FARM TOPICS.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9521, 14 September 1896, Page 3

FARM TOPICS.

"Weekly Press and Referee." Treatment of Mrr.K Fever. Many dairymen (says an American and breeders have suffered by this disease, which generally proves fatal. Every effort should be used to prevent it, a preventive being always better than an attempted cure. This trouble often occurs through neglect or mismanagement. Many breeders think it hotter to half starve, or to reduce tho feed of, their cows. I think this is poor policy. It is well to omit corn and heating feed for a time, and feed bran and oats, and roots are good at all times. I will give my treatment and experitnc**, which has run over a period of fifty-five years. Ido not change the feed previous to parturition unless I have been feeding corn. To reduce the feed ten days or so makes the cow uneasy and fretful. A few days before the time for the calf to come, I give the cow a box stall, and make her as comfortable as possible. About three days before parturition I give an ounce of saltpetre in a bran mash. As soon as possible after the calf is dropped, the cow is milked, and it she chooses she can drink tho milk. Very soon give her warm water and bran mash, with an ounce of saltpetre. The mash once a day is continued for a week or ten days, also chilled water. The cow bas dry bran and ground oats as a plain ration. She is not to be exposed to cold or draughts for some time, but kept clean and well bedded, with plenty of pure air and light. I havo followed this system all along, both in England and Ohio, and have not had a case of milk fever, and my father only had one case in his day. Let dairymen and breeders observe the utility of plenty of light and as much sunshine as possible in the barns, with quietness and cleanliness (no dogs around), and there would be fewer cases of this dread disease. Glass is cheap enough * have plenty of windows in barns, which can be opened and shut as need be. Perhaps the saltpetre would be too much for a Jersey and small cow. I have always had shorthorns. Three-fourths of an ounce would be well for a Jersey. An English writer says: " The disease may be prevented by keeping only inferior milkers, or by keeping good ones so poorly that there can be no profit in keeping them. It is the best milkers under full feed that succumb." Rather than en* dorse that principle, it wovdd be more profitable to lose a good milker occasionally. Tho "forcing process" certainly wears out a cow faster than the old way, but it is th* only profitable method of dairying. A Shropsuirb Flock-book. Where sheep are bred in such large num< burs (writes " Bruni" in the Australasian) as is the case on Australian pastoral properties flock-books are by some sheep-breeders held in moderate estimation, and for this reason —that from the numbers raised the cannot be kept up. There is much force in this objection when flock-books are proposed for the general sheep of the country, such as the merinoes. Even the breeders of long* wools, which are now nearly as numerous as the merinoes, are undecided as to the value of a flock-book for their stock. With the Shropshires, however, the case is different. These useful farmers' sheep have only lately been introduced into Australia, and an exact record of the foundation stock will always be of great value to the future breeders of Shropshires. Even now an exact record of the breeding of tho original merinoes and longwools that were imported into these colonies would be highly prized by the breeders of those sheep. There ia also another reason why a record ol pedigree of the Shropshire studs should ba preserved, and that is because the original sheep are of such great excellence. The finest flocko in the old country have been laid under contribution to start th. breed in these colonies. I understand that during the sheep show and sale weeks an attempt will be made to form a Shropshire flockbook for all Australia. As Shropshires are being constantly sent from one oolony to another tho project has much to reoommend it. South Australia was the first oolony to ■tart a flock'book for Shropshires, and Tasmania has followed suit. In Victoria, the Shropshires are steadily making their way. the flocks (with very few exceptions) being formed by importations from tbe two colonies named. Probably the formation of a Shropshire flock-book for all Australia will tend to keep up the present high standard of this useful and handsome breed of sheep.

Milking Shorthorns.

The milking powers of the shorthorn breed of cattle form the subject of a paper by the writer of " Scraps " in the Live Stock Journal. He Bays :—•" Some thirty years ago there was a prevailing opiaion that the milking power of the breed was exhausted and lost, but the practice of keeping systematic dairy records has exposed the fallacy of thif opinion. Deep-milking shorthorn- and shorthorns yielding milk exceedingly rich in butter have existed continuously from tht earliest days covered by shoi-tshor*. history to tbe present time." It the county of Cumberland the dairj? properties of the breed were elwayi kept up. Of the families that were famous at the pail he mentions the Gwynnes and the Strawberry tribe as being very superior A Cumberland herd belonging to Mr Todd was inspected by an expert in 1864, aad he gives the following description of them ;— "I found the stock to consist of thirty-fcwo animals of pure shorthorn blood. The cows are of large size, not deficient in quality, and they are extraordinary milkers. Many ol them give twenty quarts per day, and one ha<i been known to give thirty quarts."

Farmers as Bookkeepers.

The merchant who invests a sum of money in a particular business straightway opens a set of books, and the incoming and outgoing of every penny piece is carefully recorded, and a zealous eye is constantly kept to the balance. A man builds a factory and com* mences to manufacture goods. His books* tell the full story of his receipts and expenses, But the average farmer keeps no books,; In runs his business on the ' haphazard principle ; he sees that the ground is tnori or less cultivated, and trusts to Provi* dence that things will pan out all right. He trusts that he in making money at wheatgrowing, and that his cows and his pigs-are leaving a profit, but he could not swear that such is the case with regard to either. His sole financial guide in his bulking aoaount • but to which department of bis farm he is most indebted for increasing hia balance or lowering it he knows comparatively little. There are exceptions to this rule, but in this way do the generality of farmers run their business. The merchant who should transact business after this fushiou would expect to fail ; yet the careless farmer holds on the old way, and is mightily antonished when, at the end of a few years, he discovers that his capit-il has rKr-ajip**«red. He had done business in the dark, and is astounded when h** now into a stone wall. This sort of tiling ulioiUd l*« cli-mged. A farmer should do buiiaeas after business method-?, just as other men do. In farming, as in any business, the man who pursue* enlightened methnux l*a« a distinct advantage over one who labours, iv darkms*s and guests at the remU,—Atalr<il,is!<tii.