Farm and Station

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11827, 7 January 1933, Page 12

Farm and Station

DAIRY RESEARCH. POINTS WHICH REQUIRE; MORE ATTENTION How is milk made? This vs one of the unsolved mysteries of science, according to Sir William Dampier, P.R.S., i\vho reviews in a recent report of the Empire Board, tlie extent and objects of dairy' research. Scientists Iva.re still to discover how 'cow's :.tnrn the raw material —grass—into the finished product of which iwe make such good use. This report answers the question, “What is dairy reseach’’ and suggests the lines on which work should be concentrated in order to reduce costs of production and improve the quality of milk.

VARIATIONS IN -MILK QUALITY

Although-the process of milk manufacture the cow’s trade secret it does not possess that-great virtue of mnss-produption,—the ability to turn out on exactly standardised article. Charts -worked out at the National Institute- for Research in, Dairying at Reading show that the composition of the same cow’s milk varies from day to day and even from morning to night. This alteration in quality in turn afi’etes the butter or cheese. More research is needed on the factors such as feed, breed, climate, etc., which may cause the variations.

Sir William Dampier, who is the 'secretary to the Agricultural Research Council in Britain, states that future research is most ugently needed in the following fields:—■

1. Improvement of pastures by plant breeding and by better management, c.g., frequent cutting and. intensive grazing. •

2. The effect of differences in rationing on the composition of milk. 3. I'llo inheritance of high milk yielding qualities in cattle. •J. Physiology of milk ~secretion. 5 The inoculation of cattle against tuberculosis.' G. The survival of disease germp in dried and condensed milk. 7. Tiie ripening of cheese and the effect of storage conditions on butter and cheese. S. Economies of the industry. A VALUABLE CONCENTRATE Science lia s already achieved results which are of direct interest to the Dominion. In the field of nutrition, or instance, the recent advance is the discovery that young, fresh grass has a high protein content- which makes itcomparable with expensive concentrates sucli as linseed cake. “Young grass is specially efficacious in increasing the yield of milk.’’ Sir William Dampier says. “It is now or soon will be available, in large quantities in the form of ensilage or dried cake, and more experiments on ifis influence on the quantity and quality of milk should- he made as quickly possible. It is of great importance to tlie overseas dominions ms well as to Great Britainii The work on the mineral needs of cattle, which natural pastures often fail to supply is already well known. TWO DISEASE VICTORIES. Science is gradually triumphing over disease, the rno'st deadly enemy of tlie stock farmer. The report records two big advances. One is the working out at Cambridge of “8.13. CL” vaccine which protects cattle from, the scourge of tuberculosis. Very promising results are heing obtained, although the vaccine is not yet a. commercial possibility. The other i s tho discovery of a method of diagnosing Johnno’s disease, one of tho most costly complaints of dairy cattle. By using this test, the disease can bo detected in its early stages and the infected animal can bo separated from, tho herd and fattened.

Many problems, of course, remain. For instance, Sir William Dampier directs attention to the question whether pasteurising milk destroys any of the vitamines. Preliminary work at Reading indicate, that this may be

IX-B REED iXf I FOR PRO DUCT.T.ON

Then, there is the all-important question of the breeding of high yielding cows—the very basis of success Inf dairying. In order t-o get results in a few years instead of liavmgto wait for generations. At. John. Hammond at Cambridge, is studying the inheritance of milk yield ol rabbits. Me liOf> found that a strain of liigh-yielding animals can. be obtained bv crossing a high yielding female with her (Son, and continuing this several generations.

A study of the ripening of dairy pro ducts in -storage and transport, iwnich Sir Wiliam Dompicr recommends should be extented at the Dairy Institute at Reading, would bo of particular interest in New Zealand. The institute has recently co-operated with the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in a study of ripening of cheeses, and the report recommends that a cold storage plant -should bo at Reading so that, shipboard conditions can be imitated. AN IMPORTANT PRACTICE. RESPONSIBILITY OP GROWERS BUILDING A REPUTATION Advice on how to get the best out of a clip and on 'how to establish a name among the wool buyers, oven with a flock of 400 to 500 sheep, i s

