June 2, 1920.] Agricultural Gazette of S.S.W, 405 



Feeds for Dairy Cows. 



Dairymen who are attempting to make a living on these soils before they 

 have been properly sweetened and whose cows have developed bone-chewing 

 habits, will find some additional feeds necessary to the maintenance of the 

 stock and of milk production until the pastures have developed sufficiently, 

 with time and treatment, to render them more sufficing. 



Mr. J. A. Robertson, herdmaster to the Department, makes the following 

 recommendations in such cases : — " If the cows are good average dairy cows 

 it will pay to buy feed for them at the present prices. Lucerne chaff, bran or 

 pollard, and linseed meal or coconut meal are the best concentrated feeds to 

 purchase according to price. The best results would probably be obtained 

 by drying off, in the autumn, all cows at all forward in calf and turning them 

 out where grazing is reasonably good, supplying them, in addition, with bone 

 and bran mixture. All newly ealved cows could then be profitably hand-fed, 

 and it would also be an advantage to rug them during the winter. Salt is 

 also required and will greatly assist in keeping the cows in health and in 

 preventing the bone-chewing." 



Conclusion. 



With the long wait required on this class of land before it properly 

 sweetens up, and the somewhat expensive treatni^nt required — lime and 

 fertilisers being essential — these reclaimed swamp lands cannot be regarded 

 as equal to alluvial, although some owners are asking somewhat equivalent 

 prices. With sufficient areas, however, these lands seem worth consideration 

 as a proposition for dairying (with pig-raising as a side line oft a small scale), 

 provided they can be obtained at a reasonable price. 



The Poisonous Properties of Castor-oil Beans. 



There recently appeared in the daily Press notices of a severe mortality 

 amongst horses, due to the ingestion of castor-oil beans with imported chaff. 

 Through the courtesy of the owner and the veterinaiian in charge, an oppor- 

 tunity was given to a veterinary officer of the Stock Branch to examine the 

 feed. It was found that some sacks of chaff contained, amongst other refuse, 

 large numbers of different varieties of castor-oil beans. In order to put 

 farmers and horse-owners on their guard it may be useful to point out that 

 these beans are roughly oval, one-third to- three-quarters of an inch long, and 

 about half as broad, flattened on one side and marked with peculiar mottlings 

 of red, brown, or black and grey. The poisonous effect of the beans, in 

 addition to their purgative action, is due to the presence of a toxin ricin, 

 which is found not only in the whole beans, but in the residue after the oil is 

 extracted ; consequently neither the beans nor the residue are safe to feed, 

 though the latter may be treated so as to destroy the toxin. Chaff containing 

 these beans should on no account be fed. If by chance horses get them and 

 show poisonous symptoms a veterinarian should be called in at once, as the 

 cases are usually very serious. — S. T. D. Symons, Chief Inspector of Stock. 



