DAIRY JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1106, 12 May 1893, Page 8

DAIRY JOTTINGS.

A wooden bit for a sucking cow was made by a farmer in Tennesse. He punched the pith out of a stout section of an elder stem, and ran a large wire through it. The ends of the wire were fastened to the heads! all.

Milk fever or dropping after calving can be prevented by giving a specially prepared drink both before and after calving. From my own experience, says an English breeder with a large number of cows, I have no doubt that if cowkeepers generally would use a drink before and after calving, this annual loss of the best cows by milk fever would soon be a thing of the past. I lost heavily for several years, until a friend recommended this drench, on my mentioning that my best Jersey cow had just died of milk fever. I have used it ever since, and also recommended it to my friends, and on no occasion has it failed to prevent milk fever. One gentleman three years since told me he should give up keeping cows, as he lost so heavily every year from milk fever. I recommended these drinks, with the result that a few days since I met him and he said, ' Since using those drinks I haven't had a case of milk fever, and have doubled the number of my cows instead of giving up keeping any.' These drinks can be had from any compent veterinary.

An important case was heard the other day at the Shellharbor (N.S.W.) Small Debts Court, showing that the obligations of shareholders in butter companies who supply milk continuously under certain provisions of the Articles of Association, cannot hope to evade the penalty imposed on outside sales. The Dunmore Butter Factory Company sued George Bigg and Son for L2l. By the Articles of Association the Directors of the above Company were empowered to impose a fine of one farthing per gallon on all milk sold by shareholders elsewhere. It was proved that the defendants had sold 2000 gallons of milk to another company in Sydney, and they refused to pay the farthing per gallon penalty, amounting in all to L2l. This was sued for, with the result that a verdict for the amount claimed, with costs, was awarded the plaintiff company. In a similar case against Frederick Bigg, a verdict was also found for the plaintiffs.

The number of cheese and butter factories working in Victoria during 1892 was:—Butter, 25; cheese, 13; making both butter and cheese, 6. Total, 74. The quantity of butter manufactured was 5,542,9321b5., and that of cheese, 818,2821b5. There has been a rapid increase since the end of 1892.

It is a well ascertained fact that more milk can be drawn from the udder

of a cow during the milking than can be held in the udder at any one time. This is because the act of milking excites the active secretion of the milk. When one begins to milk, the milk comes slowly and the udder and teats are soft and only partly filled. After a short time these vessels are found to fill rapidly, and the milk flows more with a copious stream. The more quickly this is drawn off the grsater is the flow ; so that the milking should be done as rapidly as possible.

Roots should have a place in the economy of the dairy, but should not be used exclusive feeding, or it will be apt to reduce the condition of the cow. The result would also be a large flow of milk of poor quality.

It has long been recognised that the yield of milk is materially affected by the nervous condition of the animal, but only within the last few years has it been demonstrated that the quality of the milk is more affected by nervous changes than is the quantity given. > — Prol. S. M. Babcock.

In speaking on 'The Dairy Cow,' before the Michigan Dairymen's Association, Mr Lockwood said:—'How any man who ever milked could teach that you should wash a cow's teats before beginning to milk I can't understand. Such conditions may occur in summer, when the cows sleep in the pastures, not in winter where cows are properly stabled. As soon as you begin to rub or manipulate the bag the cow responds by letting down her milk. If you are not ready to take it she is in pain and holds it up; this skims it every time, and if pursued would make the cow wholly unprofitable. Chafe the dry teats with the dry hand or cloth as rapidly and as hard as possible without starting the milk; pass your hand over the bag and flank, rubbing and brushing off everything that is loose; bring the pail around between your knees ; take the milk as clear and quick as you can ; apply your nose to the steam rising from the warm milk for any " bad odours," evidence of disease. Do not take such milk to the dairy or to the cow ; there is no profit in it, but there is more or less death.'

