CASEIN AND FAT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 298, 15 December 1911, Page 7

CASEIN AND FAT.

IN 'MTT,K OF COWS OF DIFFERENT BREEDS. The Ontario Agricultural College and Experimental Farm have in the past two or three years been investigating ; the relative amounts of casein and fat ' in different cow’s milk belonging to the different breeds. In tie I' 36th annual report the following statements appear; The average number of days milking 1 per cows during the period of testing | was 221. The Ayrshires produced the 1 greatest number of pounds of milk, , fat and casdin. The highest average ; percentage of fat and casein in the 1 milk by breeds was tn that of the Jerseys. The average percentages of fat I and casein for nine cows 'were respectively 3.96 and 2.38. 1 The range in the percentages of fat 1 and casein in individual cow's milk for the period of the test was from 3.41 to ' 4.88 for the fat and 1.94 to 2.68 for the ' casein. None of the Ayrshires showed 1 such a wide variation in percentages of fate and casein in their milk as did cows representing the other two breeds. 1 The percentage of fat and casein tends to increase quite markedly to- ; wards the end of the period of lactation. So far as we can judge from the ( data on hand, the feed does rot appear I to affect the percentages of fat and j casein in the milk. Lactation appears ; to bo a more important factor than . j either feed or season of the year. I ! The Jerseys j>roduceJ J.781b8. of fat ! for each pound" of casein in tfie milk, or .561bs. of casein for each pound of fat. The Holsteins produced 1.63 lbs. fat for each pound casein m milk, or 61 lbs. casein for each pound of fat. The Ayrshircs produced 1.591b5. of fat for- each pound casein in milk, or .C2lbs. casein for each pound fat in milk. ENSILAGE MAKING IN ENGLAND Anyone who has been across the Atlantic, or who has looked into an American farm paper, must have been struck with the tremendous develop- j ment of the practice of ensilaging forage 1 ; crops that prevails over there, and the j ■question very naturally arises why en-j silage has not been a success in Eng- ; I land, writes Professor MoConnel. The I I.silo—tho round building for storing the • nilage—is one of the most conspicuous objects at every farm, and the styles and details of such buildings are the -subject of elaborate inquiry and report by all agricultural authorities over there. Ensilage was introduced into England in 1875 by Professor Wrightson, who had seen it practised in Hungary, where green grass was preserved in “graves” or trenches dug in the ground, the stuff trod in, and then covered with earth. Later on an Ensilage (Society was formed to foster the introduction of the new product, which was wound up after it was reckoned the system was familiarised to farmers. Notwithstanding its great success elsei where, and its one-time popularity here, it Seems to have died out in this conn-! try completely, and one is puzzled to i ■ know the reason why. In the States I the great crop for ensilage is maize. 1 Thus is passed through the chaff-cutter i and the chopped material “blown” by i beaters on a flywheel up a pipe in at 1 ; the top of the silo building, whore it presses, heats, and cures itself, and ; comes out in winter as “aromatic” sappy feeding for,all kinds of live stock: in place of roots. One great objection to its use in this country was the smell developed. American reports do not complain of this, but with us it was i very bad; the writer tried it once, and I the smell was unbearable. Another ob- ' jection is the fact that in normal years we grow good crops of roots, which serve our purpose better. On the other hand, the carting of a green, damp for- ; age crop to the homestead involves no ’ j more labour than the carting of a root ! cron, while the growth of a forage crop I —like clover and vetches —for ensilage purposes is not so expensive as growing roots. Nevertheless the fact remains that the system of ensilaging has •been prdcticaily a failure >in England, while it is a booming success elsewhere, and this naturally makes one. j want to know if there is anything more I j we could do to make it a success, !