IN ENGLAND

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20110, 31 March 1928, Page 24 (Supplement)

IN ENGLAND

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freelv of his experiences in Denmark, Mr Harkness described a special visit he made in November to a State experimental farm in that country. He asks if he might see one of the best herds. He was directed to a great barn and was told that he would find the best milk producing herd inside. By force of contrast with our own conditions, he received something of a shock, for in that barn were 5(1 cows and three bulls, and they had been kept there for months on end. It was impossible for the hygienic conditions to be as favourable as those under which milking is done and separating carried out in New Zealand. “I was there Tor a couple of hours, from about .11 o’clock,” said Mr Harkness, “and even then the cows were being milked. The milk was run through the pipes to an adjoining section of the barn, and the separating was carried on there. Our authorities in New Zealand would demand better conditions, but, of course, we must not overlook the handicap of the cold winter weather (snow on the ground) which causes the herds to be kept entirely indoors for several months in the year. ’ 7

It seemed strange to see the animals having no more exercise than they obtained by getting up and lying down, and. stranger still, to realise that milking was carried on throughout the winter, and butter made under the conditions which obtain in Denmark.

Ensilage was in universal use, and root crops were used to the fullest advantage. The herds were milked practically all the year round., and the Danes had evolved a dairying type of their own. These were red cattle resembling Poll Angus in style but having horns. They are large, well-conditioned cattle, and good producers. Mr Harkness expressed the belief that New Zealand butter is of superior quality, but it has to undergo a severe test in the way of refrigerated transit to London, and he doubted whether butter from Europe, arter such transit, would open up as well as the New Zealand article.