FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 July 1922, Page 11

FARM AND DAIRY.

/ DRYING OFF COWS. The reason for drying cows is to g'rve them a period of rest, so that they can recuperate or recover from the strain which the yielding of a large supply of milk has placed upon them, and also to enable them to better nourish the foetus. The cows which most benefit by the rest—i.e., the deep-milking ones —are those which are the most difficult to dry, while those which need little or no rest usually take French leave for a pretty long while. If a farmer aims at giving a three months’ rest to his cows, and has obstinate milkers, he still has another six' weeks in which to dry them off, and yet give them a six week’s rest. Deep-milking cows which are kept in milk year after year, without a rest at all, usually get worn out in a few years, owing to the great and continuous stain on their constitution by the milk and the foetus. WHALE MEAT. In 1918, owing to the prevailing shortage of the world's food supply, the American whaling companies were encouraged to save and market whale meat, and the United States Bureau of Fisheries issued a pamphlet on the use of whales and porpoises as food. The Wtest Coast whaling companies (writes the Australian Meat Trades Journal) provided a cold storage and distributing 'plant, with a capacity of about 3000 tons, a 500-ton freezing plant, a refrigerated steamer, and a cannery works, with a capacity of 50,000 cases. In 1918 a beginning was made with 30,000 cases of canned meat, and for 1919 an output of 50,000 cases of canned meat, and 1000 tons of frozen meat was expected. The equipment ana method of canning are similar to those used in Pacific Coast salmon canneries, with certain differences in the preliminary handling. The whales for canning are hauled out on a special concrete slip, constantly flooded with fresh running water, and here the meat is removed in the same way .as for freezing. After cooling, it is placed in mild brine for about 36 hours, which removes all blood, at the same time eliminating the gamey taste. The strips of meat are then passed through a salmon cutter of ordinary type, which cuts up pieces of the right size, for lib flat cans. The cans are then put through the exhaust box for 20 minutes, sealed, and cooked in the retort for an hour and 20 minutes, after which they are ready for labelling and shipping.

THE INDIVIDUAL COW. If a dairy is kept for profit, it should be the business of the owner to ascertain how much profit each cow is making for him. The mistake that is frequently made, where a number of cows are kept, is that the herd is treated collectively; the individual cow is neither reckoned with, or considered. The proper course to pursue is that each cow should be reckoned with individually, and by good treatment encouraged to do her best. A simple way of finding out the value of -each cow is by keeping a daily record of the quantity of milk given by each, and testing it at intervals. Those not giving up to a certain standard should be disposed of, and their places filled by the heifers from the best milkers, which should be carefully reared on the principle that the making of a good cow begins with the first meal of the calf. In the improvement of a. herd of dairy cows, special attention should be paid to the breeding and quality of the bull. Sons of noted milk and butter-produc-ing cows of the best milking tribes are worth securing if the outlay can be afforded. ENGLISH MEAT DEMAND.

“One dominant factor should be* steadily kept in view,” recently reJ marked Sir Henry Reid, in an article in an English newspa-per. “The demand for meat in England is probably below the average at present, owing to diminished purchasing power, aggravated (as we hope only temporarily) by exceptional unemployment. For some time the nation may have to endure a lower standard of comfort, but Jthe recovery of the pre-war level of purchasing power is certain sooner or later. Apart from this, however, the growth of population adds, decade by decade, to the number of meat consumers in this, and other countries. So far, the Dominions are producing far more meat than they can consume, but as their population increases, their surplus for export may decrease. Unless the production of meat in Great Bri tain increases to keep pace with the increased demand, we must rely more and more on oversea supplies, which may be a diminishing quantity. That, in brief is the situation the nation has to face. It is a serious one, and demands serious consideration. A comprehensive, statesmanlike review of the risks and possibilities of our future meat supplies —such as the recent Royal Commission might have made, but did not—is needed if the country is to avoid drifting into a position rn which meat will become a luxury for the well-to-do.’* A BRITISH FRIESIAN. The secretary of the British HolsteinFriesian Cattle Society announces that Eske Hetty, the phenomenal milker belonging to Mr. F. B. May, Saltcote Hall, Weybridge. Essex, England, has achieved the distinction of being the first cow of any breed in the British Isles to yield 2000 gallons of. milk in one lactation period. She calved on April 21. 1917, and her yield to January 13 last was 20,0491 b in 262 days, when she was giving slib daily. This unique yield proclaims Eske Hetty to be the heaviest milking cow under official test in the British Isles, and the first 2000-galloner, while she was also the first British cow to give ten gal- | lons of milk in 24 hours. Mr. May’s • herd is under the control of both the I South Essex Milk Recording Society and the British Holstein-Friesian Milk Records department so that the record is doubly authenticated.

