FEED FLAVOURS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LIX, Issue 88, 4 November 1938, Page 6

FEED FLAVOURS

FARM CONTROL METHODS

Any flavour in milk or cream which has been caused by the fodder, / eaten <by the cows may be most^ jL~readily prevented from recurring, at least to the same degree, by preventi ing the cows from eating the flavour! producing fodder for some hours—' preferably four hours—prior to Hulkinstructor, Ruakura Farm, in the curing, wrote Mr E. R. Marryatt, fields rent issue of the Agricultural Journals in an article on the farm control. 01^ ,c feed flavours. He went on to state: Other conditions being equal, the - feed-flavour in the night's cream is stronger than that in morning's cream. This is because cows usually do not do much grazing, but lie down, between midnight and the morning milking, whereas they do enough grazing to cause feed-flavour between midday and the afternoon milking. When they are fully-fed during the morning, a spell from grazing for about four hours prior to the afternoon milking reduces feed-flavour without impairing production. ■, This may be made use of by the dairyfarmer in his control of feed-

flavours.

The typical feed-flavour which comes from grazing rapidly-growing clovery pastures may be reduced by the following farm practices:—(l) Grazing the most clovery fields at night and the most grassy fields in the day-time. (2) Removing the cows at midday from lush, taint-pro-ducing pastures into a field which is comparatively bare, but in which good hay has been fed out. (3) Win-ter-spelling several pastures to make them grassy for the late spring, when they are rationed off to the milkingcows.

Turnip flavour may be reduced by (1) deeding the turnips before they become mature, as shown by the definite pithiness in the bulb. (2) Pulling them a day or two days before feeding-out, - and allowing them toijk - wilt may be of some value. (3)^' ' Feeding turnips immediately after milking and never within four hours prior to milking. (4) Feeding good hay with the turnips. (5) Feedingout turnips as a soiling crop, and not feeding them off without pulling.

"Cressy" flavour, which is frequently' * confused with turnip flavour but is caused by twin cress, sometimes known as land cress or hog cress, may be reduced by preventing the cows from eating the cress within four hours before milking. This is not easy, because cress grows in young pastures, around bull-holes, in gateways and in the race, and around the yards—indeed, on bare ground, anywhere and everywhere. The only , way to prevent the cows from eating it is to kill the cress. Sodium chlorate is worth using on the cress which exists in the race, in gateways, and around the yards, for even if only one cow gets a mouthful of cress when coming in to be milked, the flavour produced by her milk alone may taint the cream. Control of cress in young pastures is much more difficult. Cress-infested fields could be grazed immediately after milkings, removing the stock at least three hours before next milking. ■

Above all, absolute cleanliness, efficient cooling, and frequent stirring are imperative in the control of any feed flavour. From the factory poinfjfcr of view "feedy" cream is definitely . objectionable, but can be reduced to a certain extent; feed-flavour in dirty . cream, however, is abominable and almost impossible to deal with. Recent investigations have definitely shown that farm control of feedflavour is achieved from pasture improvement and necessarily goes hand in hand with increased production pe|§ acre. ;-