THE PROFITABLE DAIRY COW.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1163, 15 June 1894, Page 6

THE PROFITABLE DAIRY COW.

One very common mistake with dairymen is to reckon the value of a cow by her yearly yield of milk or butter. Perhaps, as a general rule, such a standard would more often be right than wrong, but at the same time it very often proves a false standard. At the Pennsylvania experiment station some very elaborate experiments were carried out, testing the profit of cows in milk and butter making All the food was carefully weighed and charged. Marguerite produced 6512 pounds of milk and 296 pounds of butter, while Ramona produced 5459 pounds of milk and 279 pounds of butter. Ordinarily the dairyman would pronounce Marguerite the better cow of the two, but accounts had been kept with them, and it was found, at the end of the year, that Marguerite had made a profit of only 31*50 dollars, while Ramona returnod a clear profit of 61*50 dollars. All cows have what is called a normal appetite; that is, they will consume food up to a certain point, with a return in the pail of profit, but all fed beyond that amount is not only lost, but actually injures the cow. Every man who handles cows should test each one for at least a week during the fourth month from calving, and by using scales on the feed and a Babcock test on the milk, find out where the normal limit of each cow stands. Once testing will probably last the cow's lifetime. This individual testing is particularly valuable, owing to the remarkable variation in the appetites and assimilating powers of different cows. The writer once owned two Jerseys. 1 One was the largest cow, the largest eater, and the smallest milker; while the other was the smallest cow, the smallest eater, and the largest milker in the herd. Another cow was the fattest and among the smallest milkers, but so steady was her flow from end to end of the season that she averaged when the year's figures were summed up. One of the interesting features of dairying is finding out these queer creatures, to say nothing of the black sheep you find in the herd, and that are profitably parted with to the first butcher who fancies them. —H. Hamilton in Farm and Field,

The Taratahi Dairy Company sent away 608 cases of cheese, of a gross weight of 73,959 pounds, during the year ending May Bth last. It is said that if a warm bran mash does not remove the afterbirth of cows twelve hours after calving it should be removed with the hand. A pint of linseed oil or lard, in which a drachm of pure carbolic acid is thoroughly mixed, should be applied to a clean washed and dried hand and arm. All membranes and blood clots should be removed at the same time.