CO-OPERATIVE DAIRYING.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 173, 2 August 1901, Page 3

CO-OPERATIVE DAIRYING.

AND ITS ATTENDANT ADVANTAGES

[By W. Douglas Lysnar.] PART V. ARTIFICIAL FEED. ' The main artificial feed the fanners use in Taranaki is ensilage, and as this is so easily made I would strongly urge the local farmers to consider this class of food. I understand you can make it out of almost any green feed ; corn, grass, or even the common Scotch thistle makes good ensilage, there is absolutely no risk in making it. The fodder must be cut while it is very green, and before it ripens or becomes at all dry, and stacked immediately it is cut, I believe it is better stacked damp or even while wet (this latter I would recommend being verified, before a j farmer tried stacking it wet), but I was told by a farmer that he as a rule kept a tank of water at the ensilage pit when making it, so that he could sprinkle it with water if the green stuff got too dry in the hot part of the day. This man said he tried to get as much as possible cut and stacked while it was wet with dew ; the drier the fodder the more moisture is required. The only ensilage pit I examined 1 was a large one cut out of the ground in ' the middle of a fiat paddock. It was about 1 half a chain wide, vid as far as I can re- i

member was about 12ft. or loft, deep, perhaps more. The pit was so dug with sloping ends that a loaded dray could be driven right through it, its sides being perpendicular, and all they did was to drive the dray loaded with tho green-eut grass right into the pit, throw its. load off, and drive out the opposite side it entered. In this way the horses and dray passing over the fodder pressed it down and made it solid from the bottom. This process

was continued until tho pit was full a few feet above the ground, and then tho loose earth that was dug from tho pit was thrown on top of the green stuff, so as to make as much weight as possible on top. Tho main thing, I understand, is pressure ; the tighter you stack it, and the greater the pressure, the better the ensilage. I believe some put salt in the green stuff when it is being stacked, but in what quantities I cannot say. This the farmers in Taranaki regard as the cheapest and best artificial feed for

cows in milk. With our rich mixture of grasses hero the very best ensilage could be made. I would recommend tho local farmers to enquire into this class of feed, as it is good for winter or summer, and will*],'cep, if well made, for two years. With a good stack of ensilage and a few acres of pumkins, there is no reason whatever why the dairying should not be carried on through the whole year. Pumpkins no doubt arc splendid feed for cows. Let .a cow be fed with a pumpkin broken open witii an axe or spade night and morning, while being milked, or placed in bins around the milking yard, so while she is waiting to bo milked she can be feeding to good advantage. Pumpkins would again come in as splendid feed for fattening pigs, hut on no account should a partially rotten pumpkin be given. It has a bad effect on pigs, and no doubt the same thing would apply to feeding cows. I have been told by a local

expert on bacon that pigs should not bo wholly fattened on pumpkins. They will fatten alright on it, but tiie bacon is inclined to be soft, and to remedy this it was suggested that tho pigs should get a little grain food shortly before being killed, but the pumpkins could be the main fattening feed. A patch of corn sown so that it can be cut green and fed to the cows in tho middle of summer, is also recommended,' but my own inclination would be to go for ensilage supplemented during the winter months with pumpkins. CHEESE. I found several of the best butter factories through Taranaki district had a eonvertablc cheese plant in addition to their ordinary butter plant. I was told at one factory that they found it paid well. The cheese market fluctuates very much, and whenever it was up in price, and they could get a fair order, they in less than an hour could change from butter making to cheese making. In this way they had a

better result through the year. This you readily understand would be so when it is remembered that the quantity of milk that makes one pound of butter will mako more than two pounds of cheese, tad with no additional labour. It would be well in

stating a Co-operative Company to bear this in mind.

RKGAItDIXG MILKING. I found there was a great deal of the milking done on shares by giving a family a third of the valuo of the milk, and half

of all calves reared, for their labor in milking. The value was ascertained in tho following way—-2jfd per gallon on 3.5 test, one-thirteenth of a penny for a point above or below 3.5 test (these prices would lie regulated according to the price paid by the factory from time to time). The milkers had to feed and rear the calves until they were about three months old. Their milking hours in summer were 3 a.m. to 8 a.m., and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. They had a snack before milking, and breakfast after. Weekly milkers were paid about dll per week.