FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1922, Page 12

FARM AND DAIRY.

FINNISH DAIRYING. That this branch of agricultural effort is again assuming its former important position in the export trade of the country is furnished by the total value of the exports of dairy products from Finland for the first ten months of 1921, which amounted to no less than 309,259,000 Finnish marks. According to the American Consul at Helsingfors, the but" ter exports were four times the volume, and eight times the value of shipments during the corresponding period of 1920, amounting to 11.464.000 lb with a value of 250,200,000 Finnish marks. Trade in cheese has also increased noticeably, the shipments up to the end of October being 4,227.000 lb, valued at 68,785,000 marks, as compared with a quantity only one-quarter as large in volume, and one-fifth in value for the ten months of 1920. Nearly 243,000 lb of milk, valued at about 275,000 marks, were also exported up to the end of Ocfbber, 1921, the value being five times as great as that of shipment© for the ten-month period of the previous year. In pre-war times Finland was an important source of supply for dairy products, the exports of butter and cheese in 1913 amounting to 27,86'6,000 lb, and 2,698,000 lb respectively.

MILK AS FOOD. The value of milk as food has never been fully appreciated, and the tendency appears to be toward curtailed consumption of the genuine new milk. The convenience of the numerous preparations offered in place of - the liquid milk, no doubt, has something to do with this (tendency, but it is not conceivable that in the case of the requirements of infants and invalids preference would be given to the handy form in which the article is obtaianble over its actual value to the consumer. On this point the superiority of the milk distributed direct from the cow appears to be incontestable, and in emphasising its importance farmers should be able to count upon the support of municipal and other authorities actively interested in the welfare of children. Several agricultural organisations have been discussing the possibility of propaganda schemes for popularising new milk, and if the aid of urban bodies could be enlisted something might be done to check, in the interests of consumers, the disposition to put convenience before merit in the selection of the form or brand of milk used. THE BEEF MARKETS. "Save the Calves” writes: —“I notice that there seems to be a universal belief that there is no future for beef raised in this country, and all the prophets seems to base their forecasts upon is our distance from Europe as compared with South America and South Africa. I was in England over a quarter of a century ago, and while there I saw South American chilled beef being sold under canvas in the towns. New Zealand, and these other places were the same distance from England then as now, and as I moved about I heard the same suggestions as to how the short run over the Atlantic, and the fact that there was no necessity to freeze the meat, would push us quite out in no time. I have not got the figures at hand, but I hardly need them when I say that New Zealand has done a wonderful trade in beef with England since that time. ‘There is doubtless temporary difficulty. but at this time when our calves will soon be dropping, and decision must be made as to having them, I would like to draw attention to the fact that

there are millions of idle men in Europe who could be hewing the extra coal wanted, and manning the ships, of which millions of tons are waiting for charter. When the men and the coal and the ships are brought together again, as they presently must be, freights will come back to normal, and more beef than we can produce will be wanted.

“I have seen that some writers are suggesting that we should abandon, the beef trade, and use the lands for butter instead. Such a suggestion is decidedly innocent, for all practical men know that you cannot dairy rough .hills, an 1 also that you must have cattle on such land to keep it in order, whether the fullgrown beast sells at ten pounds or ten shillings. For the calves that are dropping three to four years must elapse before they are ready for killing and in less time than that the remaining confusion in the old world will have faded out; for already England’s trade is getting so stable that confidence is practically renewed. “I notice Queensland has sold its next season’s butput of beef to Germany, so that State of the Australian Commonwealth will not be a competitor for a season, and what is more important, a country of many millions of peoples are being trained to look to Aus? tralasia for future supplies. If Queensland is wise it will be careful not to overreach in price, and will take double precautions that the meat reaches the German tables in perfect condition. Surely we can land our meat in England from this Dominion as cheaply as from Queensland. By reason of its hotter climate Australia’s grapes have a flavor that we cannot coax into ours, so, by reason of our cooler climate, our meat is unsurpassed. Queensland will send its beef, which is of less qaulity than ours, to a people that are not particular, while ours will thus be free to take its place alongside the ‘roast beef of old England.’ “What we have to do is to be doubly careful of the quality.” IF YOU CARE FOR CALVES. Don’t slaughter or sell a heifer calf from a profitable cow. Raise it. Don’t keep your cows in a dark, damp, dirty pen. Don’t overfeed them. Don’t feed milk at 100 degrees temperature one time and 80 degrees the next time. Don’t feed sweet milk one time and sour milk the next. Don’t feed from dirty buckets and never from a trough. Doing any of the last five things is apt to cause “scours” and “stunted calves.” Don’t feed the grain in the milk; feed it dry. Chewing it aids digestion. I Mixing it in milk means more scours. Don’t feed the foam that forms ■ on milk as it comes from the separator nor that on whole fresh milk. Foam is bubbles—bubbles are full of gas and gas causes colic and sometimes scours.

Don’t expose young stock to cold bleak weather nor allow them to drink very cold water in winter. TESTING. It may safely be claimed that this question takes up more time and entails more argument than religion and it has become the theology of their lives. Reviewing the matter from an unbiassed standpoint, one can only come to the conclusion that the whole question of testing is controlled by the supplier. The experience of practical men who have been testing milk and cream for years, is that either a lowering or variation in the test generally may be traced to one of the following conditions: — 1. Sudden change to cold and stormy weather. 2. Allowing the cows to be worried With dogs. 3. Attempting to yard and bail them with stockwhip, rail or boot. 4. Using varying amounts of water in flushing separator. 5. Cream outlet blocked owing to being improperly washed. 6. Allowing the milk to get too cold before going through the separator. 7. The cows being poor and halfstarved. 8. Running the separator too fast or too slow.

9. The separator being old or out of order. 10. The cream adjustment screw not being properly set. 11. Cream too thin, when fermentation quickly etarts. Under this condition it is almost impossible to get an accurate test. 12. The possibility of a clerical error sometimes occurring, must be placed on the list, as the infallible man is not yet born, but this does not often occur. If a farmer has his herd in good feed and condition, insists that they are handled quietly, and that the milking and separating are carried out with cleanliness, and, above all. cools and takes care of his cream, the variations in his test will be reduced to a minimum. The careful cleaning of milking machines and washing the separator twice a day are essentially strong points on the test question. Mr. D. M. Holmes, Jr., Pihama, recently sold a purebred yearling Shorthorn bull to a Palmerston North farmer. The price paid was £75. “It is estimated that there will be a glut of pigs bn the New Zealand market this year,” remarked an official of the Dairy Farmers’ Union to a Manawatu Standard representative, in stating that the union was determined to do everything possible to bring about a ! North Island bacon pool. He added that, I estimating the Dominion consumption of ! pigs as 100,000 per year,-there would be a. surplus of 30,000 animals, and the only way to prevent the market from glutting was to work up an export trade. Last season a trial shipment of some 14,000 sides of New Zealand pork was, he added, successfully marketed in Englland, but in order to finance an export I 1 trade of any dimensions an organisation in the nature of the proposed pool was absolutely essential. The winter of 1922 will long be rei membered by farmers in the South as I one of the dryest on record. There has been a. remarkable number of frosts. The position becomes more dr less serious when July passes, and the subsoil has not received a good soaking. The rainfall for July was practically 1} inches, which is not more than half the average fall for the month in the past 20 years. For the first seven months of the year the fall was only 111-3 inches. Some portions of South Canterbury are in a ranch more unenviable position . than Mid and North Canterbury, the south having had very little rain. Farm work is well forward, and the drilling of spring-sown wheat is proceeding •<4pace. —Sun. f