Farm and Garden.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 821, 18 April 1868, Page 4

Farm and Garden.

THE BODALLA DAIRY FARM. The following; abridged account of the Bodalla Dairy Farm is taken from the Andrahisian, to winch journal it had been communicated by a Victorian visitor :— Tho estate of Bodalla, consisting- of about 1 4,000 acres, 13 situated upon the Tuross River, about 200 mile-3 sonth from Sydney (the river runs through the centre of the property, a length of twelve miles). It consists of rich alluvial flats, nearly free from timber, backed up by g-entle undulations, terminating in hills and high mountains to the north. The timber on the river consists chiefly of mahogany and oak, and on the hills and ridges, of blackbntt, box, and apple treo. The extent of the property at present cultivated' consists of about 2,000 acres, of which quantity Mr. Mort farms 500 acres ; the remainder is let to tenants. On eacK of the farms comfortable cottages, yards, milking-bails, &c, have been erected by tho proprietor, who also supplies each tenant with the requisite number ofmilking-cows. The rent they pay is three days' milk a week, which is delivered at the homestead ; there are also certain conditions as to the rearing of pigs, &c. As this arrangement has only been iv existence for a short time, I cannot say how it will answer, but to my mind a handsome competence must be the -consequence. In no part of the world could more favourable terms be granted. With a liberal-minded landlord, comfortable homes and appliances, high-class milking cows, rich English grasses, good prices for their produce, and with almost a nominal rental, if non-success follows the fault must be the tenants. I regret to say some of the farms visited were not kept in that tidy order in which I am sure they must have been handed over. I wish particularly to describe Cotnerang, the home station, farmed under Mr. Mort's supervision, and which tho celebrated Bodalla cheese is made. It consists of 250 acres of tho river flats, surrounding the house, fenced into four paddocks. The land is laid down in prairie, cocksfoot, rye, timothy, meadow fescne, alsace, and clovers (more valuable grasses are now being cultivated.) The paddocks are thoroughly drained by box culverts (quite works of engineering skill) ; each paddock bus separate watering places, independent of the river. I cannot describe in too glowing terms the richness and verdure of these fields, more resembling the meadow lands of our best English counties-. During my stay ninety-one cows were milked twice a day (take 11th of December), and gave lt>o gallons of milk, giving- 2281b5. of green cheese. The cheeses are kept for fonr months before being sent tj the market ; a fortnightly supply is regularly being kept up ; the cheese run from 201b3. to lOOlbs. 1 ought to mention no cheese is made on Sunday, but that day's milk is made into butter on Tuesday. The dairy and cheese-making is under the earo of Miss Lillias M'Lean (of long experience with the Messrs. Hervey of Glasgow), who3o cmstaufe aim an-!' pride is to keep np the well-merited character of the Bodalla brand, and who seems, judging from tha state of her dairy, cheese-room, &c, to consider " Cleanliness is next to godliness." The milkiug-shed and bails are the most complete I have seen. They consist of four rows of bails, shingled ovor and slabbed, eighty in nnmbor. Each cow is bailed up in her own stall. By a convenient arrangement of ropes and pullies, it is unnecessary to go up to the head to bail and unba.il. A crib is fixed before each, filled with green stuff", ou which she quietly feeds during tho milking. Tho cows are not unbaileJ till the last is milked. A man precedes the milkers (six in number, who leij-ropes and washes the udders of each cow). A head man follows, whose duty is to -strip the cows, thus causing a check upon the milking. Silence is strictly enforced during 1 the time. The milk is poured into buckets, placed upon a car, and run by a wooden train direct into the dairy. Although only ninety-one cows are now being grazed upon the 250 acres of Comerang, the manager informs me (and of this I feel assured, judging from the quantity of grass after four months' drought) he could easily carry, and carry well, a cow to two acres. The cows do not seem of any particular breed. The Durham appear to be the foundation of the herd, aud now crossed by the Ayrshire ; but tho main rule is " milking," quantity and quality and constant culling. j The calves are taken from the cows immediately after calving, and fed twice a day on whey. During the day they run in a well-grassed paddouk, and are housed at night in well-ventilated, but warm buildings with boai'ded floors, troughs, and hayracks. The pigs on Comerang (about 20)) arc the finest I over saw, being the Priuce Albert and Berkshire. The sows are drafted a few days prior to farrowing into well-arranged separate sfcj*63. They aro allowed a couple of hours' ran daily in small paddocks, into which all the styes open by a narrow lane. For six weeks they are fed on maize, whey, &0., when , they are turned with their young into a largo grassed and well-watered paddock with the general herd, where they get j 2lbs. maize daily (a bushel per month), 1 which keeps them in high condition. It i seems to me Mr. Mort favours tho Prir.co' Albert, although he considers tho cross\ with tho Berkshire the best for store purposes. A small flock of pure Lincoln sheep are also kept. Ido not think, for length of staple, good combing qualities, weight of wool, points, and rapiefmaturity of carcass, they can be surpassed. They kill wethers of fourteen months old rogularty, weighing 81 lbs. ; and a lamb I saw killed, of four months old, weighed 48 lbs. My friend Mr. Rutledge, and the Western squatters, onght to look after those sheep. Tho whole farm management seems by the arrangements to aim at economy of labour. Improved machinery, superior

