DAIRYING. 



195 



To provide an ample supply of rich succulent pasture or fodder is 

 so necessary that it may be esteemed tlie basis of the industry. 'J'o 

 this end the grazing- lands should bo fenced off into ])addocks of con- 

 venient size, so that one enclosure after Ijeing eaten off, nuiy Ik' (shut 

 up and allowed to recover whilst others in turn are being oaten. 

 Pastures, whether natural or artifical, will give much better returns by 

 being thus systematically grazed than by indiscriminate use. More- 

 over, neither sheep nor horses should ever be allowed to graze with 

 dairy cows ; they may follow them, if necessary. If the pastures arc 

 bare after the cows have eaten them off, and it be not deemed advis- 

 able to renew them by breaking up, a top dressing of fine manure and 

 a few pounds of grass seed and clovers, lightly harrowed in, will prove 

 beneficial and remunerative. To such an extent do some of our most 

 intelligent and industrious dairymen try to save their pastures, that 

 they have green fodder crops growing and in cut for their milch cattle 

 all the year round, except just in the great flush of grass in the spring ; 

 at any rate, for fully nine months in the year. By this means it is no 

 uncommon thing for a farm to be carrying a milking cow to the acre, 

 with the dry cows and young growing stock upon another " run." 

 For this method of work a favourite fodder is green maize, which is 

 sown hroadcast, and at such a time in the spring as will allow of cutting 

 and feeding to the cows to commence in the early summer when it 

 should be cobbing. This plant sustains a good flow of milk, rich 

 in butter fat, and successive crops should bo sown to keep up the 

 supply. During the summer maybe sown " imphee ^' or ''planters' 

 friend," to be cut- alternately with the maize crops, or after, as it 

 will stand a little later towards the winter. It also yields well of 

 good rich milk. For autumn or winter months wheat, barley, rye, or 

 oats, each mixed with vetches, or alone as preferred, will be found 

 very useful ; and if supplemented with grass and clover, or oaten 

 hay, sound ensilage, or other good foods, they will not only keep the 

 cows in profit, but wonderfully lessen the tax on the pastures until the 

 spring returns. 



Another matter of vital importance to the dairyman is the quality 

 of his dairy stock. I have already shown how early in the colony's 

 history this principle was recognised, and the efforts made to estab- 

 lish herds of true dairy cattle. Illawarra has always been famous for 

 its milking herds, and no doubt the best represeutatives of the colony 

 are to be found there ; but it has been acknowledged by the local 

 agricultural societies that the majority of the dairymen's herds are not 

 all that could be desired, and that the first half-century of their exist- 

 ence, with its many trying seasons of drought and vicis.situdes of 

 owners had not brought them to that high excellence which was antici- 

 pated years ago. In the hope of making the herds more profitable to 

 the average dairymen, the agricultural societies of Kiama and IJerry 

 districts have their own Dairy Herd-books, the qualification for regis- 

 tration therein being based on actual j^rodudion, the mnuuunn lor 

 which is 3i lb. butter, or 100 lb. milk in 48 hours. Hand-feeding 

 or milk-feeding is not allowed. So successful have these efforts been 

 that improvement is distinctly noticeable in the dairy stock competnig 

 at the local annual shows, wlailst the test trials for registration show 

 an advancino- average. 



