FARM AND DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1929, Page 16

FARM AND DAIRY

COW’S WORKING LIFE. Sitting in an office, no doubt, some Home authority has worked out that the average working life of a dairy cow is 2| years, and that heavy milk yielding impairs constitution and longevity. With the latter contention there will be a general agreement, but it would be a sorry look-out for the New Zealand dairy industry if the average milking period of a cow was 2J years. A writer in the Morning Post took up the statement, and he gives some figures that should be useful generally. If heavy milking impairs constitution and shortens life, the heaviest yielders might be expected to have even a shorter working life than ordinary cows. The following facts concerning the 290 British Friesian cows that have . given upwards of 2000 gallons of milk in not more than 365 days, indicate that, so far as this breed ie concerned, cows are able to perform and continue the hard work for which they are specially bred. The life history of these 290 British Friesian 2000-gallon cows was examined in detail in order to ascertain: — (a) The working life, or the period between the first calving and the end of the last known lactation period, and (b) The milking life, or the portion of the working life which may safely be regarded as the period for which the cow was actually in milk, and calculations suggest that the milking life is three-fourths of the working life. The calculations obtained by comparing the working life and the milking life of these cows suggest:— (1) That the average working life of the 290 Friesian 2000-gallon cows was six years and eleven months. (2) That deducting “dry” periods, these cows were in milk, on an average, for five years, two and a-quarter months. (3) That the average life, from birth to the endof the last known lactation period—not to death, be it noted —was nearly ten years. As many of these, cows are still living, the figures, remarkable as they are, do not flatter the animals concerned. FARMERS FROM BRITAIN.

A cable mesage from London recently announced that a party of 80 farmers —5O from Britain and 15 from Canada and South Africa respectively—-will visit New Zealand early next year, on a tour organised by the British National Union of Farmers. The main party ie due at Auckland on February 20, 1930. ' The South Africans will leave Capetown on January 3 and will reach New Zealand about February 18. Both parties will leave for Sydney on March 25. The Canadian visitors will leave Vancouver on February 5, arriving in New Zealand on February 24, and will leave on the return voyage without visiting Australia. The tour through New Zealand will last approximately 35 days, and the cost for travelling and accommodation during that time is estimated at about £7O for each member of the party. The itinerary has been arranged, by the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, which, with the assistance of various provincial executives, will act as host to the tourists. It is proposed to take the visitors to the chief scenic resorts throughout the Dominion, and facilities will also be afforded them to inspect the large co-operative 'dairy factories and freezing works, and to visit some of the best known breeders. Travelling will be principally by rail, advantage being taken of the special facilities provided by the Railway Department for farmers’ tours.

HENRY FORD ON FARMING Henry Ford ifl perhaps the world’s outstanding example of the captain of industry. He is wise and he is enterprising, not to say bold. He recently gave an interview, in the course of which he had the following to say in respect to the business of farming: — . “If farmers do not earn money, then a great industrial market vanishes. If the workers do not earn, then the great market for farm products drops. The farm is small business in a world of big business, and only through the development of the country can it become big business. The farmer is solving his own problem by moving off the farm .where he cannot earn money. The man who earns money on the farm is doing so by applying the methods which have made industry. “That the vast majority of farmers are not failures is shown by the buying power of the farm States. I know farmers who make out well and others who do not. and those who make out well would do equally well in almost any line. The others could fail in anything. That happens to be the way of the world — and no one knows it better than the farmers. “The pensioning of various industries has been tried time and again everywhere in the world. It has never worked, and can never work. And no more can it work with farming. In addition, this is a world of lowering prices. “New methods in farming are coming in as quickly as ..are the new methods in industry. New methods are adopted in both industry and agriculture only because they make a fuller use of materials and men than did the old methods.” VALUE OF STRIPPINGS. Although most dairy farmers know that a the strippings, or last milk from a cow, test much higher than the first of the milk to come from the udder, the number who do not realise this fact is surprising. In order to get some data as to the amount the test varied during the process of milking, a cow producing 9Alb of 4.4 per cent, milk was selected for an American experiment. She was milked into a container which held slightly more than a pint. When it was full, a sample was taken, the container emptied, and then filled again. Approximately equal amounts were milked from each quarter of the udder into each container full. In this manner eight samples were taken which tested as follows:— First pint, L 5 per cent.: second, 2.3 per cent.; third, 2.8 per cent.; fourth, 3.4 per cent.; fifth, 3.9 per cent.; sixth, 4.6 per cent.; seventit G.O per cent.; eighth, 8.8 percent. This shows why it is important that cows be stripped clean since a pint left in the udder will contain more butterfat than the first three pints to be milked. It also shows the need of getting a thorough mixture of the milk from any cow before taking a sample to test.