422 Journal of Agriculture, Victoriii. [10 July, 1917. 



his fowls ou wheat. What would we in Australia think of such happen- 

 ings on our shores ? Surely it must bring liome to us the serious position 

 of affairs in the old world, and the necessity to see thati there is no waste! 

 For what, we waste is lost to the Empire. This war will teach us many 

 lessons, if we will only learn them ; many of them are lessons 

 which should be known by heart, without the horror of war as 

 master. During the early hostilities Mrs. J. C. Henderson conceived 

 the idea of collecting and making use of old newspapers, and frcm this 

 source a sum of £500 has already been raised for the Lady Mayoress' 

 Patriotic Fund. More recently the collection and sale of old tooth paste 

 tubes has been undertaken for the same purpose, thus indicating that 

 what we in the past, have considered only rubbish is of some value when 

 directed into proper channels. 



Now let us look to the fann and see what waste is going on, and 

 how the policy of " That'll do " is responsible. Recently an officer of 

 the Dairy Supervision Branch of the Departireut of Agi-iculture pointed 

 out to a dairy farmer that liis employees were not stripping his cows 

 thoroughly. He had been under the impression that when the milkers 

 had come to tlie conclusion that " That'll do," and got up fi-om the cow, 

 nothing further was necessary. He was induced to pay some attention 

 to the matter, and the first week was rewarded by a return of 56 lbs. 

 of butterfat more than for the previous week. Another, milking 53 

 eows, had come to the conclusion that "he would get out of cows, as 

 there was not enough in them." The management was very much of 

 the " That. '11 do" order, and, following 1he milkers, my officer found 

 thati there was an average of 1 pint of strippings left in each cow. 

 Strippings test anything up to 15 per cent., or more. Let. us consider them 

 at 10 per cent, only, then 53 pints of strippings with 10 per cent, butter- 

 fat, equals 6.6 lbs. of butterfat left in the udders. At. Is. 6d. per lb. this 

 means, in round figures, that 9s. 9d. was being lost at each milking — 

 approximately £1 per day, or £7 per week. No wonder it was time to 

 leave the industry. And this farmer was not, and is not, singular. 

 Many there are who are quite content to engage tlieir milkers and, with 

 a sigh of content, say " That'll do." Suppose only half a pint of 

 strippings (and this is a conservative estimate) was left in each cow 

 in the State daily for a milking period of 9 months, what is the loss 

 to the industry ? If any of you oare to work it' out you will find that 

 over £1,000,000 is lost annually. 



Take another instance., of the farmer separating his, say, 200 gallons 

 of milk a day. His separator when new did excellent work, but the 

 careful directions given as to how to run it are lost or forgotten. As 

 age creeps on the separator rocks a little, is not quite adjusted, or there 

 is not. quit© sufficient speed obtained — "Oh, that'll do, let her go" — 

 and in the separated milk butterfat goes away to the extent of 1 per 

 cent'. ; up to 2.4 per cent, has been foiind by officers of the department. 

 The estimated average loss in separated milk in Victoria is .5 per cent. 

 What does this amount, to? In round figures there will be 180 gallons 

 of skim milk, then 9 lbs. of butterfat are going to waste each day ; 

 at Is. 6d. per lb. this equals 13s. 6d. per day to the account, cf " That'll 

 dn " in a herd vielding 200 gillons a d^y . Extend the figures to the whole 

 of the cows in the State and I will leave you to see the preventable waste 

 going on. I hear some one say, " It is not waste, for the pigs get it." 

 Any one who is satisfied to feed pigs on butterfat at Is. 6d. per lb. is too 



