FARM AND DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1918, Page 6

FARM AND DAIRY

THE DAIRY COW, The cows are now coming in, and they are finding that the feed is not too plentiful as yet (writes Koradi in the Tiraaru Herald). There is sufficient to carry them along while they are not in milk, but as soon as they calve they want more and better food. Mangels where they are available, are very serviceable at this juncture, and even swedes are still palatable and wholesome, though not as nutritious as mangels at this time of the year. Where green feed lias been provided the cow, will, of course, do the best, and there is not any reason why more provision should not be made in that direction. In a few weeks there should be plenty of feed after all this rain, but the difficulty is to tide over the present juncture when the paddocks are bare and the roots are past their best. After all, feed, important as it is, should not be'looked upon as the only essential in successful dairying. The animals themselves must be good in quality, and must be able to make the most of the feed that is given them. No amount of feeding will make an inferior animal pay for its board. If the milk is not naturally rich the feed that she receives will not make it so to any great extent. It is believed by mam- dairymen that the richness of a cow's milk depends upon the quality of her pasture: but this is not so except very temporarily, as many elaborate experiments have proved. Rood feeding will increase the mill; supply, and therefore the total quantity of both fats and other milk solids, but not to anv extent the proportionate richness nF the milk. Practically all experimenters have arrived ot the one conclusion—that the fat in milk depends prac.ticallv altogether upon the individualitv and quality breeding of the ocw, and can only be slightly altered by the feeding. Any increase in the fat in milk arising from feeding rations rich in fat will only continue from four to fourteen days, after which the cow gradually falls back to her normal standard of fat, although the richer ration \t continued.