DAIRYING ASROAU.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 14 March 1914, Page 10

DAIRYING ASROAU.

! THE METHODS OF THE DUTCH MILK PRODUCER. (By Walter Wright, Inspector of N.Z. Dairy Produce in Great' Britain.) A visit to the first International Agricultural Show at The Hague, Holland, in September, afforded me an opportunity of investigating the methods of the Dutch dairy farmer. I made a visit to the great show in question as an invited member of the party of the Holstein Breeders' Association of Great Britain. The show extended over a period of eighteen days, and was organised and conducted by the Royal Netherlands Agricultural Society, which was granted for the purpose a State subsidy of £25,000. The results obtained amply justified the great expenditure involved. A DUTCH DAIRY FARM. On arrival -at the Book of Holland on the morning oi fcx>pteniber a, we journeyed direct- to jsunnoim for tlie purpose of visiting the Johanna JJ'anii, yswrbeck, owneu by J. van lViesdag. J.UO area of this fax in is Bi' 6 hectares, oi 'A } iz>£.d acres, and which, with tne exception -of the woods still existing, nas oeen reclaimed no in waste lava since iyU9. Dairying is carried on to a considerable extent. The milk obtained rrora si pedigree cows is used tor the town supply of Arnneim. Tne milk is not pasteurised, being delivered in Hermetically seaied bottles direct from tne dairy to tne consumer, .butter is made from the surplus miik. The dairy herd consists of purebred (red anu white) Meuse-Rhine-Yssel cattle. This breed is better adapted tor poorer and Higher lan.ls than the "black-and-white i^'riesian) Hoiiand cattle, and is aiso said to be less subject to tuberculosis. The "Three Rivers'" 7 breed is an Oid race of duai-purp-ose cows, the type of to-day being low-set and rather large-bodied, and being closer to the ground but not &o big in the body as the Dutch or Friesian breeds. The cows here are miiked twfce daily, but occasionally a cow might pernaps be milked three times daily for a few days just after caiving. The stock bull at present in use is three years old, rather light-red in color, with white legs. Rather a notable feature in the conformation of the bulls of this breed is the tendency to fall away at the rump, the hind-quarters not being so well deveiuxJbd as the fore-quarters. This breed, now accepted for registration in the Dutch Cattle Stud-book, has of late >eais been greatly improved all round by judicious selection and breeding. All xtjgistered cattle have their registered number burnt into one of the horns. The cows of the dairy herd at Johanna Farm averaged three gallons of d.'Z per cent, milk per day for the past year. The young cattle run out all the year round, except that there is a shei-ter-shed available for them to take refuge in rough weather; miiking-oows are stalled continuously during the winter montns. Attention is also paid to pig-breeding; the breeding-istocit is a iierman breed of sows crossed with Yorkshire boars, the object being to get quick-growing, strong, heavy animals. Refuse potatoes, green stuif, and skimlniik from the dairy farm are used for pig-feeding purposes. About eight hundred hogs are tattened yearly, For the English market mostly iorkshire hogs are grown, and sold at about 1651b., but tor-the French or German market the Yorkshire-German cross are preferred, the selling-weight being about 330 lb to 350 Ib. Up to the. present time very little "attention has been paid to sheep-breed-ing, but there is a small flock of the old Veluvian breed kept and pastured on the unreclaimed heath land. These sheep are able to travel considerable distances without much effort, and are very easy to keep. As soon, however, as the heath has been wholly reclaimed it is the intention to go in for the breeding of a more modern and profitable breed of sheep; but at present the old Veluvian sneep answers well enough. Until a short time ago the waste land of Holland covered about 20 per cent. of the whole country, and very energetic measures are now being taken to bring this class of land under cultivation. This movement is receiving the financial support and sympathy of influential people and corporations in Holland. This, I understand, was the reason that prompted the proprietor of Johanna Farm to take part in this work of regeneration of the land in the vicinity of Arnheim. The soil here is of a very sandy nature, and one has to see the effect to appreciate the great efforts that have been made here during the last four years to bring approximately half of this large estate under cultivation. The reaction of humus is effected principally by the ploughing in of lupins. About fifty persons are permanently engaged on the farm. Wages are about 7s per week and keep, or 2s per day without board or lodging. There is a considerable shortage of the necessary farm labor. The initial cost of this farm in the 'rough was about £5 per acre, and that portion of the estate now under cultivation is estimated to !be worth about £16 to £17 per acre. The method of cultivation is as follows:—First year, clear and burn the ! heath, and then plough about lOin. ; deep with a wide furrow. A special j plough., the "Saxon," drawn by six large oxen, is used for this purpose, but sometimes steam ploughing is resorted j to. The cost of ploughing with oxen is about £1 per acre; when a steam plough is used the cost amounts to about £1 13s 4d per acre. The approximate cost to bring it into arable land is about £6 13s 4d per acre. Lupins are then sown and ploughed under the following autumn. In the second year rye is sown in the autumn, and seradilla ia sown broadcast over the rye in the spring. This is followed the third year by potatoes, samples of which were dug no from a field at the time of our visit. The plants were well grown and the tubers well developed. For manuring:, the practice is to nse 9 cwt. of basic slag and 6 cwt. of kainit per acre the first year, but in the second year the quantities of the same fertilisers are reversed—viz., basic slag, 6 cwt; kainit, 9 cwt. Attention might here be drawn to the favor in which the "se of serncWlla is looked unon as a fodder plant in this district. When sown after rye, the rye is c"+ Rrst in the fall, and later on t>>« seradilla is cut, or in so^© cnpps the dairy cows are turned into the pad- i