A NEW CANADIAN CHEESE. ’ An announcement from Ottawa states that the anima) husbandry department of the Dominion Experimental Farms system has originated an entirely new kind of cheese. It is called “meilleur” cheese or “Le Fromage Meilleur,” and is being manufactured at the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa. To make this new meilleur cheese the milk is heated to a temperature of 90 degrees F., when it is renneted and cut. The cuijds are then cooked, at a temperature of 115 degrees F., and afterwards moulded axid pressed in one, and three pound sizes, ready for the curing room. The process of curing is one of the most important features in its succes ••- < ful manufacture. The cheese is said to

possess a very pleasing and delicate flavor, with no objectionable odour, and connoisseurs have pronounced very favorably upon it., GENERAL ITEMS. A material increase in the area under wheat in Canada this season is predicted. A sharp bright spade is easy 1 to work with. To keep it in this condition give it plenty to do. A seventeen-year-old Friesian cow in Michigan is credited with producing 15,0001 b of milk in six months in a testing association. Shipments of wheat from Fort William and Fort Arthur, Canada, during the 1921 season aggregated 161,261,488 bushels. 20,804,451 bushels were heid at Fort William at the close of the season. Imperfect drainage is one of the chief causes of orchard trees dying. Usually the grower attributes the loss of his trees to every 'known disease before giving the drainage system reasonable consideration. A revised estimate by Broomhall anticipates that 536,000.000 bushels ofc wheat will be imported into Europe this season. This is apart from a deficiency in Russia of 24,000,000 bushels and 96,000,000 bushels in other countries. . According to a cable received by the Lindley, Walker Co-operative Wheat Company early in May,’ the remaining wheat surplus in Argentina was then 72.000,000 bushels. This will be sufficient to cover the season’s needs, but the end-of-season surplus must be small. The corn crop of Ontario for 1921 is estimated at 20,313,661 bushels, an average of 81 bushels per acre and 5,015,082 tons of green fodder corn at an average of 11% tons an acre, according to the Provincial Department of Agriculture. The fall wheat crop amounted to 13,W57,879 bushels, an average of 22 bushels an acre. By the introduction into the United Provinces, India, of successive strains of Australian Merino blood, the grading up of the Indian ewe is being accomplished. In the past the Indian sheep scarcely ever yielded as much as 21b of wool, whilst it is expected now that on an average from 71b to 91b of wool will be obtained from a fully-grown Merino-Indian sheep. The wool is of good type, and has fetched one rupee six annas per lb., whilst the pure Indian wool was being sold at only six annas per lb. Stallions should he kept in hard, robust condition at all Jmes, and during the breeding season should gain rather than lose weight. It is neither a safe nor a sensible policy to patronise a soft, blubbery, under exercised and over fed stallion. Such horses are a detriment to the horse breeding industry, and should be left alovse. Foals of well worked, thoroughly exercised, muscular, healthy stallions are usually not only numerous, but lively and robust from the time of their birth. The estimated head of livestock in the United States of America-on January 1, 1922, was 36,048,000 sheep, 65,352,000 cattle, 19,099,000 horses. The revised figures for 1921 are 37,452,000 sheep,| 65.587,000 cattle, and 19,208,000 horses. Neither totals include animals in cities and villages, which in 1920 were reported to be 450,742 sheep, 2,111,928 cattle, and 1.705,611 horses. The returns are issued by the crop-report-ing board of the Department of Agriculture, and are generally considered as being open to wide revision.

The following is a most effective method of eradicating sorrel:—First of all, get rid of the, sorrel seed by means of sheep, which eat the plants close to the ground. Then the land is well ploughed, and the sorrel knocked about as much as possible with the cultivator and the harrows during the hot weather, with a view to bringing the roots to the surface and thus exposing them to the killing rays of the ;sun. Sometimes, hqwevar, even this treatment fails to etasute absolute destruction, and, accordingly, it is deemed advisable not to crop the land for at least a year

An English scientist, Sir W. H. Beveridge, forecasts that 1923 will be marked by bad weather and poor harvests in Europe and probably other countries. This will mean a scarcity of wheat awd high prices in 1924. He claims that a statistical analysis of meteorological records and wheat prices establishes the fact that crises in supply of wheat have occurred with singular regularity in periods of 15.3 years. This 15.3 year cycle, as an influence upon the world's wheat prices, has maintained itself for 350 years. The last crisis occurred in 1908, and according to Sir W. H. Beveridge the next is due in 1923 or 1924.

The British Friesian eight-year-old cow Brookside - Colantha, has recently made some fine records for daily production. She is'reported to have given during the 24 hours ended 5 ajn. Sunday, December 11. last, no less than 112 Alb of milk. During the first week in January she gave 1151 b of milk in 24 hours; a fortnight later she yielded 7881 b of milk in 7 days, which averages 11241 b; and finally she eclipsed all hei- previous records by giving 119i}lb in 24 hours, which are all British records. In her previous lactation she gave 23,6001 b in 365 days, so on her present form she should easily exceed these figures.