The NORTHLAND FARMER

Northern Advocate, 28 November 1936, Page 5 (Supplement)

The NORTHLAND FARMER

Main Boundary Shelter.

For the main boundary ( shelter the much-maligned pinus insignis should not be ignored. Oregon pine (or Douglas fir), which retains its lower branches in much the same way as Lawsoniana, is, however, to be preferred, though it is rather slow growing. Ultimately it will reach a great height. Further, it does well in most localities. Cupressus Macrocarpo also retains its bottom branches if protected from the stock, grows more rapidly than Douglas fir and furnishes excellent fencing material. If a very rapid shelter is required, pinus insignis, or pinus radiata as it is now called, is the best, but, of course, its weakness is the same as applies to the gums when these are planted in a single row. The best way to plant gums, if the land can be spared, is to plant them in a belt of not less than one chain in width. An inside ~, row of Lawsoniana can then be planted for bottom shelter. By the way, Lawsoniana will' not thrive in front of pinus insignis. Both are shallow rooting, and perhaps this is the reason. On the other hand the gums, are deep rooting. Excellent high and bottom shelter in wet situations may be provided by a row of poplars with -alaeagnus planted among them. The elaeagnus can be allowed to grow unchecked; but requires adequate protection from the stock for the first few years. Gums—Macarthuri and Vimlnalis to be preferred—are a great asset on a farm. They provide excellent firewood and fencing material, the latter variety, however, only when heart wood is sufficiently developed, and this will not take place till the trees 1 are from 15 to 20 years old. Before that time much temporary fencing material may ‘ be obtained. Other varieties, such as Eugeneoides, are said to be more suitable for power poles, but they are slower growing and are more difficult to transplant.

A page prepared for the purpose of helping the Northland farmer to make the utmost use of the remarkable advantages which Nature has mmm bestowed on Northland, and thereby ■ to develop the most fertile territory === in New Zealand.

Milk Stands Alone.

Another report has been published drawing attention to the nutritive value of milk. This comes from the Advisory Committee on Nutrition, England, which has Lord Luke as chairman and Professor Mellanby and Sir J. Boyd Orr as members. These experts point out that children and expectant and nursing mothers need two pints of milk per day, and that the desirable minimum for adults is half a pint a day. Today the average consumption in England is in the region of 0.4 pint per head per day. The committee say: “From the results of these and many other experiments too numerous to mention, on men and animals, it can be predicted that important beneficial effects would result from an increase in the consumption of milk above that at present prevailing in this country. . - • There can be little doubt from the experimental evi-

Edited By C. E. Cuming

dence obtained that an increase in the average consumption of milk to about one pint per head per day would result in the improvement of the general health of the commuuity, especially in the case of children.”

Better Farm Animals. Livestock breeding may be—generally speaking—at the crossroads. It may continue simply to increase the number of purebreds, or it may turn sharply toward improving the breeds themselves. All the available data indicates that animal breeding has not kept pace with plant breeding in veloping, cataloguing and perpetuating superior strains. The reasons are apparent. An animal is a more complex organism than a plant. With larger animals reproduction is much less rapid than with plants. The geneticist works with much smaller numbers. Effects or environment are difficult to separate from effects of inheritance. And self-fertilisation, which simplifies breeding of improved plants, is out of the picture with animals. The difficulties are real, but, many scientists believe, not insurmountable.. There already are practical “yardsticks” for measuring production, such as milk and butterfat records for dairy cows, speed records for horses, and egg records for hens. Methods of determining quality and quantity of production in meat animals are less definite and need improvement.

Keep Cows in Condition. , x There has been no lack of calving troubles this year, although in some districts it is reported that less trouble than usual was experienced. There can be no doubt that much of the

calving trouble could be eliminated if more attention were given to the management of the dairy herd. .. In too many cases not enough care is given the herd during the winter period with the result that the cows are in poor condition at calving time, with the consequent occurrence of calving troubles. The cows should have at least from six to eight weeks rest between the close of one lactation period and the beginning of the next. More than this, they should be fed well enough to permit them to regain what condition they have lost. There is as much variation in the skill of men in handling cows as there is among cows or men. It is folly to expect improvement in the production of cows unless there is first an improvement in the practices of men who feed and care for the cows, very aptly states an Australian exchange. One group of farmers has found by experience that it pays to keep cows in good condition and especially to have them in good condition at calving time. The other group, not being alive to the necessity of supplying plenty of the right kind of feed at the right time, and, further, apparently thinking that cows need to be fed only while they are giving milk, have cows whose condition is anything but satisfactory at the beginning of a new lactation period. These are the men who should make some improvement in their skill in feeding and caring for cows, if the cows are to return them as much money as they are capable of returning.

New Zealand Fanners.

Viscount Bledisloe, in a paper read recently before the Chartered Surveyors’ Institution in London, expressed the opinion that New Zealand farmers, not being handicapped by the traditions and more static conditions of an old country, are more alertminded and far more receptive of new ideas. This, he said, was-, especially noticeable in regard to pasture Mnd. There is now great scope, Lord Bledisloe thinks, for a good type of dualpurpose Shorthorn, and, perhaps even more, of good quality Bed Polls, as hornless cattle are strongly favoured in New Zealand.

