AN INNOVATOR

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 36, 12 February 1938, Page 10

AN INNOVATOR

DAIRYING PRACTICE

BARON COCHRANE'S METHODS

(By Telegraph—Press Association.}

AUCKLAND, This Day.

One of the most progressive dairy farmers and agriculturists in Great Britain, Baron Cochrane of Cults, father of Group-Commander Cochrane, arrived by the Rangitane this morning. > In an interview he said that many of his ideas about dairying were bo revolutionary that they represented a complete breakaway from established practice, but he held the view that in time they would be widely adopted, not, only in Britain, but in New Zealand. One of his innovations is a system of movable milking sheds which are moved round the farm to overcome the handicap of boggy winter conditions. This system, he said, could be applied without difficulty to any dairy farm of average size. He also said that his Ayrshire herds remained out of doors without covers throughout the winter, and were splendidly healthy. The Department of Agriculture in Scotland expressed the view that his herds were the freest from mammitis in the country, and they were also free from tuberculosis.

Lord Cochrane is a pioneer in grassdrying, which has superseded haymaking on his farm, and which is gradually being adopted by farmers in England and Scotland. The method retains the greenness of "the grass, one of its most valuable qualities. The cost is heavier' than that of •haymaking—£4 ss—as against an average of £2 for hay. Lord Cochrane is anxious to see as much of farming operations in New Zealand as possible.