AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 89, 16 April 1910, Page 12

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

HOW TO CALCULATE FACTORY RETURNS. The question has often been a6ked as to what is tho best way to calculate factory return 3 \\hero both mill; and cream are received. Ono reply is that it is not practicable to apportion tho returns with mathematical exactness. It' this should be attempted the overrun would have to be calculated for tho djflerent qualities of milk und creum, for 201b of fat in 5 per cent, milk will make more butter than the same amount of fat in 3 per cent, milk, euiiply for tho reason that the loss of fat in the skim milk is le»3. For a similar reason the fat in cream will yield a larger overrun than fat in milk, and the richer tho cream tha larger will be tho overrun, because there will bo leas buttermilk. Tho differences in tho overrun in milk in different tests and in cream of varying richness is not very wide, and becomes practically noticeable only when largo quantities aro cou•ldered. It is estimated that 1001b of fat in cream is oquivalant to 1031b fat in milk. In other words, tho fat in cream ia worth to tho factory i> per cent, moro than fat in the milk. liub is accounted for because tho loss of fat in the ski inmilk falls upon the supplier instead of tho factory and other minor losses in manulacture are avoided. Ia a general way it may be ?aid that tho overrun in milk, when samples are taken with great care, and all tho Apparatus is correctly graduated, will average about 16 2-3 rd per cent. ; that ib, the pound of butter madfl will be one-sixth moro than tho pound* of fat in tho milk. AVith crexm testing from 25 to 35 per cent, fat, tho overrun will average not far from 20 per I cent. That is to say, 1001b of fat in cream is expectod to make not leas than 1201b of butter. Stated in another way, tho fat in cream will produce on the average about 3 per cent, more butter than tha fat in milk. Hence, to adjust the returns in a factory whero there aro both milk and cream suppliers, it is suggested that tho fat in the cream be reduced to its equivalent in milk by adding 3 per cent, to it. Thus, if eupplior A furnished 10001b of 4 per cent, milk, and supplier B 1001b of 25 per cent, cream, the tormcr should bo credited with 40ll> of fat, and the latter with 251b, plus 3 per cent., which would bo 25.751b, and tho total fat upon which to baso the return would be 65.751b. It co3ts somewhat more to make butter from milk than from cream, for there is tho oxponso of running the milk through the separator and the cost of the extra vats and pumps for storing and handling the milk and the skim milk. This extra expenbo would vary with tho amount of milk. It would bo scarcely appreciable as between 10,0001b and 11,0001b, but might amount to about 2s on milk enough to make 1001b of butter. • "I havo just been having a look at Eomo of this land of your;,," said a recent visitor to Mastorton to a Daily : Times representative, "and I consider it to bo among tho best I have seen in Now Zealand." Ho had travelled over most of the Wairarapa district and was do- j lighted with the general air of prosperity that provniled throughout. Dairy farmers, as a rule, will find it profitable t*o tun a few sheep on their Urms. .Tho ehoep usually give a good return in lambs and wool, in addition to which they keep down many weeds that tho cattle will not touch. The despised earthworm is stated to be one of tho moet _ valuable assistants that farmors have. It is continually boring and bringing the subsoil to tho top of the ground, thus perforating and loosening tho soil, in addition to bringing several raanurial constituencies into play. Without j these- worms tho Boil would rapidly doterio rate in fertility and becomo sterile. It is interesting to note that ono well-known scientist computed that theso worms carried j fifteen ton a of soil per aero to the top of the ground each year. Care and gentlo treatment of cows is one of tho essentials of dairy farming. A cow thut ia hurried home by dogs and then rushed about the yards is not likely to give her milk down as readily as one that has been treated quietly. In fact, sho very often holds back a great deal of it, and the owner is the loser. ; It is astonishing how much cold weather oows can stand if a littlo shelter is provided so that they can escape the cold winds and driving rains of winter. If there aro no trees in the paddocks sheds Bhould be built, so constructed that they provide shelter against the prevailing wind*. A small olump of trees, however, would bo found to pay handsomely for any troublo expended in planting them and for thenecessary space they take up. The argument ig sometimes used against the home separating of milk that the necessary cleanliness would not be observed, and that therefore it would not be possible for tho factory manager to turn out tho »Mio quality of butter. The argument does not seom to havo very much to commend it, bccaune if a »upplier # is not as clean as ho should be in handling his milk it is reasonable to assume that the effect will be the same, whether the cream is separated at home or at tho creamery. Since tho Algerian oat has been placed on the market («ayg an exchange), it has become a general favourite- with tho large majority of the farmers on account of its resistance to rust. One farmer, who last season, in addition to Algerians, towed a number of other varieties, received a return of about sixty bushels per acre of the former, while tho latter varieties yielded practically nothing, so it is stated. Speaking in regard to a Hereford and Jewey cross for a milking strain of cowo, • North Island farmer stated thai, though he had never seen » crow of tho kind, ho was convinced that if experiments in this direction were carried out they would re•ulfc in tho production of a very fine typo of milker. The Hereford would supply tho constitution that was lacking in the Jersey, while the latter would inornate tho milk yield and butter fat test. This subject has been productive of much' controversy for some time. Of course, tho aim of all farmers is to obtain animals possessing both beef and milk producing properties, and tho general consensus of opinion is that this desirable combination may be effected by tho Shorthorn-Jersfty cross. Experienced fanners stato that moro care should bo used in feeding milking cowh than is usually tho case. A writer in the Wairarapa Daily Times s»ys that many farmers go and pull a load or two of mangels, place them in tho paddock in which the cows aro grazing, and expect th^m to Buffico for a couplo of days. Naturally tho cows eat at the mangels until they are done, and perhaps take them in larger quantities than aro good for them Two paddocks should roally be kepi few tho u»o of tho cows, one in which to graze them during tho ilay and another in which to keep them at night. In tho day time, while tho oows aro grazing, the mangels ■hould be distributed ovei tho night paddock in such quantities as are considered desirable, and the cows should thea bo turned into it again after milking in the evening. It is contended that, taking two dairy herds, say, of fifty cows each, ono of purebred Jerseys and tho other of crossbred cows, the latter would pay the best in the long run, as, though tho butter fat te«t might not bo quite bo hiofh, they would remain longer in milk, and thus gain mitprially on the others at the end cf tho year. Grass sown last spring has, in. several parts of tho Wairarapa, been affected with rust, and in somo cases the rust has been noticeable on old pastures (fays the Ago). Farmer* sooken to on the gubj-eet consider that the humid Fcaeon experienced is accountable for tho rust appearing. Ono farmer, who sowed rapo and gra«« seed together, got hif< rape crop oaten off satisfactorily, and the grow appeared to be thriving well, when rusfc made its appear* ance.