A FACTOR IN DAIRY FARMING. 57 



margin I of food i supply, which ought to go to the making of milk 

 and meat. To feed milch cows, in any part of the country where 

 the variations of temperature are extreme during the year, without 

 the requisite shelter and stalling is to my mind false economy, 

 and creates a huge waste of food stuffs. But, at the same time, 

 remember that stabling or sheltering can easily be overdone at the 

 expense of the constitution of the beast, and therefore they should 

 only be stalled when absolutely necessary ; one does not wish to 

 make cattle too susceptible to any sudden change of weather. 



Thus it will be seen that sheltering is an advantage, from an 

 economical point of view of food, from increased milk supply, and 

 from a point none the less valuable, that of much closer observa- 

 tion ; every time they come in to be milked they are tied up and 

 come much closer under personal attention than otherwise. If a 

 cow is a little off-colour when brought in and tied up, and she 

 refuses food or eats sparingly, it is probable that an approaching 

 illness can be obviated, where under other circumstances it would 

 not have been observed till the cow was actually showing more 

 .acute symptoms of the sickness itself. 



Cows, to give a maximum return, must be looked upon as 

 delicate pieces of machinery and treated accordingly, and each indi- 

 vidual cow should be treated and fed in accordance with her own 

 peculiarities. Can this be done otherwise than by feeding and 

 housing? The cows become quieter and more docile when s'.all-fed 

 daily, which all tends to greater, more even and regular milk pro- 

 duction. 



BREEDING FOR THE DAIRY. 



Then comes the greater and deeper question of selection and 

 the culling out of cows giving inferior and non-paying results to 

 make room for cows that will recompense the owner for the atten- 

 tion and feed bestowed. In most kraals, now-a-days, you find that 

 out of a certain number of cattle the return for the dairy is made 

 out of the few cows ; the remainder are not only a loss individually, 

 but help to eat up the pofit made by the few. This is a condition 

 of things that cannot be tolerated, if the dairy industry is to go 

 forward and take the place it ought to amongst the chief assets of 

 the Colony. Weeding out the inferior stock can only be satisfac- 

 torily done, and an average of value stack with any degree of 

 -certainty, when the cows are kept in a thrifty condition all the year 

 round. It entails a certain amount of labour and time, but repays 

 for it tenfold in a very short time. Weighing the amount of milk 

 given at each meal, and making periodical tests for butter fat with 

 the Babcock tester, is the only way to define the actual value of a 

 cow as a dairy cow. Varying conditions throughont the herd make 

 the attempt to arrive at any definite value of the cow as a factor in 

 dairying quite useless and futile, unless the herd is kept in a 

 thrifty condition I do not mean fat, as that is the other extreme 



