FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 December 1921, Page 10

FARM AND DAIRY.

THE DAIRY COW. WHAT FOOD MEANS. The bodily temperature of a. cow is about 98 deg.. and this degree of heat is maintained by the simple process of combustion of the food eaten. Jf the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere is cold an increased amount of food must be eaten to keep the heat of the body at 98 deg., and conversely the air is warm less food is necessary to maintain the animal heat. The temperature of the body has to be kept up at all cost, arid this is the first use which is made of the food in the animal body; after this it is drawn upon to replace the waste tissues of the body, and then if there is any surplus left after satisfying these requirements it is used for the production of milk, the laying on of fat. growth of muscle and bone, or the production of wool as the case may be with our different animals.

If an animal’s function is to give milk, she cannot give an abundant supply unless she has a good surplus cf food over and above that needed to maintain her body in its normal condition-, and the larger the amount of the daily ration that has to be diverted towards the maintenance of the bodily temperature, the smaller will be the surplus that should go towards the production of milk. It is economical, says an authority, therefore, to lessen this demand as much as possible by providing the animal with shelter. There is no economy in the idea that cows winter better if toughened in the autumn by the invigorating effects of cold winds, chilling rains, hard frosts and other accompaniments of approaching winter. The modern cow is essentially an artificial production, and as such the conditions of her existence must be considerably modified -from those to which wild animals are fitted.

No cow will wear out sooner or become unsuitable for dairy purposes owing to liberal feeding, and as this is usually accompanied by good care in other respects it generally happens that animals thus treated remain worthy occupants of the dairy long after their less fortunate sisters have been turned off. Good and liberal feeding does not mean high feeding or the giving of large quantities of concentrated food, for this has undoubtedly ruined .many animals. Cake and grain in large quantities are not essential to the obtaining of good returns, and although, up to a certain point, the more food a cow eats the more milk will she give, this food need not be of an expensive nature. Heavy cake and grain feeding is not only liable to cause digestive and other troubles, but it is decidedly expensive, and may leave absolutely no profit at all. Some practitioners of the system of poor feeding defend their methods on the grounds that if run at high pressure the cow will wear out sooner and that low feeding and longer life will give better results in the long run.

That fine Jersey cow, Cream of 0.K.. owned by Mr. T. Linn, of Mangatoki, has just’completed another fine record. At the age of 4 years 340 days she made 640.441 b of fat in 305 days, and gave H0,616.171b of milk. At 2 years and 333 days her record was 87<?“.61b of milk and 519.451 b of fat in 305 days. The following year she commenced well, but owing to illness in Mr. Linn’s family the herd was ir charge of strangers, and this cow was milked for only 259 days. But even in that short period she gave 7749.61 b of milk and 460.101 b of fat. Her aggregate for three consecutive years was 27.129.91 b of milk, 1619.991 b fat. in 989 days. It should be mentioned that the cow was only pasture fed. and had no special feeding.—Star.

GENERAL NOTES. The net profit of Dalgety and Co., Ltd. for the year ended June 30 last amounted to £140,606. Dividend is 10 per cent, free of English income tax. For 1919-20 net profit was £292,577, and dividend and bonus amounted to. 15 per cent.. free of English income tax. After the various appropriations had been made. £84,111 remains to be carried forward to 1921-22. The beef industry in Argentina must be a vejy profitable one. A late sale reported is that of 21,000 acres of highclass land for £265,000 cash. This seems enormous for so large an area, amounting to over £l2 an acre. The purchaser is a man of very large interests in the country; he is regarded, in fact, as the largest English “estanciero” in the Argentine. In conversation with a representative of the largest importing firm of cream separators in the Dominion, a Wanganui Herald reporter was informed that last season, and up till late this month, there had been an unprecedented demand for separators all over the Dominion, and the firm had experienced extreme difficulty in meeting all the orders, particularly in regard to the larger machines. Wanganui district had not been behind in regard to increased orders, but the heaviest volume of business had been transacted in the Auckland province. where it was plainly evident that the dairying industry had been making rapid strides. The business man considered that this may to a certain extent explain the reason of the building activity now in progress in the Waikato and at Auckland, as there is I evidently a fair amount of loose cash floating about in those places.