 390 gallons for the first period of lactation to 719 gallons during the fiftn period of laca tion. After the fifth calf there s.gns of a falling off in the output. 11 e records also furnished .evidence tha e tiffie of salujfci&srtß «, cgna&eafllLflta

fluence on the milk yield. The tests give effect to the theory that cows calving jnst after the grass is at its best will not, as a rule, maintain their yields as successfully as 'those which calve late in the season, and which, on being turned out in the following spring, are still giving a fair quantity of milk, and are eapablo of profiting by the abundant supplies of green food. The returns showed that Die cows calving in the six months, March to August (spring and summer months in the Xorthern Hemisphere) gave an average yield of 510 gallons per head, while those calving from September to February (autumn and winter months) yielded an average of 6SO gallons per head.

TEMPERATURE IN HORSES, A large number of diseases are first indicated by what is known as febrile disturbance, that is, feverish symptoms. These include a rise in the internal temperature. an acceleration of the pulse, and congestion and abnormal coloring of the exposed mucous membranes of the body. The norma) temperature of a horse should not exceed 101 degrees F. The pulse should beat from 3i> io 40 times a minute, and the internal linings or mucous membranes of the eyelids should be normally of a pale pink color. The temperature is taken by inserting an' ordinary clinical thermometer for two minutes into the animal's fundament. The pulse is usually observed oil the arteries to bo found inside the wings of the jaw—the maxillary arteries, which run along on either side of the flattened' bones which go to form jhe lower jaw bone. The middle finger should be gently pressed against the vessel, when it will be found to throb. The younger the animals'the quicker in succession will be the beats, and the smaller the horse the more frequent will be the pulse In order to obscure the. internal lining ol the eyelids, the thumb and forefinger must be I firmly pressed in the direction of the eyeball.

Having pressed the ball of the eye well back into its orbit, part the finger and thumb when the hard or third eyelid will bash over the eye If this i s of a dirty brown, yellow, dark/ red or spotted red color, the horse is liof in proper health The skin lining the nostrils should, when the animal", is in health, be of a pale pink color.

PARLEY AND BLINDNESS. In l..i> Field there 13 a:i interesting note oil the alleged danger of blindness following a diet of barley, and a French correspondent makes the following comment. The eye trouble is, he suy3, caused by ergot, and lie continues with reference to experiments in Palestine. "As far as I am aware, rye, which generally produces this illness, is not known in Palestine, but barley, and the other cereals may equally act as carriers This explanation is confirmed by the commentary of the Hebrew text, indicating troubles in the circulation of the blood; for the first result of ergot is to affect the muscular coating of the arteries Thus the Eabbinical rules seem to have safeguarded their people against one of the most terrible dietetic diseases of the Middle Ages, viz., the disease which, .under the name of St. Antony's Fire, ravaged Christendom in those days as much as and perhaps more than leprosy."

VALUABLE LIQUID MANURES 4i great deal of valuable iiquid manure is lost ivery year boi.li on the farms and in the towns. There is scarcely a plant grown that may not be benefited by a stimulant in some form during some part of its life. Vines, pines, peaches, strawberries, figs and all indoor and outdoor plants may be greatly improved by a wise useof liquid manure. Til periods of trial when the trees are heavily laden a soaking of liquid manure given at the right time sustains the flagging powers of the tree, and enables it to carry its heavy load more successfully than if left unaided and uncarcd for. Apple and pear trees in orchards, and stone fruits on walls are all grateful for this help. Again, flowering plants, such as hollyhocks, roses, dahlifts, zinnias, stocks, asters, etc., can hardly be grown to the highest state of perfection without liquid manure. 1 An excellent method of making liquid manure is as follows: Procure a parriffin cask or any good solid barrel, and char the interior. Fit the lower half with a tap. Then screw or nail six blodks of wood about two and a half inches broad across the centre. On these blocks lit some stout perforated zinc. This will have to be in two pieces to get into position.

The cask should be mounted on a stand, so that a watering can or pail may' be placed underneath the tap. The manure is placed on the perforated zinc, and the upper part of the cask fed with water, and by the time it is required to be used it will become excellent liquid manure, ana can be drained off as required through the tap.

DROUGHT PROTECTION The acreage down to maize in the United States in 1014 was 103 million acres, and of that area million acres matured for grain, eleven million acres were cut for green feed, and 8} million acres. were cut for silage. This extent of land down to mealies for ensilage would give about one hundred million tons' of succulent food stored away as a reserve feed for live stock, and this tonnage was ensiled, according to the Department of Agriculture, in 070,2f)S silos of all kinds including pit and trench silos. The greatest number of silos were in the best dairy districts, but tlu' dry land States were .storing ensilage. Arizona had 72 silos, California 330, Colorado 3000, New Mexico 221. The State of Illinois was credited with 74.401 silos, and Wisconsin (the biggest dairy-pro-ducer) with 49,080.