PRODUCING CLEAN MILK.

Waipa Post, Volume V, Issue 207, 25 April 1913, Page 4

PRODUCING CLEAN MILK.

EXAMPLES WORTH STUDYING. Apropos of the complaints which have been made by the dairy authorities of New Zealand of late as to the want of care in the milk supply of the dairy factories, and example of what might be done by dairy farmers is outlined in an article in a recent number of the “ British Board of Agriculture,” entitled “The Production of Clean Milk on Two Large Dairy Farms.” The herds named are the Kelmscott herd of purebred dairy Shorthorns, owned by Messrs R. W. Hobbs and Sons, and Lord Rayleigh’s herd of mixed cattle, maintained on the farm at Terling, Witham, Essex, whence the milk of 900 cows is sent to the West End of London. Messrs Hobbs also send much to London daily from more than 200 cows, and they farm an area of 2144 acres. Here careful milk records have been kept for many years, and every cow’s milk is weighed daily. The milkers have clean smocks twice a week, the smocks being provided and the washing being done by the firm. The men are required to wash their hands before and after each milking, and it is proposed to provide them with paper or washable caps. During most of the year the cows are all groomed before milking, and the udders are washed. The tails, udders, and hindquarters are kept clipped. The buildings to which the milk is taken are cut off from the cowhouses, so that cattle do not pass them, and there is very little other traffic. The milk is not pastuerised. but is simply cooled. The average milk yield per cow per year for the three years ending September 30, 1911, at Kelmscott, was for 134 cows 60151 b, this being the lowest average for many years owing to the summer drought. The average yield per cow for 1910 was 63301 b to the gallon), and for 1909 6500 lb. The average yield of an average farm cow in Great Britain is, perhaps, 45001 b. During the past three years there have been on an average fifteen cows milking at Kelmscott, yielding 1000 gallons or over. Rose 26 yielded 13,9031 b from June 10 1904 to June lOth, 1905. AtTring show she gave 72%1bs 6oz in 24 hours. Blossom slh, between December 28th, 1898, and September 2nd, 1905, produced ten calves. Her average annual yield for ten years was 80491 b, and her total yield 86,5231 b. The herd has been bred for milk since 1878, and cows and heifer calves are rarely purchased. At Terling about £3OOO has been spent on the construction of modern cowhouses of an excellent type, and some building is in progress. The houses are kept whitewashed and disinfected. It is a rule that the cows shall be kept clean by grooming with currycomb and brush twice a day. All cows are inspected monthly by a veterinary surgeon, who is under contract to attend at any time when called upon. Every milker is provided with two white coats and aprons, which must be changed once a week. The cows are chiefly Shorthorns. There is a herd of Holsteins and crossbreds kept. An effort has been to bring in good milkers, but extravagant prices have not been paid. Breeding, is done wholly with an’ eye to milk. The yield of every cow is measured every week. The cost of food is not so high as might be supposed, being about 3s 6d, including hay, but not much hay is used. Of, course, it would require more money than the average dairy farmer can afford to provide such an equipment in the way of buildings, but where cows are kept in the open, as they are in New Zealand, such expenditure is not required. The methods.adopted to ensure cleanliness in milking are such as might be carried out with some modifications in regard to the time and labour available. One has only to note what a difference there is, however, between the best methods and the careless style of dairying that is too frequently adopted.