;^ I July, 1910.] Se/is/l'Ic and Profitable Dairv Faniii)!^:^. 457 



milk ; and. if he were selling milk for the city retail trade, his profits 

 would be almost double this amount on account of the higher selling price 

 per gallon. 



As 50 gallons of average quality milk will produce approximately 

 18 lbs. of butter-fat, it is easy to estimate a milk yield from cream returns. 

 Unfortunately, however, the owner of poor m.ilking stock is .seldom 

 anxious to know, or say, too much about them. If he cannot conceal their 

 meagre yields, he will make any apology for them ; and the locality, the 

 grazing, or the weather, is asked to carry the blame for the unprofitable 

 cow . 



The figures used in the above estimate do not by any means present 

 this variation in milk yields at its full limits, for there are farms where the 

 cows average as much as 600 gallons each per year ; and that standard is 

 .still being raised. 



Practical Proof on a Mooroolbark Farm. 



At Mooroolbark. a small siding on the Lilydale line. 21 miles from 

 Melbourne, and about half-a-mile from the station, is the dairy farm of 

 Mr. Robert Blair. Much of the land in this locality has not yet been 

 cleared ; but a few of the farms were settled on upwards of 45 years ago, 

 and some of them have a fair proportion of their areas broken up, and 

 sown to grass. Of the.se, Mr. Blair's farm, " Blairgowrie." is one of 

 the best. 



It contains 136 acres, subdivided into 12 paddocks, and about 100 

 acres of it has been ploughed and sown down at various times. About 

 20 acres are now cultivated each year, and of this about equal acreage is 

 sown with oats and maize, the l)ulk of both crops being harvested for 

 :silage, and fed to the milking stock as required. The oaten silage, har- 

 vested in December, is used till the maize is fit to cut, which is about the 

 ■end of March or beginning of April. The pits are then filled with the 

 maize, and the supply usually lasts till well into October, when the spring 

 grow'th of grass needs no further assistance in upholding the milk flow. 



The silage accommodation consists of two brick overground pits, that 

 also run a few feet below the ground surface, and their combined capacity 

 is estimated at no tons. At the beginning and end of the feeding season 

 the cows take very little silage per day ; but in the colder months of autumn 

 -and winter the amount eaten is as much as 45 lbs. per cow daily. Oaten 

 chaff and bran are also mixed with the silage when the condition of the 

 cows calls for such extra feed. 



The stock now on the farm are principally grade Ayrshires, but some 

 of the older cows have a Shorthorn cross in them. Mr. Blair has been 

 dairying on this farm for some eight years past, and by using Ayrshire 

 bulls From milking strains, and raising a few heifers from his best cows 

 each season, he has rapidly increa.sed the milk production of his herd. 

 In this work of improvement, a long-continued milking period was especi- 

 ally sought for, and in order to qualify for a place in the herd every cow- 

 had to keep in profit for at least ten months per year. This standard is 

 now very consistently maintained, tliere being seldom more than one dry 

 -cow in the herd for every eight that are in milk. 



The farm buildings are very compactly arranged. The stabling and 

 barn, with engine and chaffcutter, are on the higher ground. A little 

 below the level of the.se are the silos, which are filled from the cutter by 

 slat elevator. Below the silos the feed and mixing rooms adjoin ; and, 

 from the latter, a door opens to a passage-way in front of the milking stalls. 



