Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 28, 1910. THE USE OF MILKING MACHINES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10154, 28 December 1910, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 28, 1910. THE USE OF MILKING MACHINES.

j In Denmark, the Government takes . a live interest in the agricultural interests of the country, and particularly in dairying. The future of New Zealand will, like that of Denmark, depend largely upon its dairy export trade, and anything affecting it should receive the earnest attention of the Government. There is a general enquiry just now concerning the merits of milking machines. The opinion is expressed by many that they are injurious to the cattle, and the effect of their use is being, watched with interest. The reports obtained up to the present are contradictory, and, in fact, unreliable, owing to there being no. existing f organisation with the means of ob- | taining the necessary data. This is

I really one of the questions which j come within the jurisdiction of the ! Department of Agriculture. For- | tunately we have Denmark to turn | to, and the Consular report for 1909 | gives the use of milking machines a . prominent place. About 150 machines, mostly of the pressure and suction type, were in use, but there is still a very divided general opinion as to their advantages. Experiments were carried out at a large dairy farm, under the superintendI cnce of officials from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural College of Copenhagen, with the view of comparing the. relative value of hand and machine work. Cows and heifers were experimented on by both systems, and in the concluding stages a trial was given to the new milking cup, "Thulekoppen," by means of which all the milk is drawn from the cows, and subsequent milking by hand is unnecessary. The comparison was extended over a period of three or four months, with the resultthat as regards quantity there was little to choose between the two systems, the cows giving better results by hand and the heifers by machine, hut no reason is put forward for thia

difference. It was shown that a machine iitted with two double apparatus performed about -.0 same work as three hand milkers, being able to milk 50 to 60 cows in two to two and a half hours. The difficulty of milking cows by the machine when out at pasture has been met by the introduction of a cart iitted with benzine motor, air pump, vacuum, and piping, easiiy drawn by a single horse, in which there is space for a large number of milk cans. Examination of the milk appears to show that the purity of the machine-drawn product is greater than that of its rival. On the wohle, the opinion is expressed that when the cows become accustomed to the machine it will supersede tne old system, except who re local circumstances control the procedure. A new machine was being experimented on at the date of the report, under the control of the Stat6 Experimental Laboratory authorities. This works by pressure only, and not, as is usual, by pressure and suction. It, therefore, approximates more to , the process by hand. In this inter- [ esting rivalry, it is obvious that time is in favour of machine work, as in that only improvement is pos-

ble in the future, the milkmaid of the past being, no doubt, 011 the average, as expert as that useful female of the future, if sJie survives.