V (By “RUSTJCUS’k)

given by Captain. G. Humphrcys-Da-vies, of Clevedon, in. a commentary on:wool-chisR.ing as it concerns the small farmer. E'or several years mow wool offered by Captain Humphrey sDavies lias been among the six or eight highest-priced clips sold at Auckland. Th e , wool he grows is of the finer type but ho points out that under slightly 'different methods the price's he receives for-it iwould rank with thoso 20 or 30 places lower down. Moreover, before lie went in for finer types, methods he adopted always placed his clips- among the leaders in the crosbred offering, although his sheep were nondescript and his country was .rough and dirty. , “Wool varies not only according to breed, but also in condition, length and general quality, and each of the many possible classifications suits entirely different trades,” says Captain Humphreys-Davies. If you insist on trying to force on an, unwilling buyer not only the quality that ho wishes to buy, but- several others with it, you must remember that it is you who pay the extra labour entailed in file ultimate sorting, and the cost of revaluing the unwanted wool and selling it to other trades, with all tho incidental expenses of insurance, carting and commission. If you insist on selling, say. 40-60’s unskirted, or not, properly skirted, with odd bellies left in, and here and there pieces or stick and a string of dags showing from iho opened hales in the store, the buyer, instead of - noting in. tho catalogue Ids limit of -1 Id or -13 d, i cneils in 3hi or 31 d. Moreover, you fail to register a favourable impression in his acute memory for 1933 : nd after. METHOD OF SORTING “At the, Auckland sale 1 asked an acquaintance how he had fared. Ilf! replied that bo had received 3-Jd lor Ills fleece wool and 3|jd for pieces and hollies, and said that it was tho !»«t time lie would -skirt his wool. The • probability, however, it that if he had left in the bellies he would have received a, bare 3d or 3.1 d at host. “No mystery surrounds the methods of sorting wool. Little skill is required and practically no extra- work is involved. In my own shed I. have two largo tables for the fleeces, am! one small one lor bellies, etc., ail handy to the bins. Each fleec-e is thrown out- on the. table, and 1 work Jit, taking -off the collar if it is matted or contains sticks, grass fibre or burrs. As I go round I turn the edges up and pluck off the ribs and discoloured edges. If one or both hams are matted, they come off; and with the pieces. When J had crossbred sheep, the wool used to he full of seed and tea-tree leaves on the withers and back. Ont came the backs to go straight into the hale placed handy. Seedy pieces always sell well as siic-b, but stop the sale of fleec-c wool if left in. The bellies are previously torn off by the shearers, and go straight on to the small table. Thp best go to first piece's and the others into the second pieces.

“If you have 450 to 460 sheep you should get a selling lino of at least four bales, the minimum lot a separate lot in The. main catalogue. It is only by having at- lea'st- one lot in the main catalogue each year that you can hope to make the buyers recognise your brand. TWO MAIN TYREE. “If you have room to rig up a few bins, roll the fleeces and stack them into bins, keeping the qualities separate. With the ordinary flock ol m i x ed sheep of uncertain breeding in the Auckland Province, it, will be found that, broadly speakly, most wilL trend either toward the Lincoln or the Romney type. Jn other words, some will have locks much less crimped or wavy than others. Keep these as two main classes, and have a third bin for border-line classes Try to avoid baling up until you have shorn a good number of Sheep, and you will then know whether your .selling lino is going to he of the Lincoln or the Romney type. Ton can, if required, draw I'roni tlie borderline bin to make up the four bales.

•-II you have not enough left in the bins to make a second selling line, •of a higher or lower grade, and if you are "satisfied that it wiU do your reputation no harm to have it sold under your brand, send it to your brokers to group with bales of similar wool from other growers. If ye' l think it is not dean enough or sound enough to sell under your own brand, or ifrit is ninon hotter than the rest of your wool, ask your Inokd *> lo resort; it and sell it: under their own brand. STAINED FLEECES. “If you have many charcoal or logstained fleeces bale them' up separately and make a selling line of them. Afi all costs keep them out of you* clean fleece, wool. Even if yon get your broker to bin them you will be surprised at the good price they will bring. But one c- two showing up among the clean fleece wool will probably knock it cknvn 2d or more per lb.

“Keep a pair of-'shears near your table and trim 'off seedy patches if not too big, and cut out sticks. Keep plenty of tins under the tables to drop in dags and sticks, where they arc out of the way for good. Shake every fleece as you go round it to clear it of second cuts.

