FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 December 1924, Page 11

FARM AND DAIRY.

DUAL PURPOSE COWS. RED POLLS IN AMERICA, ? “Single purpose herds don't meet requirements,’" is the comment of an owner of red poll cattle in America who is .a contributor to the January number of the breed journal of: the United States Red Poll Association. He says: “Always, but especially in lean times of economic readjustment as the present, the farmers shbuld raise the kind of cattle which, firstly, will thrive -under ordinary farm management and conditions; secondly, will most profitably turn farm roughagis .and available concentrates rnto good, rich milk; and, thirdly, will feed and furnish most profitably for beef.”

He asserts that experience abundantly .proves that no single purpose food whether dairy or not will meet these requirements. The same writer ma-k.es a great point of the usefulness of red. polls to the average farmer through their fine combination of milking properties and fat making characteristics. He argues that the failure of some agricultural leaders to recommend dual purpose -cattle more strongly is due to ignorance and scepticism as to the existence or possibility of the development of real dual purpose cattle. The same contributor speaking from experience claims that the red polls are the greatest of all breeds, which claim to be dual punpose, and his reasons which affect the views of all breeders in’ Great Britain are summed up in the following words: “In quantity of milk and butterfat' production, the cows of the red poll breed compare very favourably with the cows of the foremost special purpose dairy breeds.” In .point of economy of production their superiority over all breeds has been demonstrated many times in act-" ual competition. His remarks on the beef side of red polls are equally interesting, more especially as they bear out the tributes oi the' -breed in this respect, which have been forthcoming by every buyer of red polls at the Southfield Show. On this point the American breeder says as to beef production, one need only visit the fat stock markets of America to see red poll grades selling daily at lively prices with similar animals if the beef breeds. In wellattested slaughter tests red poll beef dressed out to as high a percentage of the best cuts of beef as any other breed and of a quality and kind surpassed by i.one. Finally, in a word as to the future of red polls, this American breeder declares; Owirfg to the rapidly gaining popularity of the breed -among United and Canadian farmers, that there is a good reason for the prediction of an impartial authority, that red polls will, within the next twenty years, become a major breed in America.

MILK FEVER. REMEDIAL TREATMENT. The milk fever apparatus should always be clean and ready for use; the udder and teats can be washed with a mild antiseptic solution. The cow mud be in such a position that the teats can be reached by the operator. The milk that is in them should be milked out; each of the quarters is distended with air; it is best in most cases to inflate the under teats first, as it is easier to get at them before the upper ones are inflated. Do not use tape or rubber ■bands to keep the air in the teats. This treatment is known as the air treatment by most cattle men; its value evidently depends upon the pressure of the atmosphere on the inside of the udder, as the injection of sterile water, potassium iodide solution, or any other Equid, has the same results.

The animal should be treated as soon after she is found as possible. If she is found before she has gone down, and the sympt ims point to milk fever, inflate the odder at once. Done carefully it can do no harm, and there is much opportunity to do good. Even in many cases where treatment seems hopeless they will recover in a very short time. If the'heart is still beating when they are treated, there is hope, and recovery is quite likely to occur. Under no condition should a cow suffering, from this complaint be given anything by way of the mouth until it is-evident that she has regained consciousness.

In a short while after the cow’s udder, has been inflated she will begin to regain consciousness; the breathing -becomes more nearly natural and the aippearanee is 'brighter. About this time the animal may -be noticed to shift about, and will possibly .swallow a few times. In s. short time she may attempt to get upon her feet; if she does she should be helped, and if she succeeds she should be steadied for a few minutes until she can stand alone. The animal should not be allowed to lie on her side while in this condition, as she will bloat quite badly; if this has occurred, she should lie Upped.

After the cow is on her feet she should have plenty of water, but no feed for 10 or 12 hours; if in the summer time,, she may safely run on - pasture, She should not -be milked before 10 or 12 hours after she'has got upon her .feet. If the &>w does uot regain her feet, Within four or live hours after the udder lias been inflated, the udder should be inflated again. DAIRY COW AND HER FEEDING. Mr. C. Denner, of Cheltenham, the well-known breeder of Jersey cattle, in the. course of a recent lecture to dairy farmers at Wanganui, was very decidedly emphatic on the subject of “Feeding the- Dairy Cow.” He told them that quite a number of cows were literally starving at present, and he maintained tliat many cowmen made no- attempt to see that their cows were fed sufficiently during the winter. The consequence was that cows calved when in a very, poor condition, and it took months before they fully recovered. He urged upon farmers the' great necessity of providing feed for their stock. Feed, he said, was rhe essential thing in dairy farming—feed first, second, and feed always. Breeding whs only a secondary consideration. He knew of men who had been keeping cows for years, and had never yet learned that the way to success is to provide plenty of feed. Only that morning he lia'd seen on the road a herd of cows—gbod cows, too, if they Lad -been properly treated—■hardly able to drag one leg after the other, so weak were they—just skin and bone. Much of this animal torture was due to ignorance, and trying to keep two cows where there was feed only for one. Money spent in topdressing wa* money well invested, but to be'a very

successful dairy farmer forage crops must be grown. The advice had been given thousands of times, and appeared in the paners almost daily, but many farmers were slow to move, and the only way was to keep hammering it in.

