ON FEEDING AND PRODUCTION. 



withstanding this, into every pound of milk she is obliged by a law she 

 cannot escape to put certain quantities of casein or curd which is 

 almost pure protein. Where does she get it ? From her food. How 

 can she get it from her food, if the food given her does not contain 

 it ? All the foods rich in protein are expensive to buy, more so at 

 times than others. These 'foods rich in protein consist of cotton seed, 

 wheat seed, and corn seed meals. But where the object is, such as 

 that on a dairy farm, to keep up the yield of milk, and at the same 

 time to leave more of the resulting money with the farmer, the plan 

 is to grow equivalents for these foods in the form of fodder on the 

 farm. Theoretically, therefore, the plan is to grow maize, horse 

 beans, and sunflower heads, and put them into a silo as a balanced 

 ration, the maize 'for carbo-hydrates or starch, the horse beans for 

 protein, and the sunflower heads -for fat. The same object is striven 

 for in peas, vetches, &c., mixed abundantly with maize or barley. 

 Good results have been obtained from sowing flax, amber cane, and 

 oats. This combination is said to produce an abundance of protein 

 without excessive oil. The amber cane is cut when fairly out in 

 head, and the flax seed when about half grown. 



It may be said of all dairymen who feed their stock with a view 

 to profitable returns that if they find their methods are wrong they 

 do not blindly adhere to them. They have already learned that the 

 true rule for human guidance is : Never compare things that differ, 

 which means that every difficulty, every situation, is governed by its 

 own law. This applies wonderfully to the law of dairy farming we 

 cannot now compare a buffalo with a Jersey. We have much evi- 

 dence to prove that it often happens that a heifer calf, raised -from 

 a young cow before being developed into a milker, proved to be a 

 very ordinary milker ; but heifers subsequently raised proved to be 

 excellent milkers. It would seem, therefore, that it is necessary for 

 a sound milking habit to be acquired by the dam be-fore it becomes 

 transmissible to her progeny. Another point of some importance is 

 the effect of high feeding upon the future usefulness of the cow and 

 her progeny. 



The fertility and producing power of the land is the farmer's capi- 

 tal; and the quality and productiveness of his stock are his profits. A 

 poor soil resists a drought much worse than a rich soil. It does not 

 pay to hand feed a poor herd of cows, whereas it pays to hand feed 

 a good herd. 



The three agencies that are required to act upon the soil and the 

 cow in order to convert both into profit for the benefit of the .farmer 

 are : The sun's rays, rain, and the digestive juice of the cow's 

 stomach. Of the first we have abundance, of the second a great 

 scarcity; of the third we have Nature's assistance if we but economise 

 instead o-f overtaxing the cow's digestive organs. 



The question of overstocking has been over and over again dis- 

 cussed by dairy farmers and pastoralists generally in New South 

 Wales for upwards of three-quarters of a century. Prior to the dis- 

 covery of the Bathurst Plains in 1813, the subject of overstocking was 

 much discussed ; but once an opening was made into the interior of 

 the country the discovery of new country was the all-absorbing topic 

 among settlers, until the boiling down works were established by 

 which means the surplus stock were disposed of at a profit partly 

 owing to the cheapness of grass country out west. 



The terrible drought of 1867-69. which raged with varying- 

 severity throughout the eastern coast of Australia, and which has been 

 admitted by the oldest colonists to have been the worst for stock of 

 all descriptions ever known, ought to have taught the settlers a lasting 

 lesson on the ill effects of overstocking when ample provision is not 



M 193. 



