FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 August 1921, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY.

The average annual yield of butter per dairy cow in New South Wales is 4161 b. to 1221 b. In 1919 there were 720,000 cows, and the yield was about 74,000,0001b5. of butter, whi£h was worth £8,500,000. About 40,000 persons were engaged on the dairy farms, so that the total value of the production, if divided equally between them, would have given a gross income of £212 10s each, out of which they world have had to pay rent of land, cost of herds, plants, factories, carriage and taxes, and maintain themselves and their families.

A cow is in her prime between five and seven years of age, and if the calving period can be regulated they will show to best advantage from two to ten \yeeks after calving. However good a bull may be, if his dam had any particular defect, it is almost certain to be reproduced in his progeny. When buying a bull of any breed it is necessary to be particularly careful as to its ancestors. Tn days gone by big preeders were prone to use any kind of. good grade boar, but experience has taught that the purebred boar is the only safe dependence of « high percentage of good pigs. An average sample of milk will usually contain 3 or 4 per cent, of fat, 3% per cent, of albumen, a little over 4J per cent, of milk sugar, and about 5 per cent, of salts, while water will be present to the extent of 87| per cent.

Pea straw is the most nutritious of the straw fodders, being le«s coarse in textine than bean straw. Of the 9 per cent, of albuminoids it contains, 60 per cent, is digestible by sheep, and of the 35 per cent, crude fibre, 25 per cent, is digestible. “We ought not to get our tails down because we have a few difficulties to face at the present moment,” said the veteran, Mr. James McGregor, in a rousing speech to the Masterton Agricultural and Pastoral Association. “The lean years have come, but they are not going to last for ever. New Zealand is one of the most favored places in the world, and if we are going to show that we have enough backbone to face reverses and difficulties, none of us will be the least discouraged, but will go on and prosper. We have a splendid district in the Wairarapa—l don’t think there is a better in the world. We have no reason whatever to be cast down because the Government has made a mess of our woo] and a bigger mess of our meat, and the shipping companies are fleecing us right and left. If we get our leading men to take an interest in our country, its difficulties will pass away and a time of prosperity will come again.” (Loud applause).