A SCIE.tifICALLY WORKED DAIRY FARM

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1675, 6 April 1904, Page 65

A SCIENTIFICALLY WORKED DAIRY FARM

A writer in the '‘British Medical Journal” thus describes a scietiiically-wonied dairy farm, which, by the courtesy of Mr. Sorensen, the owner and manager, he yas enabled to visit at 'West Huntington, near York: Tlie first thing' which struck me was (lie extreme simplicity of all the appliances, combined with spotless l cleanliness. Air. Sorensen is of Banish extraction, a nephew of Mr. Busck, of the Copenhagen Milk Supply Company, which is well known co be the most perfectly worked .dair conmpany in the world. The dairy farm near York is worked on the same lines, with this advantage, that Mr. Sorensen supplies milk from his own herd of cows only, and supervises everything himself. He fields that milk should, with, common care and cleanliness, be produced in such a manner as to be drunk in a.’l confidence by the public without any necessity for* pasteurisation or sterilisation. 'The essentials, lie considers, for such a milk supply are, briefly:—l. Health, properly fed and housed cows. 2. Cleanliness from A to Z, and a responsible guarantee that nothing is added to or extracted from the milk. 3. Prompt anu thorough cooling of the milk, so as to prevent germ, growth. 4. Delivery under hygienic conditions. These conditions are all fulfilled at this farm. A York Corporation veterinary officer of experience inspects the cows every month, and is empowered to dispose of any unhealthy or suspected animal. The feeding of the cows is scientifically carried out. No brewers’ grains, turnip tops, or other unsuitable foods are used; the hay the cows are fed on, the ’mangolds, etc., are grown upon the farm, while waver from the York city water simply is used for drinking, and also for cleansing purposes, washing the utensils, etc. The cowshed, containing fifty 1 per-fectly-groomed cows, is lofty, well-lighted and! ventilated, and 1 the platform, on which the cows are tethered 1 is* built short, so that their hind-quarcei’3 do not rest on the ground, but over a‘ drain made specially to carry away the manure. Thus the cows are unable to roll and soil themselves during the periods of weather too bad for them to remain out-of-doors. This is 1 as seldom, as possible, as Mr. Sorensen disapproves of housing cows when possible for them to be out-of-doors. In the cowshed I observed a simple wash basin fixed against the* wall, with towels beside it, while on pegs hung the clean smocks worn by the milkers during milking. No money is wasted on fanev fittings, which simpl yin ore as© the: cast without making the milk any better. The aim is to keep everything—from the cows to the smallest utensils —sweet and clean. The cans, etc., are cleansed with live steam from a high-pressure boiler. After the cows are milked, the milk is cooled by allowing it to flow over a corrugated cylinder, inside which cold water and ico are passed, in order to reduce the temperature in a few seconds! to a point an. favourable to germ life. Clean milk so treated will, without preservatives, remain sweet, if kept in a cool place, for several days*. Most of the milk is delivered in glass bottles, which are filled and sealed at the dairy, the rest being sent out in cans, also filled and sealed af. the dairy. There is a third method of sending out the milk in a sealed can with a tap. To save himself the trouble and expense of book-keeping, Mr. Sorensen has a, system of payment by tickets, which are sold in booksI', 1 ', and paid the man a a he delivers the milk. Now for tlie resmTof the theory preached, that to conduct a dairy farm cleanly and scientifically does not cost more than it does to run a filthy one. The following were the charges:—3-kl per quart delivered in cans filled and sealed at the daily; milk drawn by tan from sealed an in the cari, per quart, ; per pint, 2d' Special table or nursery milk in sealed glass bottles, per quart, 4d; per pint, 2d. To show that right methods are not really overlooked by the public, I may mention that the demand for Mr. Sorensens uUk is so great that twice during the *ast month he has raised the price of ii for customers whom he is unajple to supply and be* is thoroughly satisfied with his" venture from a pecuniary point of view. It is significant that many of his customers are medical men.

The wheai market is very quiet in Canterbury, there being practically no buyers, millers liavingyapparently satis-, fied their requirements for the present. •lii th'ejjLusual paradoxical fashion, farmers. having when 3s 3d was current., are. pressing sales at 3®. which may be taken-;, as the nominal price to-day, on trucks at not too remote railway stations. Oats are firm, in sympathy, with reports of damage by rain to the Southland eroo.