MILKING MACHINES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19443, 31 October 1925, Page 23 (Supplement)

MILKING MACHINES

THE BOILING WATER TREATMENT. RINSING AND CLEANSING. A very strong plea for the use of boiling milking machines was made by the chairman of directors of the Ngaere Co-op. Dairy Company’s annual meeting recently. He said that 'every man should be obliged to instal an apparatus for securing boiling water to put through the machines, and not to use hot water and a brush. He said that in his experience two year's use of boiling water had not impaired the rubber parts and machine at all. He added that 99 per cent, of the troubles of that kind arose from the want of boiling water in the cow-shed. This is a subject of vital interest to all farmers. The price of produce depends largely on the product, and the quality depends primarily on the ingredients. After a herd has been run through the shed, and the milk is safe in the cans, limbs are a bit tired, and perhaps tempers are a little frayed Ufter a hard day in the fields and the irksome bondage of the cowshed. It is easy to leave the machines promising them a thorough cleaning after the morning milking. That, however, is the worst mistake possible. Not only is the milk in the morning contaminated, but the grease and fat that was allowed to set hard during the night is twice as difficult to remove, and nine times out of ten is not removed by the morning rub.

It is quite unnecessary to go to a lot of trouble dismantling the whole plant to clean it after every milking. The whole business is delightfully simple, and takes but a few minutes longer, and saves hours next day. and assures purer, sweeter milk. Even if there is not a hot water stove in the cowshed, a tin full of boiling water and a little caustic soda in it is all that is required. If a little of this is sucked up through each te&t-cup bracket and allowed to pass right through the pipes and releasor, all milk and greasy matter left in the pipes will be instantly removed. Follow this with a little cold water through each sot of cups, and the whole plant will be as sweet and clean as a new pin. The milk on the morrow will run no risk of souring or becoming slimy. After the morning session, when there is more time and hearts are lighter, the wash-up with brush and cup can be proceeded -with.

In very many cases the cause of bad milk being brought to creameries and factories is this failure to clean up at night. Even the best farmers do it at times. Too late to thoroughly scour everything in the morning. Grease and milk splashes on a hot summer night breed thousands of germs and microbes. Then when milk has to be carted to the factory some miles away in the hot morning sun, the carelessness of the night before results in what factory managers hate and fear—slimy milk. Gorse As a Fodder. Gorse is generally regarded as a curse and rightly so. On good land it is one of the worst of our noxious weeds. Still it is said that everything in this world has some use, and in certain conditions gorse is of use to the farmer. It may not be generally known that gorse is cultivated in some countries as a fodder for stock and proves quite a valuable food for fullgrown cattle and horses. A .good example of this is referred to by Bendleby. As long ago as 1837 a farmer living near Birmingham kept 100 cows and supplied milk to that town. His land was of a poor light dry quality which, under ordinary methods of cultivation as then known -would be insufficient for producing fodder for these cows. He, therefore, sowed one hundred acres with gorse seed; he never allowed the plant to grow into a shrub but kept it constantly mown for feeding his dairy cows. After bruising it in a mill it was mixed with a certain proportion of chaff, chopped hay and straw. The gorse formed the principal portions of the cows diet increasing the quantity and quality of the milk. When gorse is cultivated about 30 lbs of seed is sown to the acre* It comes up very thickly and docs the bushy woody character peculiar to the plant when it «grows wild. The crop is usually cut every two years, to that two different sowings must be made if an annual supply of fodder is desired. Cutting every year can be adopted but this tends to kill the gorse in which case the land is ploughed up and sown down again just as in the establishment of grass pasture. Gorse A Winter Fodder. The usual custom where gorse is used for fodder is to commence cutting it sometime in late autumn and to continue cutting daily or every second day from then onwards. It is not advisable to cut more than is required for two days as it deteriorates with keeping . It must always be bruised or pulverised before feeding to animals, and fed to full grown animals only. Both cattle and horses soon get fond of it, and the gorse may be mixed with roots, hay or chaff when fed to them. Anything from .10 to 20 lbs is suflicieut per day per head of live-stock. It is not suggested in this article that farmers of this country should make a practice of sowing gorse for fodder, but to point out that should ever occasion demand it can be used as fodder with good results. In time of drought or severe shortage feed, pulverised gorse may be used to swell the ration and prove both palatable and healthy food for the animals.