dock to eat :t down. Sometimes the seradil a is sown by itself and cut for liay, the yield being about 3 tons per acre. It is also sown sometimes with oats and clover. The quantity of seed' sown to the acre is about 66 lb. and the price in this part of Holland is 36s 9d per 220 lb. Seradilla being a legume may be one of the factors in its selection for this district, where, as the soil is or poor quality, a selection of some such plant is desirable to bring about the restriction of nitrogen. THE SHOW. As one might expect, the most prominent feature of the show was the competitions for three recognised breeds an D iatc™ cattJe > the classes being well tilled. Ihe selection of stock for shows in Jaoliand is done by official inspecI"?? m, not hy the owners of the cattle, ihis practice will seem strange to colonial breeders. Another notable feature is the fact that the year's records of milk and butter-fat of individual cows are shown in the official j show catalogue opposite the name of eaon animal. My second day at the show was devoted to the dairy produce, dairy appliances, agricultural implements, the ! provincial displays of farm produce, and the working dairies on the showground. In the agricultural imple- ; ment section I noticed that English i makes were a good deal in evidence. | ±he collections of farm produce, roots, j etc.. did not, in my ©pfnion, come up ;to the New Zealand standard of show | quality; the potatoes and other roots were small, and the oats and rye were ver- strong in the straw. Collections iof clovers, lucerne and other hays, linseed, fruit, and honey were also on | exhibition. Large potatoes have not : the same market value here as those !of a smaller size. j The dairy produce pavilion contained I a very comprehensive collection of ; dairy produce and dairy appliances. I lhey were exhibits of many varieties ;of cheese, which were arranged" in a I cool chamber in the pavilion; the pub|he were able to read the awards ; through the glass sides of this cham- | ber, but were not allowed to enter. | Through the kind assistance of Mr Eriks, of the Fries-land Co-operative I Export Association, I had the privi- , lege of examining the prize-winning cheese exhibits in the various classes. The different varieties were as follows: Gouda cheese, of different weights and i from different districts, seventeen ■ classes; Edams, twenty-one classes. I There were four classes for white and colored Cheddars made in the month lof July, 1913; and also four classes for j Cheshire cheese, white a.nd colored; these were made during the second ; half of July, 1913, so that the cheese • would be about seven weeks old at the time of my visif. From the different ; districts there were several classes for | cheese, which are used for local con- ' sumption. These varieties of cheese I are called Friesland, Leiden, and > Delft, and are made from milk oonI taining not more than 2 per cent fat in the one class, and in another class not more than 1 per cent of fat is allowed. These cneese are flavored with cloves and carraway-seeds, and it requires an educated palate to appreciate the flavors. As regards the flavor and make of the Dutch Cheddars, some were of commendable quality, * but | others were rather indifferent in this ' respect. The Cheshire cheese were not of such a high standard of quality as the Cheddars. To the outsider the system of scoring the dairy produce cxi hibits appeared to be rather unusual. The points are as follows: — Maximum. Form or shape 10 Rind, skin, or finish 20 Aroma and flavor 30 Body and texture 40 100 The butter classes were numerous, and were very tastefully arranged, one being very much impressed by the many different styles, shapes, and sizes of the various butter packages. Another feature was the fact that while all the cheese entries were shown in cool chambers, the butter classes received no such, consideration, but were subject to summer temperatures during the time the exhibition was open. In discussing with a gentleman the matter of cool storage for the dairy produce, he informed me that it was found that a complete system of refrigeration for the whole of the dairy produce would cost too much, so the result was that the contemplated erection of cool storage was onJy half carried out. In the class for export butters, the competing butters were scored some months previous to the show, and were then sent to different parts of the world, including India and the Dutch East Indies. These were again scored on being returned in time for the 6how. Classes were also arranged for the exhibit of bottled milk, condensed milk, powdered full milk, powdered skim-milk, rennet, an-j natto, etc. The whole of the dairy produce 6ection made a very attractive, instructive, and interesting display. Various makers of the different dairy appliances were represented, a very notable feature being the very fine collections of analytical glassware, etc. These were very prominent indeed, and appeared to indicate that very considerable attention is paid to the scientific side of dairying by the people of this country. The usual collection of churns, separators, coolers, freezing plant, pasteurisers, etc., were to be seen, and were of fine workmanship.