“I know one clip of about the same quality as mine. The fleece wool fetches about the same price, hut, ray

pieces are always pence ahead, C take out the stained centres of wether bellies, which, all told only amount to 1 a few pounds, for which t got lid °r 2d per lb, but doing this puts several, pounds sterling into my few halos of.pieces. '“.Keep all cottod or tight, fleeces out : of your bales. To-day tlicy sell for about ns much ns good fleece wool to tho man who can Use them, hut they arc. only a nuisance and a cause of expense to the manufacturer who uses free fleece wool. “If you can get, a lino of, say, three bales of one quality, and you have one or two of a different sort, there is no barm in getting your brokers to catalogue them in this way: Lot 147, Rungaroa: 3 hales medium crossbred (or whatever -they may he). If you have skirted and sorted these fleeces properly, and have avoided false packing, you are keeping your trade-mark before the buyers and establishing a reputation for at least, reliability.

“Tlie main thing in to give a fair deal and establish a reputation, for so- doing. Choose a brand or name which is easily remembered, and in sorting into your bins always place doubtful fleeces in the lower grade. Remember that some day prices will improve, and if you are slack now and have lost nr failed to establish a good name, you will not obtain the fnl] benefit of tho rise when if does come. Worst of all, you are not. doing your hit, in winning a better reputation for New Zealand wools in general.”

‘ ‘TRIPOD’» HARVESTING

CROPS BUILT INTO “HUTS” CONTINENTAL, IDEA.

An interesting demonstration of the new '“tripod” system of harvesting was giveen at the Hampshire County Farm Institute. Sparsholt, recently, says a correspondent of the “Times”. The inventor of the system is Captain A. Proctor, a Ecotti'sh farmer, and it consists of metal tripods’ placed in ilipi field* at the rate of seven, nfir acre, round which fodder nr grain crons are built- into “huts” Three vent holes left in building the crons round the iripods allow the air to circulate freely and perfect drying to lake place. Tt is claimed that the. huts so built are prar-tionllv weather-proof, and that i>rnin and hay are insured against damage bv ram o- birds: that hav treated in •li’s way is enhanced in feeding value by not being sem-choO, Tin by the >-v.n or soaked through bv tho rain. No raking “T turning of hav is reonired, and the farmer can build Ills rick or thresh bis omm at leisure. A hav swoon attached to the tractor can he backed under each lint- and transnort it hodilv to +be rick or the threshing machine. Two men .w’fh one tractor havo done tho work rff two tractors, three, wagons and o ,r, 'ht men usin' l, orthodox mclliods. Pifcohipe- nn o>l hnv n>' corn into.wagons ‘s eliminated. A field can ho cleared of lints at considerable snccd. and one tractor has carryino- thorn to the machine at the rale of bq an hour. Each hut contains TOO to 120 sheaves. Farmers who have visited SpnTsholdt to sec? the demonstration were favourably impressed. Both corn and hay hod been purposely left- nut in the huts for longer than necessary through the had weather. The wheat threshod out well and gave, a dry, good sample. The straw, after going through tho machine, wa- s even, fresh a,nd of good colour. Hay that had had been built- into a hut since .Tune smelt sweet and dry; it was good, dry green fonder, full of nourishment and not stalky. . The initial outlay will ho the chiol objection to many farmers. The. tripods cost ‘ls 6s each, will do equally well for corn or hay. and are designed to last for at last- 20 years. Even so, additional autlay of 31s Cd an aero is a serious matter in these times, when oats and barley represent- a loss to the grower in any case. On a long view, however, this simple adaptation of a. device similiar to that; which has been used by Continental farmers for generations should lie well worth a trial on a small scale by those farmers who, have, not yet quite reached the bottoms ol their pockets. WEED OUT THE WEEDS Front milk recording and from milk recording alone- says Air Colin, Ross, it. is possible to: — 1. Weed out the low-yielding cows and heifers. 2. To feed cows in accordance with their yields. 3. 'lo increase the capital value ol the herd generally. 4. To know the cows whose calves pay to real-. 5 To keep a check on milkers. 6. To manage a dairy herd «s it is required to be managed to make it a paying proposition. Official milk recording has, adds Air Ross, greatly increased during the last fifteen years, and the movement has proved a .real stimulu’s, considerably lifting up the average yield per in this country.

In the past too much attention has often been paid to selection and breeding and insufficient to management. In the past avo have often looked upon milk recording as being complete in itself, Avheroas the secret- of recording correct utilisation of the information, gained by records as a means to hotter management.