Practical – – Agriculture.

Lake County Press, Issue 2392, 7 September 1911, Page 2

Practical - - Agriculture.

ORIGINAL ARTICLES. (By F.S.C.) Specially written for this column. All Rights Reserved. UNVENTILATED STABLE AND FLAVORS. The effects of poor ventilation in cow stables upon the development of flavors in milk is not always well understood by milk producers. As a rule, if the animal is in proper health the milk will be normally pure when first drawn. But if the cow is milked in an unclean stable which is filled with vitiated air, the milk will be contaminated and undesirabe flavors rapidly develop. In an endeavour to determine the relation between poorly ventilated cow stables and the development of bad flavors in milk, I made extensive investigations, with finite definite results. The plan of the experiment was to obtain samples of milk from cows kept in ill-ventilated dairy barns and from cows kept and handled by methods commonly found in barns where no system of ventilation was provided. These samples were collected in the stables as the cows were milked, put into sterilized glass jars and kept for several days in surroundings where no further contamination was possible. Each sample was examined regularly every 12 hours with the following results, which arc an average of the findings from several hundred samples: Results Most Conclusive.

Clean natural aour flavor, well ventialed stables, 03 per cent; poorly ventilated stables. 38 per cent; stable flavors, o and 45 Per cent, respectively; stale, musty, flavors, o and 17 per cent, respectively; slightly ensilage flavors. 7 and 0 per cent, respective-

It will be noted that only 38 percent. of the milk from the poorlyventilated stables gave a clean flavor, and that 62 per cent, ol the milk showed a most filthy contamination. If the cows are kept and milked in unsanitary surroundings, the milk will absorb the stable odours before it can be removed to the milkroom. as these results plainly indicate. 'file presence ol a silage ilavor was detected ii> a few samples from the well-ventilated barns. However, this ilavor passed oil within a short time, leaving no objectionable effects. In case of the poorly ventilated stables, if any such ilavor was present it was entirely covered up bv the very objectionable stable flavors. In every case where stable flavors were detected it was a noticeable fact that they increased with the age of the milk. This was due to the fact that -auh flavors are produced from the rapid development of the undesirable bacteria.

j BET TER FARMS AND FARMERS. j In America the Roosevelt Country Life Commission, and in Britain the Carrington Committee, have in turn investigated the dual question of better farms and better farmers. How can farmers be helped to act the must out of their land; how can the achievements of agriculture scinence achievements of agricultural science bop ul at the disposal of the man on the land? And the answer which each investigating body has given synchronised is this —that the twentieth century farmer must be trained from his boyhood up, and if necessary be Stale aided to qualitfy himself amongst the great natural wealthproducers of the future. Nor, it was advised, should effort be restricted to the rising generation. The national funds should be utilised in encouraging experimental scientists in devising and suggesting newer methods of tillage and production, in the study of soils, climate, rotation, of crops, fertilisers, both natural and artificial, and so forth.

MANURING FOR MILK. Last year the authorities of the Midland Agricultural and Dairy Colege (England) began an experiment on a field adjoining their farm to test the influence of superphosphate and sulphate of potash on the milk yield of cows grazed on pasture land to which the two manures had been .jointly applied. The character of the field was of a strong, clayey, nature, typical of much land in the Midlands. Seven years ago, when it was laid down to grass, it was in a dirty condition; since then a light crop of grass has been removed annually, and the herbage afterwards pastured until well on into the winter. Tin 1 grasses mostly were cockfoot. tail fescue, and twitch, with a little sprinkling of white clover.

Tht'ic were bare patches in plenty, bare’ except for the moss which formed a more or less universal covering: over the whole. It was a field supplying herbage of little nourishment. Such was tlie condition of the field when the experiment began. Two plots, each four acres in size, were measured off and fenced in. Early in April, K)oo, a dressing of to cwt. of crushed lime was applied to both I plots and a few days after a dressing |of 4 cwt. of superphosphate, ;s iter | cent, soluble, and i t cwt. sulphate of potash was broadcasted over one of the plots, and then both plots were chain harrowed. Three weeks after the application of the fertilisers their effect could be easilv seen. The grasses wine of a deeper green color and the clovers had a healthy look. Towards the end of May, seven weeks after the application of the manure, two lots each of two cows were turned on to the plots, and in order to make the trial a fair one, the cows were changed every fortnight from one plot to the other. The trial closed in the middle of October, and the herbage on the plot to which the superphosphate and potash were applied had improved so much that a third row was introduced. The not result was that the to-

al yield of milk from the two plots - vas: Dressed plot, Qo2oJlb; undresicd plot, 348g|lb, being- an excess of {lb, equal to an increased yield if S4 gallons per acre. The manures ;ost 2QS. per acre, so that, calcuaing the milk at 8d per gallon, the ict profit from the application of the manures was 27s per acre; or. at 6d ocr gallon, 13s per acre. The trial was continued on the same lines this year. No further dressings of fertilisers were applied, ihc object being to ascertain the continued influence of the manures applied the picvious season. In walking over the two plots the improved character of the herbage on the

dressed portion is very marked, showing that the good effect of the combined manures is by no means exhausted, and will be carried forward to another season when the trial will be renewed cither with cows or young stock. The net result demonstrates that for an outlay of about 30s per acre for superphosphate and sulphate of potash, the gain is over £2 per acre for the two seasons, valuing the milk at Sd per gallon, or about £2 15s. taking the milk as worth fcd per gallon.

Maize makes an excellent silage for cow fodder, and if sown thickly gives a good cut of green crop. The feed for the sow before farrowing-, scientifically considered, should be nutritious, but not concentrated. A heifer should not be leg-roped if it could be avoided; 10 out of 20 would never need it if gently handled. Use slatted mangers, not overhead hay racks, as the horse is compelled to inhale dust. This is bad for the lungs. HASTES two les 13b A calf which does not thrive will grow into a stunted hetfer, and is seldom likely to develop into a satisfactory cow. Dust should not be allowed to accumulate in the pens used for feeding. It is always injurious to the health of the pigs. There are seldom too many brood marcs on a farm that they cannot be possibly profitably worked most of the time in cold weather. A first-rate specific for a calf in need of a tonic is a mixture of a lablcspoonful ‘of -cod liver oil with warm milk - twice a day.