buildings, tramways, steaming apparatus, stables, sheds, &c, all these, combined with the comfortable cottages for the labourers, give an exhilarating English air to the homestead, breathing of health and contentment. Tho climate is truly English. During my stay here of three weeks the thermometer was seldom, if ever, over 65' (indeed wo required large wood fires nearly every evening), while during that period in Sydney it ranged over 100' in the shade. I can only account for this difference in climate (three degrees of latitude only) by the quantity of water upon aud runniug through the property, and consequently heavy dews. These dews are increased by keeping- the paddocks woll covered with grass, thus attracting the moisture, and acting as conductors to the roots. Much of the verdure exhibited after a four mouths' drought, must be the result of a careful appropriation of the dews, amounting, at Mr. Mort's estimate, to about one-sixth of the yearly rainfall. Therefore, tho maxim enforced, especially at Bodalla, " keep the grass at a good bite," is one which they have no difficulty in complying with at present; while at the same time it is equally insisted upon that the grass should not bo allowed to get too long and rank, as a flood would be death to it in that condition. Li that case it is apt to get laid and rot before the wator runs off. To feed judiciously includes the whole law, and thereby hangs the profits (prophets.) I observed in places whore the grass wao well cropped down that in the morning 1 it was perfectly dry, while in tho next paddock, whero the grass was some six inches high, it was as thoroughly saturated by the dew, as from a heavy fall of ram, thus showing that the long blades of grass, cooling, as thoy do, with the first breath of evening, act as conductors and condensers of the inoistnre in the atmosphere. The present system on Bodalla seems to be only to lay out the current profits in progressive improvements, of clearing and laying down in English grasses. When the -A,OOO acres are thus laid down, it will indeed be a princely property. Mr. Mort is only what he calls "roughing," tho land into grass at present, as he intends by degrees to cultivate the land to a depth of eighteen inches, which, with thorough drainage aud judicious feeding, will, ho considers, enable him to carry a cow to the acre, all the year round, but without these the land is comparatively worthless. I would here moulion that Mr. Mort considers he has to outlay £10 an acre upon these rich- flats, in order to yield a profitable return. The cost includes of course draining, fencing, cultivating, and seeding, as well °as tho necessary buildings for carrying out his systom of farmiug ; but this only shows that labour without capital can no more J prosper than capital without labour. Supposo this outlay of £10 an acre,- yields ! grass for one cow to two acres, and suppose the cost of the land be £0 an acre (for it must be remembered Mr. Mort had to pay Government a large sum for worthless land, to get 4,000 acres of good land), it requires to teed a cow an outlay of £30 ; this cjw yields daily 1^ lbs. of soiling cheese at Bd. per lb., thus" making £18 a year ; take from this for expenses of milking, keeping land, fences, &c, iv order, say £-5 a 3'ear, and there is a return of £6 10.3. an acre per-imnum. Could this be douo on a small scale, and without capital ? Certainly not. If so, why is it the free selector on tho rich blocks, which many of thorn hold, scarce makes an existence ? The Government ought to find the money to farm with, as well as the land to be farmed, if they will have free selection. The above calculations ai*e mostly made from conversations I had with Mr. Mort. I will now give my idea of what may be done with 4,000 such acres, based upon the return of ninaty-oue cows now formed at Comerang. 4,000 acres will carry, say, 1,500 cows, giving 2,-500 gallons of milk per day, making say, 18,000 lbs. of chceso weekly, sold at Bd.,vor £600 per week, or £28,000 a year ! To this must be added the profits of some 2,000 pigs, and 1,200 calves, (which have the uncultivated part of the estate, somo 10,000 acres, to run over.) I believe £400 per 100 cows yearly is quite sufficient and ample for the expenses ; Sivy, for tho management of 1,500 cows, £6,000 per annum. I am well aware that the above large return, arising from so apparently small a source, will cause a smile of ridicule and doubt when some of my fellow-colonists peruse this, and more especially emanating from an old squatter, who is not supposed to know any of the miuutioa or routine of a dairy farm. Ido admit much ignorance j on tho subject, so far as my previous ! pursuits aro concerned ; but I plead in apology that my statement and remarks have been made from facts, strict personal observation, and the well-tried experience of the proprietor's very superior manager, Mr. Champneys, to whom I a:n indebted for much valuable information. — Sydney Mail.