SUGGESTIONS FOR DAIRYMEN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9033, 26 February 1908, Page 3

SUGGESTIONS FOR DAIRYMEN.

Milk should not be used within 15 days of parturition, or during the first five days after parturition. All cows should be dried off at least fifteen days before calving, not only for the sake of the animal, but also on account of the poor quality of such milk at that time. This milk before and after parturition is called colostrum, and is a yellow, viscid fluid of a -strong odour, bitter taste, and acid reaction. Such milk is likely to produce diarrhoea, colic and other digestive disturbances. Keep a record of the breeding of each cow, so you will know when she is due to calve.

The dairy, bull should be fed like a working horse, and should receive plenty of exercise. Work him in a tread power. The milking is one of the important parts of the dairy business. The cows should be milked quickly, cleanly and quietly. Do not excite your cows, or they will not let their milk down. Don't beat a cow because she kicks. If she kicks, there is some cause for it. Look for the cause and remedy it. It may be a sore teat, it may be an inflamed udder, or it may be that she has been misused, and regards her milker as an enemy that she must fight. If such is tJS case, treat her kindly and she will soon learn that you are not going to* harm her.

Clip the long hair off the udder, and flanks and tail, and wipe the udder with a damp cloth before milking, and you will be surprised to 3ee how much cleaner tha miik Avill be.

Weigh each cows's milk with" an accurate scale, and test the milk with a Babcock tester, and you will be able to see how many of your cows are paying for themselves.

OATS FOR MILK PRODUCTION.

Commenting upon the subject of the improvement of milk by giving a judicious amount of oats to cattle, a writer in a Danish dairy journal recommends the giving of oats in small quantities when the milk is watery, adding that about Jib or fib would be sufficient per head per 'lay. This, the authority in question states, might be accepted with a certain amount of hesitation had it not been proved in a definite manner by experiments that a supplementary ration of a little oats has a very favourable influence, not only upon the amount of fatty matter, but also upon, the taste of the milk >. and the butter made; moreover, there is an increase in the production of milk and butter in consequence. The foregoing contention is supported by an experiment which was made on ten cows, divided in two groups of five each, in such a way as to ensure that their milk production was almost identical. After a certain day the first group received, as a supplementary ration, about lib of oats per head daily. Even as soon as the second day the favourable influence of this method was apparent, which lasted up till the tenth day. The milk was very good, having a fine nutty flavour; the butter was better, and the cattle in good condition.