DAIRY ITEMS,

Press, Volume LV, Issue 9993, 24 March 1898, Page 2

DAIRY ITEMS,

Home Cbeam Separation , .

Home cream separation is largely adopted in Canada, and also in Queensland, and some , of the outlying districts in New South Wales and Victoria. It is also stated by the Wairarapa Observer that in the Wairarapa and Forty Mile districts in the North Island "home cream separation" is increasing with rapid strides. Dairy farmers who have been sending their milk to butter factories, or making up the article for the stores with very indifferent success, are many of them going in for home cream separation. What has militated against this in the past has been the costliness of the separators, which, worked by power, necessitated the purchase of an engine and boiler. That can now be met by turbine separators, which require no engine but are run by steam only. There is this advantage in home cream separation over dealing with factories, the haulage of milk to the factory and back is saved, and the farmer has his own warm sweet milk to feed his calves, instead of having to take the pooled skimmed factory milk. Farmers find a ready Bale for their cream all the year round at prices ranging from 7£d to lOd per lb. of butterfat, according to the season of the year, the-higher price of course ranging through the winter months.

Judging Buxls in Denmark,

Power to transmit his characteristics to his progeny is the great point in the dairy bull as regarded from the Danish standpoint. A recent visitor to that country has described the method of judging for a bull championship as earned out by the bull show commission of Zealand. When the entries have been received the commission visits the farms on which the bulls are kept, for the purpose of inspecting the stock. The cows

with which the bulls are mated and the young stock are all brought under the eyes of the judges, who first examine the bull for quality, and then by taking sire and dam and young stock together decide what proportion of the quality of the young stock should be credited to the sire. Hereditary influence is undoubtedly a strong point in the value of a bnll, in fact, no breeder would think of purchasing the sire of any stock before he knew something of the youngsters. All the same, Colonials will conclude that Danish judges have a great deal more time on their hands than those in these colonies. Past£Ckisi>-g Milk. Mr W. J. McVeigh, manager of the Central Butter Factory, Berry, gave a representative of the Sydney Town and Country Journal the following particulars of a series of demonstrations in pasteurising milk which he recently carried out at the Jiudyandy factory, in the Shoalhaven district. Mr McVeigh, who believes in up-to-date requirements in the dairy, pronounces the recent demonstrations a success. The process was carried out on milk alone, which was treated to 160* Fah. and delivered into the separator dram. In this way the skim milk was free from any infection of tuberculous germs, and a safe and healthy food for the young stock (calves). The farmers readily recognise this point and are emphatic that this alone should decide the erection of a pasteurising plant. The second advantage to the factory compauy was cleaner skimming ; all experiments had proved this conclusively. The separator working in conjunction with the pasteuriser gives a result of .05 of fab in the skim milk, t\ro other separators working side by side as the ordinary milk gave a result of .1%, or exactly as much again in one experiment. The separator showed no trace of fat in the milk. The saving in this direction in a large factory would amount to a great deal at the end of a year's working. The third advantage is the delivery of a sweeter cream at the Central making establishment; the cream of pasteurised milk takes longer to develop acidity, and before-that time elapses it is in the hands of and control of the Central management. Mr McVeigh was a3ked: Does not this give extra work in ripening? and he replied: Never mind that; deliver mc sweet cream is all I ask, and I will soon ripen it. He finds better results to follow careful ripening, and, in cream of pasteurised milk, a less loss of fat in the buttermilk is shown. , In careful, well, ripened cream the serum is reduced in specific gravity. The casein is coagulated evenly by the acid formed in ripening, and the tension on the surface of the fat globules is decreased, producing better results in the churning. Mr McVeigh explained that the farmers must not run away with the idea that any milk will do for pasteurising. They must even try to get better milk than at present, and stale or doubtful milk, or that charged with a large amount of acidity, will not withstand the heat. They must have the milk delivered twice daily, and he finds the dairy farmers will readily accede to this request. In answer to a question asking if pasteurising cream would not do as well, Mr McVeigh said yes, to a certain extent, but it would not embrace the advantages of pasteurising the milk, and the farmers would derive no benefit in return of the separated milk; besides, it requires more careful manipulation, and is the most valuable should ib spoil by accident. Calf Rkaiung. In an article on this subject published in the Fanner and Stockketjaer, "Lynn" lays stress upon the urgent importance of keeping " nothing but good, well-bred cows," and the assurance is given that " these will be found most profitable by far in the end, not merely because they throw calves of a better class — and that alone is a consideration—but they stand feeding for milking purposes much better than a poor specimen of the breed, and also sell for a great deal more money when cast to. give place to younger animals." A great deal depends on the sire—at least as much as on the cows. Only sires of a type and pedigree likely to beget a class of calves that will be of robust constitution, apt to respond readily to liberal treatment, and which, when reared or fattened, will command plenty of willing buyers, should be selected for service. His system of feeding and management may to some appear somewhat extravagant and indulgent, but the one great principle which -underlies " Lynn's " practice and advice is in effect the old and essential one, that the animals should be kept in a state of active progression from their birth onwards. He cautions the avoidance of chills and other common ailments begotten of neglect, as •• it is at this time, when in its very infancy, that a beast can be most easily made or ruined." He continues: "Give it a good start, keep it healthy and thriving in its youngest days, and you will be amply repaid for your trouble. If well cared for at the commencement, there is never half the trouble afterwards. Starve, neglect, or illtreat them when young, they will never make good cattle, but generally remain puny, slow-thriving animals to the end." The writer, who rears all his calves by hand, insists upon a calf getting its mother's milk for the first week after birth. He has found them do better on it than on the substituted milk of another cow. A liberal quantity of new milk is necessary at the outset, but, beginning at the age of three weeks, the calf has its allowance of new milk gradually diminished, and skim milk and milk substitutes, bought or home-made, are introduced by degrees. So extensively and successfully does the writer utilise artificial materials that he finds a good cow, well fed for milking, capable of yielding sufficient milk to bring up three and sometimes four calves in a year. The weaning process is begun when the calves are four or-five months old, but " Lynn " prefers to lower the quality of the liquid food by adding water, rather than to reduce the quantity. The writer concludes with strict injunctions to have regular honrsior feeding and tending the animals. When regularity is observed " they soon, by some instinct, learn to know the times when attention .should be paid to them, and after receiving it rest quietly and contentedly until next feeding time. ,.