Farm and Garden

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 382, 3 September 1903, Page 7

Farm and Garden

original articles. propitabmTdairying. £ft£2> GREAT number o£ the oowa ®M® produce the milk consumed every SO: day are what should be properly called dairy ccws. But moßtly they do not deserve to be dignified by that name, because a dairy cow ought to give milk enough in a year to pay for her feed and a handsome profit beside. Many observations show that a majority of the cows owned by people fall far below this standaid. As a rule such cows yield milk about four to .seven months in a year, The majority of men who keep cows for the milk that they can sell do not care to pay the price for a good dairy caw, although many of them must know very well that the profit to be derived from a good cow would not only pay for itself ia a yea; but yield a handsome profit beside. I Bat some people bay coirs for keeping up their herds by trying to find some one who did not know that cows were paying well, and would then pay a low price with the cff chance of obtaining a good cow. Thajk exhibits one ignorant man endeavouring to take advantage of another man's ignorance. Neither of them owns a valuable cow, and if they did they would not know it, because no record is kept; it is considered too much bother- The farmer works hard to raise feed for his stock, but much valuable time and money is expended by feeding unprofitable cows. A method adopted was first to find out how many cows a farmer milked, and then «s many four-ounce bottles was prcvided is he had ccws in milk. A small one-ounce dipper for taking a sample and a record book, and if the farmer did not have any kind of weighing scale a spring balance was provided. There are scales made purposely for weighing cows' milk ; some are marked in divisions of one-tenth of a pound instead of ounces. That is a convenience, as by adding up the total production of a cow decimals are easier to reckon than fractions. These "scales alluded to have two bands on the dial, one red and the other black; the red hand may be adjusted with a thumb screw and set at zero on the dial when the empty pail i» hanging to the siale. That red hand will then show toe weight of the milk in the pail each time, making it unnecessary to subtract the weight of the pail. The milk of each cow should be weighed morning and night at the tim 9 of milking one day in a week, or once ia two weeks; or even ones a month is better than no weighing at all. After recording the weight in a book, the mil* is poured back <>nd forth a few times from one pail to another, and a sample of about one ounce of it poured into the sample bottle marked with the number of the cow. At the next milking this is repeated, and the simple of milk poured into the same bottle as the previous one. Bach bottle thus 'contains a mixed sample of the milk produced in 24 hours. A teßt of this sample with tee weight of milk for the same time is taken as average figures for calculating the total production of milk and butter fat for the time between teats. Eor instance, if a cow gives 15 pounds of milk at night, and 18 pounds in the morniag, her total milk for the day is 38 pounds. The next teßt shows what the cow produced the next week, and at the end of her milking period the sum of the weekly weights and tests show her total production for the time covered by the test. Such tests as give figures on which a farmer may base his opinion of the cows he is feeding. Cows which have access to waterholea containing stagnant water are sure to stand in them during the heat of the day, especially so if the flies are troublesome, and in that way the udder becomes covered with them. When the animals are milked the germs are liable to fall into the pail containing the milk. Sometimes Buch ge;nn are not vary hurtful, and but little damage results. Bat there i 3 always under such circumstances danger of typhoid and other disease germ?, therefore great care should be exercised ia carefully washing the cow's udder before she is milked. Even with washing ia the ordinary way it is possible for the mUk to become contaminated, and so it is a good plan to use a little boracic acid in the water when washing the udder; also the openings ia the teats are liable to contain germs which are not removed by washing the udder, acd t)6v»d disease gaim3 in that way it is best to milk a little from each teat into a separate pail, and in that way any disease germs which may have collected at the openings will be removed If it is not cußtomary to clean the cow carefully before milking, at the least the cow should not have accesn to foul water. If shade is provided, cpws do very well without standing ia water during very warm weather. M*ny people believe that typhoid geznu get into the cow's system from drinking polluted water. But from tests that have bean mado it appears that there is not so very much danger in that way, udlsbs the animal is diseased, and then tl e glands which secrete the milk may become affected. At the same time it is considered very wrong and dangerous for a cow to drink impure water, or that coming fromswamp3 or waterholes in the pastures. Stagnant water contains a large quantity of germs which multiply very rapidly during warm weather, which if taken into the bj s tern produce secretions that may do serious injury. It is especially necessary to provide pure drinking water for cows, and also clean surroundings for those cows which furnish milk for young children.