A MODEL DAIRYING ESTATE

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4308, 18 March 1901, Page 2

A MODEL DAIRYING ESTATE

A NEW SOUTH WALES METHOD. , A writer in the “Australasian” describes in a most interestin'! manner the • great dairying estate of Bodalia, in the South Const district of New South 'Yales. The estate comprises 22,000 acres, though nearly one-half of the laud Is poor and scarcely worth the clearing. It is considered that if the whole of the land was worth the clearing there would be no such dairy farm in the world. As it is there are few that can appproach it. The “Australasian” contributor says : "The number cf cows being milked dailytotals 1240 bead, and as mient bo expected, the manager (Mr Douglas Hutchison) is a fairly busy man. But the system of management pursued is so pex--fect and complete that there is no friction. Tho estate is divided into 10 different farms, and while the cows ma' r be shifted or chanced from one paddock to another as occasion reouires. about the same number is milked daily at each station. At tho respective farms about the following numbers are maintained: —Coomerang, 125 ; Central Bails, 125: (rreeuwnod-pnrk, 176; Trunketta.hella. 160: Homo Farm, 120: Creenwnv. 120 ; Rivorview, 8-1: Long Elat, 120 ; Central Island, 135: Blind Ned’s, §6. There do not include dry cows or young stock, numbering about 2000 head, which are kent entirely separate in the outlying maddocks. The cows maintained include TTolsteins. Ayrshire*, South Coast Durham*. and Jerseys,' besides crosses of these various breeds. The Holstein hord is the largest and best in New South Wales, numbering several hundred head Both black and white and vedow and white Hoistcins are in the herd, and T believe Mr Hutchison has a leaning to •die latter. Thev are gramd-looking cows end enrrv wonderful vessels. The crossbred TTolsteins bv the black and white sire from e-Poutb Coast. Durham cow ere also wonderfully attractive cattle 'Tid great milkers as a. rule but T do not bapv -f-be Holstein pud Terror cress. However, it is only recently that this cross has been tried, the progeny I saw being only calves, and they may* prove better than I anticipate. The Durham and Jersey crossbreds are beautiful cows, and so are many of those with the Ayi> shire blood predominating. Tho great object at Bodalia is to breed heavymilking stock, regardless of pedigree or blue blood, and, taking the 1240 cows on the place all in a bunch, they are not to ho equalled in Australia—or anywhere else, probably. During tho past year the yield of milk per cow has averaged about 425 gallons, showing an .overage test of 3.8 of button-fat by the Babcock machine. About 200 cows are culled everv year. Some of the best milkers on the place arc nearly 20 years old, so that drafting by ago is not the rule by any means.

THE CHEESE FACTORIES. The milking is accomplished by families resident on each farm, and some of the men, having, say, half-a-doaeh youngsters who can milk, draw a.pretty good cheque every month. The cost of milking the cows at Bodalla is reckoned at ;30s per cow per annum. The families got a free house, besides a certain number of rations and other perquisites, in ;addition to, a money wage, and they cerjtainly all appear,to be happy and comfortable in every way. The careful way | in which the cows are driven to and 'from the paddocks, and the quiet way : they are handled in the yards and bails, ; are evidence of the interest the emj pl'oyeoa take : in their , work. Formrly i the cows were leased to tenants at 2os per jcow per annum, but this system has boon I abandoned. The bails and all utensils | are kept in scrupulous order, and the ■milk is taken direct to the nearestfac- | tory twice a day. There are four cheese j factories on the estate, and also a bacon- , curing establishment. Only Cheddar icheese,is made at Bodalla, and the brand [ is so well and favourably known in the i Sydney market that it needs no praise; jit invariably realises the top figure. The j system pursued at the different factories is identical, and a uniform article is produced at each. The weekly output ! of cheese at the present time is 7f tons I per week, and it is likely to exceed this 1 during next mouth, owing to the splenjdid prospects fqr grass.' It is a spectacle i to see four or fire months’ cheese in each of the curing rooms, row after row and tier above tier, and it seems to mo that the cheese business is more profitable when properly worked than hutter,making.' There is no butter made at j Bodalla, but cheese is now fetching Gd ■per lb., and South Coast butter 9d per ;lbs. As it takes just about double the j quantity of milk to produce llh ofbut- | ter to what is required for llh of cheese, ■ it is evident, since the cost of mmnfaejture is about the same for both, that (the cheese-maker is making the greatjest profit. Of course, cheese dose always command as high a wife as it .'does to-day, and the buttermaker cap jrealise on his produce immediately it is made, while the cheese-maker has to ■ wait for five or sis month's, or until the j cheese is cured. However, all things considered, cheese-making seems the more profitable system during the present season. | BEARING CALVES ON WHEY. The system of rearing the calves at Bodalla is interesting. A unmoor or dairymen on the south coast have informed me that the reason they uo not go in for cheese-making is because they cannot rear their calves on wliey, although they generally admit that they have never given tiie system extensive trial. Well, if these farmers could only see the calves on uoaaila, they womd Oe quickly compelled to change their mind on that point. About 501) calves are being reared at the present and better-conditioned or thriftier youngsters it would bollard to'find. They are fatter and stronger-boned than many I have seen reared on separated milk —aye, sweet milk, sometimes. But|thero is a correct way of doing everything in order to ensure success, and the whole secret in rearing calves on whey lies in the mode of feeding. The whey is not fed absolutely alone, but has a small quantity of treacle or molasses added, about i daily to each calf. In a cheese dairy the greatest care has to. be taken not to supply any “green’’ milk to the factory, consequently the plan adopted here is to allow the calves to suck their dams for the first ton days after calving. After this they are yarded and put on to milk and whev for a few days, and in about another fortnight the calves are fed entirely on whey, sweetened, with a 1 small quantity of treacle. When the whey is fed alone the calves do not take to.it readily, hut when coloured with treacle tbe food is relished as much as sweet milk. The calves are separated, according to their ages, into various small enclosures, where they can obtain a bite of fresh grass, and great importance is attached to regularity in feeding and keeping the troughs clean. The calves are allowed as much whey as they care to drink, but no stale food is placed before them. On a wbey and molasses diet they have, doubtless, a tendency to scour, but this does not, appear to hurt them in the least when the whey is perfectly fresh. There is never anv sickness amongst them, and bv the time tbev -reaeh the- ago of eight or nine months they are well grown and readv to go out into the naddoeks and fin'd their own living, i Shelter sheds are provided for the vour.r calves in winter, and tTiev also make use of them during the hot

