94 Journal of Agriculture. [8 Feb., 1907. 



A MILK-PRODUCING DISTRICT. 



Report to the Chief Veterinary Officer, Dairy Supervision Branch, 

 ON Dairying in the Lilydale Shire. 



/. S. McFadzcaii, Dairy Supervisor . 



In the Shire of Lilydale, which covers an area, roughly speaking, of 

 about 200 square miles, there are some 200 families handling an approxi- 

 mate total of 3,000 cows for the production of dairy produce, and the 

 number of both is increasing yearly. There is an abundant supply of 

 pure water from spring, creek, and river ; a good annual rainfall ; and the 

 soil is naturally fertile over practically the whoie district. The richness 

 of the Yarra flats is well known ; ancl most of the thickly timbered and 

 scrub land of the hills, which is occasionally spoken of as worthless, has 

 only to be cleared and well broken up, when a good first crop can be 

 obtained without manuring. All through the rough countrv of the Shire 

 there is evidence of this fertilitv. Almost every mile of bush country has 

 clearings, where fruit trees, bush-fruits, crops of oats, peas, maiz^e, 

 potatoes, &c., are giving good returns; and, where the settlers have been 

 any length of time in occupation, and the rotation of crops has resulted 

 in a few acres of grass land being laid down, small herds of good con- 

 ditioned milking cows are giving fair returns. The difference in the ex- 

 tent of the grazing areas on the flats, as compared with those of the hills, 

 is accompanied bv a variation in the class of stock used, and the branch 

 of dairying followed by the residents of each part. 



The Lowland Dairy Farms. 



The large herds on the old-established pastures of the lowlands are 

 mainlv comprised of large framed stock, usuallv crosses of the Ayrshire 

 and Shorthorn or Holstein, but there is also a fair number of pure stock 

 of each breed, the Ayrshire largely predominating. 



These farms are mostlv engaged in supphing the metropolis with 

 milk, for which business they are most favorably situated, being within 

 35 miles of the city, and having an early morning and evening train ser- 

 vice. For about eight months of the year the cattle are fed at milking 

 time with either ensilage, or steamed chaff, enriched with bran or molasses. 

 The grazing is thus supplemented, and full use made of such milking 

 qualities as the cows possess. The two last-mentioned food-stuffs are 

 practically the only ones used in conjunction with chaff ; very few use the 

 molasses. Bran is looked on as the indispensable adjunct of chaff, and 

 in ?. general way this is a correct view ; but there are times, when an animal 

 is in low condition, and with a plentiful supply of green grass available, 

 that the bran diet acts rather in the nature of an aperient than a food. 

 In such cases as this, some fattening food stuff, such as pollard, maize- 

 meal, barley meal, or oil cake, might be used with advantage, as a substi- 

 tute for or as a mixture with bran for a short period. 



The milking sheds are on the whole well fitted, floored, and lighted : 

 and are kept in good clean working order. The owners appear to strive 

 to insure the sanitary handling of the milk from the cow to^ the consumer, 

 and are usually fairly successful. One of the principal drawbacks to the 

 attainment of this end is the difficulty at some seasons of obtaining reliable 



