148 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



Condensed Milk Factories 



There are ten condensed milk factories in Canada. At Ingersoll 

 in Ontario we saw a very large one in operation. On the day of 

 our visit it had received 7000 gallons of milk and had had on one 

 occasion as many as 12,800. It was a highly prosperous under- 

 taking. A farmer told us that the average price paid him for milk 

 was 5^d. a gallon delivered at the factory. The milk, however, 

 had to be produced under certain conditions. The byres had to be 

 white-washed every year ; the cows must not be fed on ensilage ; 

 the milk must be delivered at a temperature not exceeding 68 

 degrees F. ; and must contain not less than 3'5 per cent, of 

 butter-fat. These are not onerous conditions^ and an extension 

 of these factories would be very welcome to the Canadian farmer. 



As in Scotland — but to a greater extent — farmers often make 

 butter on their own premises ; and as in Scotland, the reputation 

 of that butter is often not very high. It, however, supplies a certain 

 local demand, which otherwise could not perhaps be easily met ; 

 it is often bartered to shop-keepers for goods, no money passing over 

 the transaction. 



The Cows' Feed 



The most prosperous dairy farmer in Canada, as at home, is 

 the man who retails his milk in towns. He has few restrictions ; 

 he has cheap cows ; cheap food, and a good price for his merchandise. 

 Unlike his neighbour who supplies the factories he must keep up 

 the flow of milk all the year round and must therefore lay in a good 

 store of winter food. To this end hay is everywhere the dairyman's 

 sheet anchor. Feeding may differ in other details according to 

 locality, but in all parts of the Dominion hay is regarded as essential 

 for the feeding of cows in winter. Some farmers give them little 

 else, but the enterprising man, especially if he is in the retail milk 

 trade, believes in good feeding at all seasons. A successful farmer 

 in Nova Scotia who made butter, and made it good, gave us the 

 following account of how he fed his cows. In winter they got 

 2 lbs. of cotton-seed meal ; 3 lbs. of middlings ; 3 lbs. of bran ; 

 30 lbs. of swedes or mangolds ; and as much hay as they could eat. 

 In the grazing season, lasting from the 10th June to the 1st 

 September, he cut down the meals by half. His cotton -seed meal 

 cost roughly £7, 10s. a ton, the middlings from £5 to £6 ; and the bran 

 about £5, 15s. The hay was estimated to be worth 33s. a ton. 

 The Ontario bill of fare is very similar except that ensilage made 

 of Indian corn takes the place of roots. A dairyman near Calgary 

 in Alberta stated his feeding thus : — Two sheaves of oat hay ; 

 prairie hay ad lib. ; six gallons of brewers' draff ; and, if milk was 

 scarce, some bran and bruised oats. He added that last season his 

 oats were all frozen and were fed to his stock. In summer his cows 

 had each an allowance of two acres of prairie grass for pasture, and 

 six gallons of brewers' draff. He paid 5s. to 6s. a ton for his draff, 

 but had to cart it some five miles ; he got his prairie hay for 10s. 6d. 

 a ton if he drove it direct from the place where it was cut, and 



