FOOD AND TREATMENT OF DAIRY CATTLE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1540, 18 May 1882, Page 4

FOOD AND TREATMENT OF DAIRY CATTLE.

The reformation so rapidly being effected in dairy management m t;be ijJnitjed/Kingdom, already referred to in ,pi evious articles, has 'lieoli sMihulat'ecl mainly through the instrumentality of association^ roi'nWa fdrth'e 1 express purpose', assisted by the valuable co-operation of 11 The Royals" and other leading agricultural stfcicciel "Biit for tlic' influential, judicjous, , , and , comprehensive action taken 1 by these associations,, British jfarmera would have contimied in their* selfsatisfied ways a few years longer, when the/' w^tild have found their dairy prodttce'^uoted at the lowest prices in their own markets. ' It has been made plain to them that in the leading English markets the'fofeignef has for some time been obtaining thfe'fanfjy and higher pi'iees, and that, consequently, the importations have been increasing enormously, whilst the best ", home-manufactured produce has been delegated to a lower grade. Necessarily, I 'the ' Englishman has been com- 1 pelted to admit that his management and appliances, haye been imperfect, and hence 1 tlie 1 vigororts efforts made to regain the / form J er pre-eminence. By means of the socities, detailed and complete infor? mation has been obtained and published as to all the various and approved practices prevailing on the Continent and in America in dairy management, and further .exhaustive investigations and experiments have been originated with the view to , determine the most suitable breeds of cattle for dairy purposes, as well as their feeding and general treatmenJT."' Ifcis to this latter branch of the subject we wish now to draw particular attention, for although a good harvest and better prices may influence the grea%et! number of our farmers to a continuance in the usual course, the more enterprising will doubtless appreciate information, which sooner or later must be of service to them in their practice, and feel'desirous of being kept well-informed in all the progressive stages the daiiy farming industry is making elsewhere. However freely our fanners may absent to the doctrine that an abundance of good milk from dairy cows can only be assured by a plentiful supply of nutritiousiood,, it is certain the common practice is in a contrary direction. During the summer mouths they may perhaps have moderately good pasturage, but throughout the winter they have to subsist, on stunted innutritious grass and straw, and are also exposed to all the variations and inclemency of the weather. MrAUender, to whose excellent paper we again refer, gives a forcible illustiation of scanty, as compared witli liberal feeding. Of two farms, he writes, 'We will call them 16 and 18, as those number? represent their position among twenty-three, as fixed by the quality ol the.milk — No. 16 having 1 2*42 ot solids, and.Noi 18 1240, so ,th.it virtually the milk was identical in quality. No. Hi had the advantage in "faf — 2.88 against 2.71. The difference, howovci, to these two fanners must havo been considerable, as supposing each had hail the) same -number of oows, and the avorngo, yield per cow had been at the, same rate as that of the cows actually kept, the one farmer would have received £1 17s 6d per diem, the other £5 or £562 10s for the year, against £15.00. The former was then using daily 1 peck of wheat and beau meal, mixed about lib of linseed cake, half a bushel roots, ami about one trus>s of hay to two cows ; the other was using about ">ilb decorticated cotton-cake per cow and two trusses of hay to tin cc cows. Now, the < food bill in the case of the former would be heavier than with the latter.' Still further and valuable evidence was contributed on this point at a recent meeting of the British Farmers' Club, by a Mr Tisdall, who had kept exact records for over thirty years' of the quantity of milk given by his cows, and the amount and cost of food supplied. In discussing the .dairy subject this gentleman remarked, ' The feed is of course the great cause of everything — not only of quantity, "but of equality of the produce Even much of the brud (/on hi at the mouth. Every one who knows much about cattle knows the moi c you put in them the more you get out of them. I have a record of thirty-one cows which I kept twenty-nine weeks in one house in the winter of 1848. They were kept on wurzel, grains, and hay, and cost me 8s 9d per week each for the twenty-nine weeks, and produced an average of B'l quarts each day during that period and were low in condition at the end. In the same house I kept thirty- three cows in the winter of IS3O for thiity weeks at the cost of 10s 3d per cow per week, and produced 99 quarts each daily, and they were in good condition at the end of the winter. I now spend 2s to 2s o'd a week more in winter on all my cows, and I get moie milk and a better condition of the animal in consequence.' Mr Tisdall therefore firmly believes that the question of profit in the management of d.iiiy cows is merely one of food, and testifies that nutritious lood to cows means rich milk. In the milking competitions at the dairy shows initiated lately in England, the animals were tested both as to quantity and quality, for it is justly contended that a cow which yields a large flow of milk is all the more valuable, if the milk be rich in butter and cheese. In returns furnished by Mr Tisdall, it is shown that 23 cows in 43 weeks averaged 885 gallens each, while individual animals gave as much as 1000 and 1100 gallons each, and ten animals gave 12-88 quarts each daily for over 12 months, or over 1200 gallons each in the time. Now, if such returns as these are compared v. ith tho^e furnished from aMr Carrington's stock, which were good and supposed to yield a fair average of 550 gallons per cow between calving and calving, the fruits of good or high feeding will appear in a still stronger light, and the question will naturally occur what sort of lood does Mr Tisdall recommend ? That gentlemen is very emphatic on the subject, Speaking of town dairies, he says, ' If you force brewers' grains through cows, you can get any quantity of milk, as in the case of tlio Dutch cow at the dairy show, which yielded such an enormous quantity some time ago. But if you give them pea or bean meal mixed with giains, you have the thing that is wanted.' Mr Jenkins, of the Koyal Agricuultural Society of England, when illustrating the benefits of Keeping careful dairy records, fur- - lushes at the same time startling evidence of the profits arising through good feed and treatment. He had the opportunity of examining the accounts of a farm on which careful records were kept ~ of the dairy produce for very many years. In 1880 'the average quantity of milk per head .was 641 gallons ; the yield of butter was 163 51b per cow, against 88'41b forty „ years' ago : and the yield of cheese was \ 255*51b, against 93 '51b,' or an average mii caeaae accomplished within that time of \ nearly 2-fc' times as much butter, and three' %. times as much cheese, per com. A good % deal of this improvement may certainly fbe owing to the better selection and J, breeding of the cattle, but with all due' allowance 'for this, there .would be a \4arge margin to be placed to account of keep' and treatment. In any -case- the figures show wonderful .results,, IfronlHhes'e causes combined.— Witness. «r , jAMßpffSroSpoN Bbnnijtt has given the Ivors' fnH '}O,OQQdoL 4 , f