SELECTION OF ANIMALS FOR DAIRY HERD. If money is to be made in dairying there must be quality in dairy cattle. This is fundamental to success. By quality, in this connection, we refer to working ability or power to convert feed into milk. The mission of dairy cattle, as is also the 'ease with most other ’ classes of farm live stock, is to convert or manufacture the- rough, bulky crops of the farm into food for the human race. Dairy cattle are more efficient in this important work than are. other classes of live stock, and for this reason they are found on a majority of the farms of this country. As population- becomes more dense, the tendency will be more and more for dairy cattle to supplant other food producing animals.

While it is a fact that dairy cattle as a class are more efficient than other farm animals, yet we find great differences ’existing among them in ability to work for their owners. Dairymen should never lose sight of this important fact. Instances fie very common where one cow will yield twice-as much milk as will another kept under exactly the same conditions and eating the same kinds of feed. Entire herds equal in number, kept on adjoining farms, where the same opportunity exists, often vary 100 per cent, or more in amount of milk produced. In other words, the milk cheque received by one farmer from condensory or factory will be twice that received by his neighbour, and this difference may continue month after month and year after year. Inferior working ability in dairy cattle often brings disaster to the dairymen, no matter how carefully he feeds or how hard he works. —Auckland Star.

ECONOMY IN DAIRYING. Perhaps the greatest economy that can be carried out on a dairy farm is in the direction of making the herd produce more without increasing the number. A standard of production should be set up. A dairy farmer might say to himself, “Any cow that does not bring in £2O per annum is not worth keeping.” A cow is a machine for producing milk. If a manufacturer has a machine which, in spite of oiling and cleaning and careful driving, will not produce as much as a newer machine, he promptly discards it in favour of the improved article. So the cow that will not respond to careful feeding and shelter must be culled out. The farmer is not compelled to make a sudden change. By the ■expenditure of £5O or £lOO for a good bull, with a milking pedigree (behind him, in a few years the herd may be worked up into a more payable proposition. In an American town, the bankers and business men formed a “better-buil assoc’ation.” They sent away for a hundred bulls and disposed of them to the dairy farmers on easy terms, more bulls being purchased as the instalments on former loans came in. As business men they recognised that the easiest wiy to meet low prices was to increase the production -per cow.

GENERAL NOTES. It id stated that approximately 74,000.000 square yards of concrete roadway was constructed in the United States during 1923. Of this, 02.000,000 square yards, or about 5900 miles of roadway, 18ft wide was added to the permanent highway system. The remaining 12,000,000 square yards was constructed as city streets and lanes. Whether the mangold crop is sown in ridges or on the flat must depend on local conditions wetter areas being made suited to ridging. If amount of moisture is likely to be a serious limiting factor to growth, it is advisable to sow on the flat. Recent experiments show that, besides requiring less work, the yield on the flat has usually been the , heavier.

The Danes, our chief competitors on the British market, .have np less than 1500 small factories scattered over a country no larger than the Auckland province. They are managed by farmerdirectory who seem quite capable of looking after the ] reducing as well as the selling end of the business. Many have the opinion that the only use of lime is for whitewashing, and use it very sparingly even at that. The mechanical effect of a good coat of whitewash is well worth its -cost, to say nothing of the appearance it imparts to the buildings. Lime is one of the most reliable disinfectants and deodorisers, and at the same time the cheapest. If a man has more land than he has capital, or labour, to work, then the land is producing only a fraction of what it is capable of producing, and the community at large suffers, because it, in the long run, subsists on what the farmer and the miner produce. They are the people who wrestle with Nature, •for the products upon which we all depend. J ' One of the paramount difficulties to be confronted is the gradual, • .though steady, drift of the population from the country to the towns. At the present time 40 per cent. of. the..population of the Dominion occupy the country districts. and 60 per cent, live in the centres. It is quite evident that this drift will continue if the producer is not to receive a fair share of what he pro-

In Canterbury it has been found that the germination of the mangold crop is adversely affected by dry conditions, resulting from late sowings. Sown in September, the young plants have a better chance of establishing a good root system before the usual drying nor-westers make their appearance, and are thereby better enabled to withstand a dry season. That blinkers were seldom used on horses in Russia was noted -by -travellers in that country before the war, and it was also noticed that their absence had a beneficial effect on the horses. It is a well-known fact that tthen horses in Russia! get into difficulties they are much quieter and less subject to fright than with the horses of Great Britain and America.