A new method of dealing with milk fever, as originated by Mr Thomas McConnell, M.R.C.V.S., consists of giving doses of chloral hydrate. The treatment adopted is very simple, and is as follows :—Place the patient on a level floor, put her in as natural a position as possible, and maintain her in such by bundles or sacks of straw. The head must be kept on a level but not raised above the body, and the uppermost hind leg should be well drawn out, so as to save unnecessary straining or bruising. The position must be changed from side to side every two or three hours, and no milk should be taken from the udder until recovery is apparent, and then only very litile at short intervals for two or three days. The animal must be kept as quiet as possible. In the very first stage of the disease administer from 7dr to loz of chloral hydrate, acoording to the size of the animal and the severity of the symptoms, along with from lib to 21b

or treacle. If in two hours there is no improvement another dose of loz of chloral hydrate with lib of treacle should be" given, and afterwards repeated every four or six hours as often as is necessary. It very seldom happens that more than four doses are required, and as soon as the cow can hold her head up steadily the medicine should be stopped. During convalescence, which in most cases is remarkably short, the patient should be fed on hay, bran, and linseed mashes, and should have plenty of thin, well-boiled oatmeal gruel to drink. This treatment can be carried out by any persons of ordinary intelligence, and should certainly be given a trial when a case of milk fever occurs in a herd.

Several buttter factories in Victoria have been fitted up with a cheesemaking plant, and the work of turning oat cheese for exportation is in full swing. The Grassmere Butter and Cheese Factory, one of the largest in the Colony is now turning out from 12001 b to 15001 b daily, and at the end of last week they had on hand about 45,0001 b ready for shipment, special weights and colours to suit the Home markets. The whole of the milk coming into this factory is now converted into cheese. This remark also applies to the Farnham factory, about four miles from Warnambool. where, on the date mentioned, they will have some 18,0001 b ready for shipment.

A sample of the Danish butter, about which so much has been heard lately, was on view at the office of Messrs Robinson, Burns, and Sparrow, Geelong, last week (says the Melbourne Leader). In colour it closely resembled the butters made at some of the western district factories, but the flavour was considered by judges to be much inferior. Experts stated that they could detect in the sample of Danish butter the presence of some foreign substance resembling muttonfat, which left a disagreeable taste on the palate, and surprise was expressed that such butter should command a higher price in the London market than the best Victorian. When this package of butter, which was pur. chased in the London market at the highest price by a gentleman who resides in Warrnambooi, and who had it conveyed to Victoria in the refrigerating chamber of one of the mail steamers, was first opened its condition was found to be splendid, but exposure to the air quickly caused deterioration, and it has been clearly shown that its keeping qualities are much inferior to the product of Victorian butter factories. Such an advantage must soon have the effect of placing our butter in the leading position in the estimation of British consumers.

The Provincial Farmers' Co-operative Association will not be the first to develop the butter trade with the East. We clip the following from The Queenslander :-—' A new feature to develop the butter trade in foreign countries is being introduced by a Warrnambool firm. They have already sent packages of factory butter to India and China, and with a view to placing it on the market in better condition they are now sending it in canisters, containing lib, 21b, and other quantities up to 501 b. The tins are coated with blue glare, and the lettering in white on a red ground gives the information that the butter is pure factory from the western district of Victoria, Australia. It is expected that by this means new foreign markets will be tapped, opening the way for large trade and good prices.

Among other dairy notes in a long column in The Field (Eng.), is the following, to be noted with profit by New Zealanders :—' The Danish teacher in New Zealand has recently been telling the people in the Colony that the best dairy cow in England is the Jersey, and* that he much prefers it to the Shorthorn. The latter animal, in his opinion, is only useful for the production of beef, being an inferior milker. Statements of this kind—of course erroneous—are probably owing to the experience of imported English Shorthorns of pedigree class into the colony. The same mistake has been made in the United States. The remark is made at the present moment for this reason: cattle used by the dairy farmer for milk production are at the present time absolutely unsaleable when sent to market, unless they have calves by their side, or in full milk, or sufficiently fleshy for early feeding or, grazing. . The worse the market for)

dairy cattle, the better the feeding type should be. We are acquainted with instances in which owners are at an absolute loss to know what to do with stock which are not adapted to feed into beef; such are entirely unsaleable. Young Guernseys and Jerseys and crossbred cattle of similar type often make respectable carcases as steers or maiden heifers ] but after any females have bred several calve 3, it is morally certain that the cost of producing each pound of bsef is greater than the beef itself is worth.'