c)6 Journal of Agriciiltiire. [8 Feb., 1907. 



some two or three miles to and from the sheds twice daily means a corre- 

 sponding lessening of milk yields. This decrease can be best avoided by 

 having more sheds and more milking hands, which is usually only prac- 

 ticable in the economical sense where subdivision takes place. 



Upland Dairy Farming. 



Turning from the large farms of the lowlands to the smaller holdings 

 of the hilly country, we find the Jersey, either pure or of a fair grade, is 

 almost universal. Where a cross is used, it is Jersey- Ayrshire. The 

 smaller areas compel the farmers to turn their attention to a greater extent 

 to the class of animal that will produce most milk and butter for the quan- 

 tity of food it consumes, and leave the raising of heavy vealers or beef to 

 others more favorably situated. The Jersey, with its heavy and rich milk- 

 ing qualities, smallness of frame, and docility of temnerament, has proved 

 itself pre-eminently fitted for this purpose. These latter characteristics 

 are no small items in this connexion ; for, on account of the length and 

 coldness of the winter, the milkers are housed at night for more than half 

 the year. 



Fruit growing is the principal business of the upland settlers ; but one 

 harvest a year, and that — owing to the increase of insect pests — a doubtful 

 one, as against the weekly receipts from dairying, is resulting in a 

 gradually growing extension of this latter branch of farming on many 

 places. Timber being plentiful, a. rough slab shed, with iron roof and 

 slab floor, and brackenfern for bedding, has been the general class of 

 housing accommodation up to the present. In most cases this flooring is 

 being now replaced with brick or concrete, while others prefer the slabs, 

 set in cement or tar to render it impervious to moisture, as being a warmer 

 floor for the cattle to lie on. A method followed on one small farm to 

 insure cleanliness in housing the cows may be mentioned. 'Ihe stalls are 

 fitted with both bails and head-chains. Finding that, with every care in 

 bedding down, some cows always got dirty overnight, the plan was adopted 

 of leaving all of them bailed up after feeding and milking till about 8.30 

 to 9 p.m., or about the time for feeding the stable horses. The stalls 

 were then swept down, the head chains put on, and the cows released from 

 the bails, when they almost immediately lay down on the cleaned floor, 

 and arose clean in the morning. Still, whatever methods are emploved, 

 the cows are on the whole cleanly kept, and the dairying work is usually 

 carried on under fairly clean conditions. The points where divergence 

 from this rule is most marked are in the tendency to use the dairy as a 

 general storeroom for household commodities and sundries, instead of for 

 dairy produce only ; and in the placing of the rest of the farm buildings, 

 such as styes and stabling, in too close proximity to the dairv buildings 

 for wholesome sanitary requirements. Another fault that has been general 

 is to set aside one regular day, weeklv, for making butter or forwarding 

 cream to the factory, without taking into consideration the possibilitv of 

 variation in the condition of the cream through atmospheric changes, and 

 the consequent necessity of keeping it a lesser time to prevent c\er-ripeness. 

 The result has been an untoward but inevitable variation in the quality 

 of the produce. 



Chaff, bran, and chopped green stuft", with occasionally: ensilage, is 

 the usual night ration for the milkers, which go out in the day time to 

 pastures sheltered by the surrounding bush. 



