THE FARM.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 12, 4 June 1920, Page 13

THE FARM.

NOVEL PIG FOOD. A lesson in economy is provided by a system in vogue at a farm at Bendigo, Vic., where about 400 pigs are kept. The farm also runs a jam factory, and it is the utilisation of the waste apricot seeds which provide the novelty. The land consists of about twenty acres ; it was originally a waste area. Water being available, there was soon a change as by magic. The pigs are grazed on the crops grown on the farm with a supplemental ration from the factory, which consists mostly of waste apricot seeds. It is quite interesting to watch the pigs cracking the stones and sorting out the kernels. Previously this food was wasted. That the kernels are an excellent fattening food is demonstrated by tbe splendid condition of the herd. Recently one of these apricot stone-fat-tened animals tumed the scale at 5631b. This is claimed to be a record. The hog was a Tamworth-Berkshire cross. Damaged sugar from the factory, bag sprinklings, and other refuse, are converted into a syrup and given to the fatteners. The healthy condition of the animals is one of the features of the farm. THE DAIRY COW AND SOME OF HER HABITS AND VICES. HARD MILKERS. Chief amongst the troublesome ones are the hard milkers. A heifer will often be hard to milk just at first, but improves as time goes on, and as she becomes more used to the operation. But there are cows which are consistently hard milkers, even after the third and fourth calf. Some animals are hard to milk because of their extreme nervousness. When this is the case it will be found that they will yield to gentle treatment. Rough handling or shouting at them is quite useless, and only makes matters worse. Indeed, rough treatment is bad for all milking cows. They become upset and irritated very easily, some being much more sensative than othfers just in the same way as Some human beings are more sensative than others. CAUSE OF HARD MILKING. Hard milking may be caused by disease or small ailments of the udder. Cracks and sores on the teats give a cow a considepable amoimt of pain when pressed during the operation of milking, and it is only natural that sha should hold back the milk in her effort to escape the -pain. Warts on the end of the teat may be the cause of the trouble. As these increase in size there is a tendency for them to close up the orifice through which the milk is drawn. The sphincter muscle, which closes the milk duct, is very much stronger in some cows than in others, and this fact is responsible for a great deal of the difference in the effort required to extract the milk. The worst kind of hard milking to deal with is when the cow deliberately holds back the milk, as she has the power to do. Try as you will, you cannot get a flow of milk from an animal that is determined that you shall not do so . As a rule the cows reserve this piece of awkwardness for the times when the person who usually milks them is away, and a stranger is taking his place. The exercise of • patience and gentleness is the only way to induce them to be more reasonable. Any show. of irritation on the milker's part will only have the effect of making them more determined.

KICKING COWS. Kicking is a vice which is not indicated by the general appearance. It may be that the animal kicks out when anyone goes near her, or she may only give a kick now and then when being milked or when a calf is put to her to suckle. A regular kicker can safely be said to do it from sheer vice and a desire to be as disagreeable as possible. When the kicking is only occasional there will probably be some reason for it, and it is well to look around and see if the reason can be found and remedied. • Sore teats may be the cause. One has only to reflect how sore a small crack on the finger can be to appreciate the pain a cow must suffer when a sore teat is being pressed and squeezed during milking. In a case like this the kicking is only in self-defence, and if means are taken to get the cracks healed up the kicking will cease when the pain is gone. TH IRRITABLE SUBJECT. Nervous, irritable cows sometimes kick just to relieve their feelings. Such animals require kind and gentle treatment,

or they will become habitua! kickers. It is a good plan to give a little food that they are particularly fond of at milking time in order to distract their attention. H they still refuse to stand quietly there is nothing left for it but to hobble them in some way. Most milkers have their own method of dealnig with a kicking cow, but no harsh treatment fiiust be allowed at any time, for it will only make matters worse. It is sometimes a great temptation to give a tiresome animal a blow with some handy implement, but it is far better to resist the temptation and use gentler methods.

FATTEN THEM OFF. Cows which cannot be induced to give up their kicking habits are best fattened up and sent to the butcher, for they are not worth the time which must be spent on thcrn every day during milking. Any cows with persistently bad habits are best got rid of, for they can never be valuable members of a milking herd with such undesirable charucteristics. Some cows are continually struggling in the bail to get free. They seem to have a great objection to being fastened up, and may injure themselves and others in their efforts to get' away. Young cows are particularly restless, but gentleness overcomes' this after the animal has been a short time with the milking herd. Cows which suck themselves or each other are always a nuisance. This is a vice not easy to cure, and it is wisest to get rid of cows addicted to it, as it may spread the other members of the herd. Spiked muzzles or neck ruffs can be used when the cow is out at grass. Eating wood, gnawing at various things, and licking the walls are habits which may arise as the result of the food containing a deficiency of mineral matter. A piece of rock salt put into trough or boxes in the paddock will often cuxe these habits. dairying rations. As concret| illustrations of rations that may be recommended for dairy cows oi different productive capacity under preeent conditions, the following are suggested : — For cows producing less than a pound of butter-fat a day (less than three gallons of milk per head) : 1. Thirty pounds of lucerne hay (or all they w31 eat). 2. Eighteen pounds of lucerne hay, thirty pounds of silage (from Indian corn, milo or sweet sorghum, small grains, Sudan grass, etc.). For cows producing over a pound of butter-fat a day : 1. Twenty-five pounds lucerne hay, one pound of concentrates for every four or five pounds of milk produced. Concentrates suggested ; Barley (or wheat bran), dried beet pulp, cocoanut meal, mixed in proportion 2 :1 :1, by weight. 2. Fifteen pounds lucerne hay, ^twenty-five pounds silage, the sarne grain xuixture as above in a somewhat smaller proportion, say one pound to every six pounds of milk. If lucerne costs more than 40 per cent. of the average price of the grain feeds, it is relatively expensive, and less hay and more grain feeds will make both a more economical and efficient ration than those suggested. When grain hav is fed and not lucerne, either of the above* rations will be improved by adding about a pound of cottonseed or linseed meal per head, since it is necessary in this case to supplement roughage with a grain mixture containing some high protein concentrates. Linseed meal is too expensive to be fed to dairy cows in any but small amounts, but cottonseed meal furnishes more protein for the money, and, with either of the mixtures given, mskes a palatable and effective grain feed. ** If it cannot be obtained, wheat bran and cocoanut meal mixed in the proportion of 2 or 3 :1, by weight, will make a good supplement when grain hay is fed.

WOOL IN FRANCE. A member of the French wool trade, writing from Roubaix to the "Wool Record, says : — ■' 'As you know, our wool trade here has recovered much quickex than any of us foresaw. Nevertheless, owing to the German requisitions and destruction of machinery, I do not think we are running more than 50 per cent. compared with pre-war consumption. Strikes (whicli take place in spite of the high wages that work people are now getting), and lack of coal, are making it impossible to turn out as much as we could do. On the other hand, the market is very good. The industry has sold at - exceedingly good prices, and cannot take any more big orders for the first six months of next year. Without doubt prices are high, but still not dangerous, because the speculative element is excluded ; wool is only bought against order3 taken some time before, and margins are very safe. There is, therefore, very little chance of any panic.

Combs are turning out a little more than spinners can consume, but we have plenty of inquiry and orders for tops from England, Switzerland, Holland, and Belgium. It takes a man with a big lot of capital to b-uy any wool or tops for. stock to-day, and with these orders in our own country there is no stock in France."