THE DAIRY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13713, 21 April 1910, Page 2

THE DAIRY.

I ("Weekly Press and Referee.") i Recent experiments prove that the ' brooding of a dairy cow counts 'or ■ much in the matter of production. In '• one experiment it was possible to in- | J crease tho average yearly butter pro- j j duction of a com* from 225 pounds to ' 40G pounds in three generations. The j use of purebred cows of a distinct heavy milking strain made possible such, sn increase in but three years of breeding. The value of a good iira can not be over estimated. Dairy cons have too long been judged and prizes awarded on the sci'e of points recognised by the score cari. The object in breeding dairy stock h to olftahi milk and butter. Dairy cows should be selected and judged aocording to their producing ability ec,ardless of symmetry, beauty an'l some other things which have counts! for ten or more points in the sco-e card but which are not necessarily the attributes of heavy milk production. .\t the recent National Dairy Show in Kansas a class of cows was judged on a plan which, as a result of the firs£ tiial, is looked upon with favour, fhe rules required that the animals entered should have, to their credit, at least, one yearly official test; then the cows were to be judged according to their individual merits in dairy type, symmetry, and conformation, and given a percentage basis. This would require that the first cow must have a higher i percentage scoro than any of thoso olIciwing, but each cow must be placed on ihe basis of 100 as perfect. Then, considering the butter fat records of each cow, a credit of one point to every 20 pounds of fat above the requirements of -tOO- pounds every year would be given. This would mem that a cow having an official record of bOO pounds of butter-fat per year would be allowed ten points on production, thus if the cow scored 85 points, her product would raise her record to 9o points. In this way a cow would be able to compete in the show ring though iShe be defective in typo and still make a good showing if she ha.*e a largo butter record to her cred : t. This method of judging cows is the first public recognition over given in tho snow ring and it will, no doubt, .'- ---ceive support by the breeders who arc substantially backing their claims on perfection by performance. It would not be surprising in the future to "md tho dairy cow largely judged in this manner. It was only yesterday, as it were, that the practice of dipping and pouring tho evening's milk intended for tho factory was thought to be the proper r.nd the only prope- way of treating it. In the warm summor evenings, it was for very many the last job before going to bed, an irksome but supposedly necessary task. Somo ten or twelve years ago, several farmers in the neighbourhood of London (Ontario) had automatic agitators installed, which when wound up kept stirring the milk for hours. These soon went out of use, however, their effect being tho spoiling of several batches of milk. Now we are informed, on the authority of no less a person than George H. Barr, of tho Dairy and Cold Storage Com--pany's staff, Ottawa, a level-headed and careful experimenter, that aeration is not only needless, but positively hurtful. The conclusion regarding proper care of milk at which; Mr Barr arrived in 1908, after a series of carefully-con-ducted experiments, that prompt cooling of milk, without aeration, gave the finest curds and cheese, has been confirmed by a further set of experiments* conducted in 1909. These latter might be expected to bo even more authoritative than the first, in that, while in 1908 the milk from but two herds was used for experiment, the product of the herds of all the patrons of the Smith's Falls Cheese Factory was under test in 1909. Another factor was that Mr Barr or his assistants attended to the cooling or aerating of the milk in 1908 in person, nut last year this work was done by the patrons themselves, acting under instructions. In this way, &ny suspicion that former conclusions were reached on account of the skill of the experimenter, was removed. Results obtained indicate that aeration by dipping and pouring is not only less beneficial than cooling without aeration, but. that it is positively injurious. Milk that was simply stirred without cooling invariably gave better-flavoured and less gassy curds than were produced from aerated milk, whether cooled or not. The practice of leaving milk uncooled is not to be commended, however, as in warm weather it becomes over-ripe during the night. Much the best method is to cool the milk as soon possible after milking, without aeration. The plan of cooling reoommen'Jed is to place the milk cans in cold water, and, as the cows are milked, strain the milk into the cans, and put the covers on as soon as milking is finished. In a review of the Reason of 1909 of the export trade of the port of Montreal, compiled by the Commercial Department of "The Gazette," it. is remarked •—'■ There are probably one million more people in Canada now than m 1904, and it is recognised that the consumption of butter, milk, and cheese has consequcntlv much expanded, while with the increasing purchasing power of the people as a whole the use of cream and other milk i>roclucte has greatly extended; It is calculated that in Canada in the shape of milk, butter, cheese and condensed milk over two-thirds ,of the tota] dairy production is consumed, j In 1903 there were shipped from Mon- j treal 2,395,932 boxes of cheese, against only .1.872.315 boxes in 190 D. Since 1898 the price per box of cheese has been on a higher basis, end while this has been good for the producer, the exporter has had to be content with a smaller margin of profit, or even had to sell at a loss, according to the prevailing conditions. This last season prices have been slightly less, exporters being anxious to keep down the prices, especially with the formidablo character of tho competition nf the New Zealand product, which in the British market occupies second place to Canada, among the countries shipping cheese to tho United Kingdom. Tho factories in New Zealand are larger than those in Canada, some of them making'as many as 140 cheese a day. In Canada it is urged that every factory should provide for the cool curing of its cheese, which would enable the competition of New Zealand to be better withstood." An interim report on an experiment in manuring pasture has been issued from the Midland Agricultural and Dairy College, Kingston, Derby. Tho investigation is peculiar in that the effects of the manures were tested by the influence on the yield of milk from the cows grazed on the experimental plots. In order to make tho conditions as uniform as possible, the two lote of cows changed pastures fortnightly, a proceeding which eliminated the individual element, though it possessed tho disadvantage that a cow is not so prompt to respond with an increase in milk as sho is with a reduction. Though it would be unwise to draw conclusions from the experiences of one season, the results are extremely interesting and instructive. Two plots of four acres each received a dressing of lOcwt per acre ot ground lime on April 10th, and two days later 4cwt. superphosphates, and l§cwt. sulphate of potssh per acre were applied to one of tho fouracre plots of land. The artificial manures soon gave evidence of their beneficent influence by increasing the yield of grass and the proportion of clover and finer grasses. The difference was so marked that hall-

way through the experimental period ; the four acres that received the ; manures were able to carry an extra cow without stinting the other two. The figures show a distinct advantage . due to the manures, the milk records of the individual animals varying with unmistakable consistency, falling when the 00-vvs were on the unmanured plot and, except in two instances, rising when they were returned, to the finer , herbage on tho manured land. The j financial results show a clear advantage for the manured plot. Tho manures cost 29s per Jicre, aud, lncludinc the yield of the third cow grazed for part of the time, there was,a gam of 84 gallons of milk per acre as a set-off. This increase was ohtained at a cost of 4id per gallon, or, had it j been sold at Gd per gallon, ..acre j would have been a net profit of 13s per acre, or at 8d per gallon of 2/s. Tho quality of the milk does not appear to have been appreciably affected, "but so far as the lessor can be interpreted uo to the present the economy of judicious artificial manuring is clearly established. .