CROPPED SHORT

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 22, 27 January 1931, Page 10

CROPPED SHORT

FARMER AND FARM

MAKING THE BEST OF COWS

" HAYSEED " A LEGEND

Iv these days of scientific farming it is a mistake to suppose that the fool of the family is good enough to go on to the land, or to manage the dairy factory. The long-haired farmer with wisps in his locks is as out-of-date as is long grass on properly-managed pastures. Grass must be kept short if factory cheques are to be long, and the manager of the factory may have to be a university graduate. For there is a great deal of ground to be won both on farm and in factory by higher efficiency, just as there is ground-to be lost by bad farming or faulty methods of manufacture (e.g., the deterioration of cheese, the faults in making which preceded standardisation). Instead of acres to the cow, the farmer now deals in cows to the acre. And they must be fed on the pasture at its age of best nutrition. Such is the tenor of the following article, written by "W.8.N." after a tour of the Waikato: — "The hungry Waikato" surely is as great a misnomer as "Poverty Bay," for probably there is' now no richer dairying district in the world than the Waikato plains, and the romance of its rise into prosperity is the story of the progress of science as applied to the New Zealand dairy industry. COW TESTS—MANURES—GKASS MANAGEMENT. The careful selection, of the right breeds and strains of cattle, the elimination of individual duds by the scientific testing of milk, and above all the top-dressing of pastures,: have so increased the flow of golden milk that in turn there has been such a flow of golden prosperity to the district that even: present low prices cannot extinguish the district's optimism. Land in this district which twenty years ago was worth 18s an acre is now worth £40 an acre, and on land which" fifteen years ago was swamp and carried manuka, there now stands, covering some five acres of ground, the largest dairy factory in the world. The "Aladdin's lamp '* which1 has been responsible for'this romance in the history of farming is the application of science to. the production and manufacture of milk products. The; time is certainly long past, if there was such a time, when the dullard of the family could be placed on the land, and New Zealand owes her present' position in dairy production to the fact that she has not ignored science* as the handmaid of the industry. A prominent factory manager recently prophesied that within a few years every dairy factory manager will be a university graduate. The problem of holding the premier position in turning out milk products can only be solved by the application of the latest discoveries of scientific research. A few years ago it was a question of acres to the cow, but now, in the Waikato, it is cows to the acre. Many farms in the district are to-day milking more, cows,, than they have acres of land.' This, however, is not the whole story, as-cows which a few years ago were supplying, say, 1701b of butter-fat per cow are to-day supplying as much as 4001b. AVERAGE 240L8 OF BUTTER-FAT. The average for the, district, which inevitably includes many suppliers who have not marched with the times, is 2401b per cow.; The visitor gains one of the best introductions to the Waikato plains from the summit of the Kaimai range, which is reached by a climb from Tauranga. Prom this elevation there is spread out as far as'the eye can see prosperous farms, with every mile or So a butter factory. Wise farmers here keep their' pastures short-cropped,1 for the oia idea.that it is a sign of prosperity to see cows up to their knees in grass is entirely exploded. It is scientifically proved that it is the first five inches of grass that contains the most nutriment, and the'farmer who cannot keep down growth by oiher means uses the mowing machine for the purpose. Another noticeable feature, is the change-over from hay to ensilage, for, although hay may be suitable for dry stock, milking cows appreciate the richer and more succulent ensilage. The call for fine weather for harvesting is therefore not now so insistent, as the silos can be filled in wet weather. ' Butter, of which. New. Zealand, in spite of all statements to the contrary, produces the best in the world, is the chief milk'product of Waikato, but it is supplemented by various forma of milk powder, and last, but not least, condensed sweetened and unsweetened milk. ' FAULTY MAKING OF CHEESE. There is also considerable production of cheese, in the manufacture of which New Zealand is unfortunately, under a cloud. , \ This, however, it may be autnoritativoly stated, is not in any way due to the policy of standardisation which New Zealand recently adopted.. Those who have been in the closest touch with the New Zealand trade for over twenty years are in a position to state that the defects in New Zealand cheese were as prominent before standardisation as they have been since. Cheese is the last product to submit to a standard, and milk, at any rate in the leading cities of the world, has long since been standardised, and no one will dare to say that it is not a beneficial thing to have milk with a definite proportion of fat and other solids instead of, as of old, some consumers having over 5 per cent, of butter-fat while others had to be content with practically skim Milk powder, condensed milk, and butter haye all been standardised, and there is no reason why. cheese, as m other countries, should not conform to a standard. The real reason why -New Zealand cheese has lost ground,is that some years ago New Zealand cheesemakers changed over from raw milk to pasteurised for cheese-making, without at the same time changing their methods of manufacture. This explanation of the inferiority of New Zealand cheese is not mere opinion but the proved rcsult xo£ experiments made in the greatest'dairy college in the world, the State Agricultural College in Wisconsin, U.S.A.' When New Zealand ceases to blame standardisation and changes its methods it will again make cheese equal to its product of twenty year 3 ago. In another issue " W.8.N.".. will refer to the great Waitoa dairy factory, claimed to be the largest in the world.