days of summer. When there is more whey than tho calves can consume it goes to the pigs, of which a great number are reared and fattened every year. Tho plan of rearing tho pigs in open paddocks, instead of confining them in pons, is the general rule. Tho breeding sows are maintained chiefly on grass and clover, andtho young pigs seldom tnsto corn until they are topped up at six or seven months old. There is a most complete bacon-curing establishment on Bodalia, but it is not working just at present. When in full swing, 150 pigs are slaughtered weekly. Tho pigs are meanwhile being sent to tho company's in Sydney. • CULTIVATION AND PASTURE.

At each of tho ten farms about ton acres of green stuff is grown for feeding the cows for a few weeks when tho grass begins to fail in tho autumn. March and April are tho worst months on Bodnlla. and if the milkers are assisted, through that'period they maintain their mi’k yield right through the winter. This, it should ho observed, is a very important point in the management of dairy enti.o. At the end of summer the grass usually becomes scarce and drv. and at such times tho cows require something succulent to maintain the milk flow, until the fresh spring in tho grass takes pln'eo in autumn or winter, when no hand-feeding is required. To keen 1200 cows in green fodder for a. month or so may sco!n a difficult and expensive* business; but it is really a. very simple matter and not very costly eitbor. No dairyman in the colony with 100 cows would think of growing less than ten acres of green stuff for their use at dw periods, and this is the nl’owsnee at Bodalia. Maize. sorghum, and oats are the crops grown for tin's mimose, and what is not required for the rows pops to other slock, or is eonv»rted into bav. There is a large bricked enrilmyp pit on tlie estate, but Mr TTntchi«nn is not a believer in ensilage. rod consponontlv the nit is not used. The artificial and natural pastures are so luxuriant all the vear round, executin'' the brief period alluded to. that storing fodder of anv kind is considered unnecessary, and when it does happen to be wanted, what the cows specially •Pennine at that time is a bite of green, snceuW.t feed. Neither ensilage nor haV quite meets the requirements of tho cattle when the grass is off colour, at • leapt tor producing milk for oho'ese-inak-ino purposes." The meadow, flats are a picture ■at this season of. tho vear. with II to grass and clover Icnee.-cleen. Theso have been drained where necessary, and hn'd down vrith artificial grasses, but tho bottom lands ere liable to flooding. The mixture, ot grass soeds generally -"acil comprises 1 bushel r"*o.ir>o grass. 151!,. perennial rve ora's. li]!,, XTntifn«W blot, -rass, r, K i ~ small ouanf->'tv of white clover. Tli" clc.-cr is ant to heroine too ali.mdant in the pastures, and in certain naddeek° is not sown afc all. On the •«W"' land a, ’attic Tm-nH- is also incWlcd in +l-0 wivtm-y lint t-M B r-,K is of no use on the b'lly ground., Jp Ho ua-tnrjd naslwcs tho kanc-areo grass w'gp to rrodorrlgato. Tl>o luscocks ■Ovd '-Msl-lcs ..-ooVI , P ,. to-gwo , o. o„iSOT.eg oo ft, p tWaPo e»tg p..f 1„ „.,,i O* oP-Por are' t„ fo-v snec«al to a..,i ocsoguon.fiv .this estate has a .trim -"nr? It'Tv ;iniv'3r o Dr o .