The livestock embargo, he maintains, is a special hardship in the case of the ordinary commercial farmer, who often realised the need for fresh blood from abroad, but cannot afford the expensive process, apart from quarantine and shipment, of maintaining an imported animal for six months in Canada or Australia before final shipment to New Zealand.

New Milk Quality. The discovery of a new and previously unrecognised quality of milk was announced during Farm and Home Week at Cornell University by Dr. James A. Tobey, director of health service of the Borden Company, New York. Recently completed investigations at the company’s research laboratories at Bainbridge, New York, conducted by Dr. George C. Supples, have revealed that one of the proteins of milk, the lactalbumin, increased the value of the rickets-preventing vitamin D, said Dr. Tobey. Milk has also been found to be a source of the new vitamin H recently isolated by scientists at Columbia University, according to the speaker, who stated that this food factor resembles vitamins A and G in milk because it is necessary for proper growth and good health. Since laboratory animals, deprived of vitamin H, he said, are reported to have lost their hair and to have suffered from serious skin diseases, the vitamin H derived from a diet liberally supplied with milk may be shown to have a favourite effect upon these important attributes of beauty. He pointed out, however, that the outstanding value of milk is its function as a well balanced and indispensable food for children and adults.

The Milking Organisms.

Cows of high production almost invariably have large udders and, as a rule, the udders of such cows remain large throughout most of the lactation period. The size decreases somewhat, of course, following each milking. Extending forward from the udder on the underside of the body are milk veins, which carry blood from the udder toward the heart and in high producing cows usually are large. They ordinarily increase in size from first calving up to maturity. A welldeveloped, large udder and large milk veins are good indications of dairy capacity, although they are not infallible guides. A high producing cow requires a capacious udder. Ordinarily an udder which has a wide and level attachment at the front and a high and wide attachment at the rear possesses large capacity. When these attachments are deficient, a large udder becomes more and more pendulous, the capacity being taken care of by increased depth. A pendulous udder may extend downward so far that it strikes against the legs when the

i cow walks and is stepped upon by ' other cows when she lies down. An ' udder originally having good quality may, with continued striking by the legs, develop firm tissue in place of some of the secreting tissue. In the ideal udder the fore attachment is nearly parallel with the underline of the body and the udder extends backward terminating in a high I and wide attachment in the rear. As the attachments become shorter, the form of udder departs from the ideal. The fore attachment breaks away from the body and becomes more nearly vertical, so that a wide gap is formed between the udder and the abdominal wall. The rear attachment recedes from its high position and causes the udder to swing forward and the rear quarters to extend lower than the fore quarters. This often re-' suits in the teats pointing forward instead of hanging squarely as in the ideal udder.

Quality of Udder. The quality of the udder is one of its important attributes. Size alone is not a true indication of capacity. Some udders contain, in addition to secreting tissues, considerable amounts of connective, or non-secreting, tissue. This tissue gives the udder firmness in contrast to the soft, spongy texture of secreting tissue. The udders of greatest capacity have a high proportion of secreting tissue; they collapse, or reduce greatly in size, following milking. Udders with relatively small proportions of secreting tissue do not show so much reduction in size with milking and have a firmer consistency. Here again the stage of lactation must be considered, for immediately after calving udders are usually firm or even hard, and for the first 4 to 6 weeks the udder of a high producing cow is firmer than it is later. Development of feeding capacity.— A striking and almost constant feature of dairy form in cows yielding large amounts of milk is their large middle, or barrel. The function of the cow is

to convert pasture crops, hay, ensilage and other bulky feeds which are not readily marketed, into products which are easily marketed and which are valuable as human food. Since such foodsare relatively low in nutrient value, a high producing cow needs a capacious digestive system.

Capacity of Barrel. The barrel includes all the middle portion of the animal extending from the backbone to the under line and from the shoulders to the under line and from the shoulders and chest to hip bone and flank, or it may be said to include all the region between the fore legs and rear legs except the udder. Capacity of barrel depends upon the depth of the barrel from top to bottom and also on its width, or the distance through the barrel in a horizontal direction at right angles to the backbone. The size usually increases with age up to maturity and at any given time depends upon the amount and character of the feed consumed. In a cow having good feed capacity, however, the barrel is usually of extraordinary size in comparison with the rest of the body. High producing dairy, cows have what is known as a “dairy tendency,” a strong stimulus to convert the nutrients in their feed into milk rather than into body fat. This stimulus is an inherited quality and is found mainly in animals whose ancestors have been bred and selected generation after generation for high milk production. A cow lacking in dairy tendency is capable of producing but a limited amount of milk and when liberally fed converts a large portion of her feed into body fat.

The first mechanical milker, though unsatisfactory, and consequently unsuccessful, was devised about 100 years ago. Miss Anna Baldwin in 1878 invented the first successful milking machine, and her invention, with alterations, has come do)Vn to the present day.