Live Stock. 



38 



[July, 1909- 



welfare. For the start all that is neces- 

 sary is a comfortable bungalow for the 

 manager, a bungalow to accommodate 

 the overseer and the two responsible 

 milk delivery men, a line for eight 

 men, a milking shed with ten bales, 

 and stabling for four horses, with an 

 unwalled extension for carts and im- 

 plements ; also a large open shed for 

 the cows to camp during wet weather. 

 As the timber will be secured during 

 the clearing, and the roof will be thatch, 

 and the walls of wattle and daub, the 

 cost will not be great. In the course of 

 a few years, certainly, put up good, 

 substantial buildings. 



Growing Food.— This is the question of 

 the greatest importance, as on a plentiful 

 and good supply of green food, grass 

 and ensilage depends entirely the success 

 of the farm. It is a well-known fact that 

 dry food— for example, chaff mixed with 

 oats, bran (crushed), maize, etc., does not 

 and will not increase the yield of milk. 

 Bran, oats, maize and oil cake increases 

 the percentage of fat but not the 

 yield. In fact, dry food decreases the 

 yield— if given at all it must be steamed. 

 On the other hand, it is well known 

 that green succulent food of good qual- 

 ity and ensilage greatly increases the 

 yield of milk. It will be noticed that |in 

 the first year's working expenses I have 

 included oil cake to the value of 

 Rs. 2,740 , 50. I did this simply as a safe- 

 guard and a stand-by especially for the 

 first year, as the growing capacity of 

 the soil, etc., is not known. The farm, 

 except under exceptional circumstances, 

 must grow all the food it requires, or 

 else most of the profits will go to the 

 supplier of the food. One of the best 

 foods for cows either in the green state 

 or in the form of ensilage is maize— we 

 know that maize grows well in Ceylon. 

 My experience in Australia was that 

 on ordinary good land a crop of 15 to 20 

 tons of maize can be procured per acre. 

 An average cow requires 50 lbs. of silage 

 or green fodder per day— we have 48 

 head of stock including horses, stud 

 bull, and working bulls, so it would be 

 advisable to store in the soils food suffi- 

 cient for them for six months, this means 

 at the rate of 50 lbs. each per day that 150 

 tons of silage is required. Then, taking 

 the lower estimate of being able to 

 erowlS tons per acre of maize, it will 

 be necessary to put in ten acres of land 

 under it; but as we do not know the 

 growing capacity of the particular land 

 and to be on the safe side, I would put in 

 twenty acres of land under maize for 

 silage making. For the making of the 

 best silage underground roofed bricked 

 pits are necessary. A pit 15x15 feet 

 holds 50 tons of silage, so we will re- 



quire three pits of that size to store 150 

 tons we intend to make. I will not go 

 into the subject of ensilage making, as 

 in a previous article I dealt with it 

 pretty fully ; suffice it to say that al- 

 though the making and use of silage 

 is very little known in Ueylon, that 

 it forms one of the chief factors of 

 dairy farming. For the feeding of the 

 stock for the remaining six months we 

 must grow some green fodder crops and 

 grass. I would put in twenty acres 

 under guinea grass — it grows and thrives 

 spleudidly in the low country, and, ac- 

 cording to analysis, has proved to be 

 a splendid food for dairy cows ; this 

 will be a permanent pasture. For green 

 fodder crops we have the well known 

 varieties of millet known by the Sinha- 

 lese as Kurakkan and Sorghum known 

 as Karal-iringu — these two will make 

 excellent green fodder crops as well as 

 silage. The sowing for green fodder 

 has to be done with a certain number 

 of days intervening, so that the whole 

 crop will not be fit for use at the same 

 time, but rather that it can be cut as 

 required for daily feeding. It is very 

 important that the cows should be 

 given a variety of diet — they appreci- 

 ate and enjoy it just as much as human 

 beings, and the result is more milk. As 

 we did for the silage crops we will de- 

 vote twenty acres of land for growing 

 Millet and Sorghum. We still have 

 twenty acres left— of course, the build- 

 ings with their respective kitchen gar- 

 dens, etc., will take up an acre or more 

 — all the balance will be required in the 

 future when the stock increases. It is 

 very important that a series of experi- 

 ments should be tried with other green 

 fodder and grass crops, so that rotation 

 of crops and variety of food could be 

 succesf ully carried out. In feeding cows 

 salt must not be forgotten, as it is most 

 necessary for keeping the cows in health. 

 It assists digestion, is good tor the milk 

 supply, and is said to prevent worms. 



Implements Necessary and Approxi- 

 mate Cost. 





Rs. 



c. 



2 ploughs ... 



198 



00 



1 set of harrows 



67 



50 



3 hand seed drills 



123 



75 



1 cultivator 



49 



00 



1 roller 



100 



00 



1 chaff cutter for silage 







making 



115 



00 



I set horse gear for driving 







cutter by bullock power... 



285 



00 



Freight 



100 



00 



Tools, etc. ... 



50 



00 



Rs. 1,088 



75 



