LAND, STOCK & CROPS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 107, 15 February 1935, Page 7

LAND, STOCK & CROPS

NOTES AND COMMENTS. (By “Tlw Tramp”). The prevention of contamination in milk or cream, which results in subsequent rapid deterioration, demands from the dairy-farmer the exercise of the maximum amount of care in handling and thorough cleanliness throughout the year. The call for the practise of cleanliness is, however, greatest during the hot summer months. While most daiiy-farmers are fully, alive to the need for cleanliness, there are always to be found some who display carelessness or ignorance in this regards. However, if they hope to maintain the quality of their product at tlxe highest possible standard all the year round they must bear in mind the fact that care and cleanliness are aosoiutely necessary above all things. The milking machine when used by an incompetent or careless man is likexy to result m the production or an spread ol disease throughout the herd. a commoniy-acivocated uieuiod or cleaning machines is with a caustic solution, the proportionate supplies oi the necessary ingredients in tne solution being one teaspooiiiul of caustic soda to every four gallons oi boiling water. A cleansing with this solution should be immediately followed by a rinsing out with double the quantity of clean, boiling water. After employing this system for cleansing the plant, clean, cold water should' be passed through each set of teat cups before a star t is made with milking. No water should be allowed to run into the milk vat or cans. A second rinsing with cold water should be given to each set of teat cups after milking is finished. This will prevent any milk remaining in the system. Neglect of this practice will result in the formation in the milk, tubes of a hard scale. The outside of the teat cups and rubber tubing should be washed in the caustic solution and then rinsed in hot water. Following that, at least one gallon of the caustic soda solution, should be drawn through each set of teat cups. The solution should he brought to the boiling point in order to get the greatest benefit from it. After thorough cleansing all taps and ends on the milking plant should be left open in order to allow a {free circulation of air. The teat cups and all rubbers should he disconnected and placed in a dry, clean place where they will be protected from dust. It should also be seen to that they are not placed in the direct rays of the sun, or these will have a tendency to perish the rubber. . If milk of the highest quality is desired it is necessary that the whole plant be thoroughly cleansed each time it is used. A steam-cleaning process is sometimes recommended, but this will be more more harm than good unless the machines are: cleaned thoroughly afterward with the soda solution system. Steam, and also boiling water when used without a prior fluslir ing with cold water invariably causes deposits of “milkstorie,” the removal of which causes great difficulty. These deposits harbour millions or bacteria which contaminate the milk as it is drawn into the machine. The machines are, however, not the only consideration. Bacteria may exist in the cow’s udder or teats. Proper care should be given to tne udder and flanks, which should he wiped with a damp cloth before milking so as to remove any dirt or loose hairs. On account of the high bacterial content or the first milk drawn from each quarter it can hardly be regarded as a waste to discard it. Another matter for careful consideration is the milking shed itself. It is not of a great deal of use to have thoroughly sterilised machines if the environment in which the cow is milked is filthy. The shed and its yards should have well-drained concrete floors, and it shoujd be iemembered that regular and frequent cleaning of the floors will lend the bacteria fewer chances to, multiply. As bacteria flourish in darkness it is most advisable that the walls' of tne cowshed should be light; whitewash will give the desired effect. Cows should not be fed in the shed, as dust from the feed is a bad source of contamination.

A method by which the same quantity of green fodder can be produced in twelve months in a few small tanks as can be grown on two thousand acres of land is sufficiently revolutionary to merit the attention of all farmers. That is the claim of British Cultivators, Ltd., who are applying commercially the Spangenberg process of intensive" cultivation. And the results which I saw at Lady Yule’s Bncket Wood Farm (remarks a Home writer). The Spangenberg process, briefly, is the cultivation of seeds such as maize and barley by placing them m trays of warm water and adding the nutrient salts they would normally derive from an ideal soil. A unit of cultivation consists of two or more metal cabinets. Each cabinet is divided into live sections, one over the other, and into each section are fitted eight removable metal trays which, have perforated bottoms. The period of cultivation is ten days. Into the trays of a- section is placed the seed of maize or barley, whichever may be required. The section is flooded night and morning with water at 80 degrees temperature, to which, has been added nutrient salt. The temperature is maintained throughout the period of germination by the chemical action of the seeds. _ When the seeds have soaked for an appropriate period the water is drained off. The period of flooding diminishes as the plant progresses. The other sections are loaded, with seed in rotation. On the tenth day the seed in the first section has sprouted to a height (in the case of maize or barley) of about twelve inches and is ready to l be used as fodder. Captain Hutchinson, of British Cultivators, told me that the sproutin as average from five to six time the weight of the seed from which they spring, and that twelve pounds of maize will in ten days produce foityeight pounds of fodder. His estimate appears to be in no way exaggerated. He claims, further, that the plant will provide sufficient fresh “spring fodder each day to feed 20 cows, o 0 pigs, or 2000 cliickets. . (It has been conclusively proved that forced grass lacks in nutrition compared to that grown on natural pastures therefore the above experiment loses much of its interest through there being no proof of the feeding value of the material produced.)