A LAZY LIFE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19367, 25 July 1925, Page 14

A LAZY LIFE

* Primitive methods. DAIRYING IN ARGENTINE (By M. A. O’Callaghan. late Commonwealth Dairy Expert). BUENOS AIRES, March 25. When I Last wrote, I was away south, studying the ways of the Argentine dairy farmer. Since then T have revisited that district, and have seen the country all green and smiling, after bounteous rains. I have motored across 150 miles of the finest stretch nf dairy pasture lands that I know anywhere. In many ways jt reminds me of the western districts* of Victoria, though in its northern part, whore lucerne flourishes, it resembles more the Darling Downs of Queensland. Wheat is grown in certain sections, Rnd here there are many Danos and Swedes, to whom the squatter, or estancia owner lets his land on shares. This wheat land is very rich, quite level, and not a stone of any kind to be found. There is a very good natural pasture, but English grasses flourish where they are sown, after wheat. The flavour of the cream produced in this district is equal to that produced I ?von in the Golden Vale of the | County Limerick, or in the best part) of the western district of Victoria, or on the choicest pastures of Illawarra. New South Wales. Rye grass, cocksfoot, elover, and prairie grass all grow well here, but paspalum is not seen at all so far south. The winters here arc. I am informed, quite co 1 I, and ns a good deal of the country has little or no timber, save round the estancia homesteads, no doubt cattle feel the bitter winds from off the Andes during June and July. METHODS OF THE FARMER. Now to return to the farmer and his methods. Let me first explain that there are here, in the district of Tandil, practically no farmers as wo know them in Australia. Here the landowner

lets his land on one of two systems. Firstly, cither in a large block of, say 5000 acres, to a creamery propriator, who in turn sub-lots to men who milk i cows and send the milk to the cream- ‘ cry of their landlord. Secondly, the estancia owner sometimes lets on shares, or on yearly rental, direct to a sort of farmer who does nothing other than graze the cows ami milk them. The houses of the so-called farmers are scarcely worthy of the name. Tho landowner docs not provide a house, and as the farmer has but a short tenure, he builds only a sort of mud hut. Here and there one sees a fa'hibero grande, or large farmer, who owns his land, farms it. and lives in a decent house. i Argentina before it can be a great [country must provide by law a better I system of land management and subdiI vision than at present. Now all the land is owned by a few people, who ; have become very rich owing to the increasing value of land for farming and grazing, and peasants from Europe live like blackfellows, make a little money, for themselves, and hope some day to: buv a little land. ! WHOLLY UNEDUCATED. Under such conditions, it will at oneel be seen that the only system by which I a good cream may be obtained is fori th-' farmer to take the milk to a cream-[ cry as soon as possible after it is taken from Ihe cows. Some farmers do separate their own cream in this district,! but these are mostly tamberos grandes.; If Argentine reverts to the private separator in ihe total it will be impossible to make a choicest butter here j in any quantity for many years to come, and these are the reasons:—The) dairying population is wholly uncdti I catcd as to the standard of cleanliness necessary in order to produce, a good [ cream, and. with three or four different races and scores of uneducated immigrants arriving weekly, it would take 10 to 20 years of steady (‘ducation to enlighten ihe dairy workers. No; the! road to success in Argentina is smaller' creameries, more of them, and a daily! delivery of milk immediately after it is drawn from the cow. In the south, where the country is en- |

jtirely of the pastoral type, the cows are i milked out in the open. They are ashembled in the corner of a paddock; the calves, which wore separated from their mothers during the night, are | muzzled and allowed to come to the I cows. Each calf is now standing with i its head near the cow’s udder; the cow [thinks the calf is assisting in the job of milking, and the row stands quietly [until milked. Then the calf is allowed to do the stripping. In this way the '•ow is truly milked out to a finish, and Die working of the calf when man has finished develops the udder in the milkproducing work. It is now perhaps S o’clock, and until about .‘I p.m. the calf is the sole milker of the cow. MILKING ONCE A DAY. ' Needless to add that under this sysI tern the cows are milked but once a. day by man. Dairying in this way on good rows pasture land is a lazy life. True the peasant rises early, and is milking at 5 a.m., but his work is done by 9 or 10. when he delivers the milk to the creamery. He lakes his midday meal about 11 a.m., and then ho sleeps for some time. At 3 o’clock one man rounds up the cattle; the calves are separated, and the day’s work is mostly done. Where a man owns his own land, of course, it is different. as then ho grows some crops —lucerne, corn, linseed. etc. —and provides himself with an afternoon means of work. Ear south, however, there is little, or no cropping: lucerne floes not appear to flourish, and corn seems to be the only thing a dairyman grows. Each farmer milks about .100 cows, all Shorthorn type. In other districts, however, the land is closely settled, and the farmers own the soil. There a somewhat different system prevails. The Australian -will, no doubt, say this is not dairy .farming: no. not as he knows it, but a man farms only to live and make some money, and if ho can live and make sufficient money for his demands in this way. why go to the trouble of milking i twice a day. early and late? And! again, remember, here is a country! where beef is worth more for export than in Australia, and the calf reared

las described above goes forward to the job of making flesh for beef on a bettor basis than the hand-rear calf, speaking generally. The Spaniard and the Italian, who comprise most of the population, liked their afternoon siesta. You could, no doubt, purchase this siesta, but vou must pay the price. CASEIN MANUFACTURE. Now. no doubt you are wondering what is done with the skim milk. Well, it is made into casein. Every creamery and many farmers make casein, and this is why Argentina is the largest exporter of casein in the world. Casein is made on tho French system as a general rule. The skim milk as it. leaves the separator meets a constant flow of very acid whey, which | coagulates the casein immedaitoly. The mixture flows into a big wooden cistern, whore it remains till next morn-

ing. when it is taken out and placed ir n, large press similar to a cheese press Here it. remains for 24 hours, and then it is put through a cutting or milling ; machine, after which it is put on trays j and dried in the sun. This is a cheap process of drying, but. coal is hero too dear 1o use for heat for casein drying, and it is better to sell casein at. £l5 to £2O per ton Jess than Australian casein rather than use coal to dry it. Coal costs £4 a, ton even a little distance from tho port of delivery. Argentina has no coal, and no timber for firewood in the south. Crude oil is coming in fast as a fuel, and as oil is found in tho Repblic perhaps wo shall some day see really cheap crude oil. In our head factory in Buenos Aires we burn crude oil solely.