The Dairy.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1057, 2 June 1892, Page 27

The Dairy.

PROPER PRESSURE IN CHEESE MAKING. ( American Agriculturist.) A frequent mistake is to apply too strong pressure at first fcg tho newly-hooped curd.

The pressure should be gradual, and the snug squeeze only given after several hours. The white whey that starts from a severely pressed curd, is rich in butter fats, which will not apjiear if the curd is allowed to settle firmly in the hoop beforo strong pressure is applied. The facts go to show that the average full cream cheese has parted with far'too much of its fats in press, vats, drainers, and hoops, and is often found to be a half-skim when it reaches the consumer. Great hue and cry is raised over the idea that it is commercial wisdom to take out a pound of butter fat to each hundred pounds of milk, which tests four and one-half per cent fat for cheese making. The cheese is no better that has lost that amount of fat in manufacture, than is another eheese from which has been skimmed an equal amount, and the balance of the fat retained by skilful manufacture. _ A little care at the beginning of the operations will always prevent such wastes and result in a better product.

PARTURIENT APOPLEXY, OR MILK FEYER. (American Agriculturist.) The best cows are the most liable to milk fever. It only attacks deep milkers, and the better the condition of the cow for secreting large quantities of milk, the greater are the chances of an attack. It never comes with the first calf, and never with cows which are allowed to run free and suckle their calves. It generally appears about the third day after calving. The most marked symptoms are loss of appetite, fever, staggering gait, dull, staring eyes, rapid pulse, costiveness, uneasiness and great distress. Treatment. —Place the sick cow on a level floor, with plenty of clean straw under her, in as natural a position as possible, with the head on a level with the body. Administer. 6to 12 drams, according to the size of the animal, of chloral hydrate in a pint of molasses. Repeat this every two hours until the symptoms abate, and the cow can hold up her head steadily. Immediately after the first dosq give an injection of warm soapsuds. If it can be managed without disturbing the cow, wrap her in a piece of old quilt or carpet wide enough to reach from the hips to the shoulders, and go entirely around her, just wringing it out of tepid water, and then wet it from time to time, as it dries. Do not interfere with the udder until recovery begins, then draw a little milk at a time, but not enough to draw it dry, until all danger of a relapse is passed. From first to last let everything be done as quietly as possible, and avoid everything which will increase the nervous excitement of the sick cow. If the remedy above mentioned is not at band, give as early as possible half a pint of whisky diluted with water and sweetened, and repeat every two hours, or until the more efficient remedy can be obtained. Bromide of potassium, in large doses, dissolved in water and sweetened, is administered with fair suocess, either alone or in combination with the chloral hydrate. Bleeding, giving drastic purgatives, drawing the udder dry, and other heroic treatments, have no place in the practice of skilled veterinarians.

On the same subject the English Agricultural Gazette for April 4 says : —lt matters little to the practical dairy farmer whether * milk fever,’ ‘ parturient apoplexy,’ or * drop ’ is due to meningitis, thrombosis, air bubbles in the blood, or colostrum in the blood, or any of half a dozen or more causes said to be the origin of the common, serious, and generallv fatal malady which attacks cows at the period of parturition. The important question is how it should be treated when it manifests itself. How is tho mortality in milk fever to be reduced, and if there is no specific remedy for the disease is there no probable palliative which may allay it and give a fairer chance of recovery than at present, as a rule, prevails among cows stricken with it ? The animals mo9t subject to the disease are usually the most valuable in a dairy —the deep milkers and those who have had two or more calves. The victims are the profitable one 9, on which the cowkeeper’a hopes most depend. We are just in a season when attention to the disease with its possible curative treatment may well be discussed. It really appears thut something very nearly approaching a specific lias been discovered. This is chloral hydrate. The discovery is due to Mr T. M. McConnell, of Wigan, N.B. His remedy was suggested about two years ago. He now reports that since July 5, 1890, he had twenty eight cases, all of which ho treated with chloral hydrate. Of these, twenty-three made a complete and speedy recovery. The remaining five are accounted for thus No. 1 had to be slaughtered owimr to severe injury to the muscles of one thi»h! No 2 completely recovered, but had to be destroyed as suffering from acute tuber, culosis. No. 3 had been dosed with patent medicine and whisky, and had been several hours down fce f ore she was seen by Mr McConnell. No. 4, while in a hopefully convalescent stage, was injudiciously bled by her owner, and naturally succumbed to tho operation. No. 5 was dosed by her owner with frequent draughts ot whisky, and went where good Scotchmen go. Mr McConnell administers from 6 to 8 drachms of chloral hydrate mixed with treacle as the first dose, and rjoz of chloral hydrate in each succeeding dose, at intervals of two, four, or six hours, according to the severity of the symptoms and the size of the animal. He says that if the cases are treated in the first, or early part of the second stago, the average number of doses does not exceed two. Mr G. E. Nash, Richmond, Yorks, writing in the Veterinary Record, gives his experience of the treatment, and says : ‘ I have no hesitation in saying that chloral hydrate is the beat medicine we have in the present day for parturient apoplexy. A big bcovo for Mr McConnell. Praised be liis name.’ Another veterinary practitioner writes of eleven complete recoveries out of fifteen cases under the chloral hydrate treatment. The fatality of four is accounted for in a way that does not in the least discount the remedy. * So far,’ he says, * the success of attending this mode of treatment has exceeded that of any form in our experience, We give chloral

hydrate 1£ to 2 ounces at the outset, and 6 drachms to I ounce every four hours afterwards until the cow can hold her head up steadily. In no case have we found it necessary to give more than five doses.’ In the case of a disease of so suddenly fatal a character as milk fever, and the absence of a duly qualified veterinarian, it may not ba unadvisable on the part of the dairy farmer to try the remedy to which I refer. Veterinary surgeons are often from mistaken nations jealous of any layman who gains any knowledge of veterinary science and practice. For my part, the more I know of human or animal diseases and medical or veterinary practice, the more I am inclined to employ a specialist on every possible occasion.