The Factory System: Winter Feed.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2519, 1 September 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Factory System: Winter Feed.

When we read of factories being closed for the season, as is the case in some of those established in this colony, wo are reminded of the old Hebrew saying—" A people is destroyed for lauk of knowledge." May not an industry suffer in like manner ? We have conferred with several dairy farmers of experience on this important question, and the result has not been entirely: satisfactory, inasmuch as the system of winter dairying has not received that attontion which it deserves. We have been told, for instance, that spring is the' best time for dairy cows to calve', just as the young flush of grass is coming on. Doubtless this has a large measure of reason in it, but still it does not embrace all that may be said on the question. Again we havo been met with the assertion that winter dairying will not pay at present prices ; this, wo ure quite prepared to admit, but we are now considering the question from a new standpoint, reckoning as we do that it is only a question of a little time when factories will be established wherever sufficient cows are available for the supply of a regular quantity of milk throughout the

year. Our contention is that it will pay under these circumstances to provide an ample supply of food to maintain a full flow of milk throughout; the year. At first sight it may appear more profitable to'hiiVß the dairy st,r>ck coming into full prolltwith the spring growth of and to let the supply fall off as soon as the grass fails, having the cows to, shift for themselves as best they can for the rest of tho year, sheltering themselves under gorsß hedges, or straw stacks, hut wo have no hesitation in condemning this system, as utterly contrary to all Ihi; principles of good farming. Had we no prospect of realising more than an average of 3d per lb for nur butter, wn admit that it would be dilHinilt to argue uut nur ease to a favourable conclusion, viz., that winter dairying will pay, but under the new ordor of things which menus a ready sale for our dniry produce at a price advaneed by nearly 100 percent, we .shall proceed with confidence. As ;i few well authenticated facts carry more weight with them th'in all the objeetioiJH wbieli iuexperionee cm suggest., we shall refer toacasc in poiul, thodolails of which have recently reached uh. An American dairy farmer, whoso cngiigoments were such that it was noce.is'iry to have fresh cows at all seasons of the year, kept a careful record for several years, and found that with cows of like age and breeding tVio?o wliic.h culvert in the autumn gavo from 8001b to lOOOlbs of milk more per year than, those which were fresh in tho spring. It was also found that tho winter milk was considerably richer than that made from the succulent pastures in spring and early summer, and from one to two quarts less of it was required to make a pound of butter. Two pounds of butter, by the way, at that season brought nearly as much as three in the summer ; but this would not be so much the case with New Zealand dairy farmers. However, as the greater bulk of the butter would be shipped—indeed we may conclude that all the summer butter would be shipped—and as it is barely probable that a great number of dairy farmers will at once fall in with our suggestions regarding winter dairying, those who did so would find an equally good local market for all they could produce. It was also found that cows calving in autumn had a longer milking period than spring cows, inasmuch as about the time they would naturally commence to fail the fresh pasturage coming on renewed the flow of milk which contained on into summer. Another feature worthy of note in this system is that the cows are dry durinc the hottest of the summer months when the pasturage is not usually so pleutiful, and when the heat, and annoyance of flies is detrimental to the animals comfort, rendering her less pro Stable than she otherwise would be.

■Haviiisr said so much in favour of wiutei , dairying, the question naturally suggests itself—How can stock be profitably fed in winter ? And here we have a large question propounded, one on which the profitable working of a winter dairy largely hariirs. We shall be told that it will not pay to hand-feed cuttle ill winter, that the labour question will kill it. Our reply to this is that it in successfully done in America whore labour is quite as costly as it is hero, where the winters are long and sovere, and where the cattle have to be housed for at least six months, and yet it pays. How much more should it pay in New Zealand whero shelter of the most temporary kind ia all that is required, and that not really needed for more than eight or ten weeks?

As regards feoding, readers of tho agricultural literature of the day must have observed that tho time-honoured institution of turnips, turnip slicers, and pulpers is fast passing , away, to give place to the new system of stock feeding , —we refer to c.isilage. Wβ have in previous issues posted our readers in what has been done towards investigating this now or rathernewly revised system of stock feeding , . One of the greatest drawbacks to dairy farming in the past (apart from the merit of a market at remunerative prices) h:is be6n the cost of providing roots for winter-feeding the stock. This difficulty is now in a fair way to be bridged over by the substitution of silage for roots. The cliinato of Now Zealand hind is admirably adapted for tho growth of foreign plants such as tares] Cape barley, m-iizo, &<•., which can be grown "at a minimum of cost, requiring: comparatively litlle b.!tiidlinj7,.;iml at a season of the year when the days aro long and tho ground dry. The question of winter feeding of dairy stocn is an important one, and we shall fully consider it in another issue when we hope to show that it can be conducted with profit.—Press.