FOOD AND MILK-PRODUCTION.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume V, Issue 1, 15 July 1912, Page 42

FOOD AND MILK-PRODUCTION.

AN INTERESTING PROBLEM.

In these days of herd-testing and appreciation of the milk-record bull the fact is being more generally realized that it pays to feed a cow well. The relative value of food to milking-capacity is not, however, appreciated to the extent it should be, even by the more progressive of our dairy-farmers., True, many owners of well-selected and intelligently bred herds believe in the liberal feeding of their stock, but the problem of providing only the best milk-producing foodstuffs has hardly yet entered into the consideration of the working-farmer. The fact is generally realized that the quality of the pasture must be maintained if dairying is to be made profitable. The expanding use of basic slag as a top-dressing for pastures in our chief dairying districts is an assurance of this. This appreciation of quality in pasturage, gratifying as it is, can only, however, be regarded as touching the fringe of the underlying principle. The farmer is not altogether to blame, for while scientific investigation has shown him the way to improved results in many directions it has failed to indicate much of direct practical value as to the definite relation of food-constituents to milk-formation. The ancients recognized the influence certain foods had on the milk, and many recipes were in vogue for • increasing the milksupply. Beans, peas, and lentils . were recommended for the purpose. “ Recently,” says the London Dairy, “ a preparation of cotton-seed has been tried with much success, increasing the mother’s milk both in quantity and in fat and casein. The product has been minutely described by Dr. Bailerin, of Paris. Cotton-seeds are reduced to a fine powder, the oil and resinous matters are extracted by ether and benzine, and the active principle obtained by infusing the residue, and thereby getting rid of the colour and odour. The resultant liquid is concentrated in vacuo and the blocks pulverized. This powder is free from cellulose, oil, and other indigestible products. It has no toxic properties. The active principle, so far as milk-producing properties are concerned, is edestine. The product has been, administered to'domestic animals, with the result that the quantity of -milk increased by 30 per cent., and the fats and solids in corresponding proportion.”

The above claim in regard to cotton-seed cannot be accepted as conclusive on the bare statement circulated. It is an accepted fact

that a cow cannot produce up to her maximum capacity unless she is supplied with an abundance of good food. If the French investigations are to be of any definite ! value it will be necessary to know exactly how the control animals were fed prior to being placed on an edestine diet. .It is well known by British dairy-farmers that cottonseed cake is the best of all concentrated foodstuffs for milk-production, and it is therefore feasible that the scientist has been able to ' ascertain the. responsible element. What concerns the New' Zealand dairy-farmer, however, is having definite knowledge as to the relative values from a milk-production viewpoint of grasses for his pastures and of fodder crops to supplement them. There is here a fertile field for experiment. In the meantime, however, the facts related above should convince the farmer that it is quality rather than quantity that determines the value of the feeding-materials he has at command, and that therefore the maintenance of clean and high-quality pastures is of paramount importance, while properly made hay from the best grasses is equally necessary.