July, 1909,] 



38 



Live Stock* 



Water For Cows.— The importance 

 of providing a plentiful supply of good 

 water for milch cows is one of the secrets 

 of success, and a matter to which very- 

 few dairy men give one iota of consider- 

 ation. The cow should be induced to 

 tak» all the water she will, and at no 

 time should she be allowed to suffer 

 from thirst. A cow that gives a large 

 supply of milk must be provided with 

 an ample supply of good water, for we 

 must remember that of the constituents 

 of milk about 87 parts are water. Ex- 

 periments have proved that the quantity 

 of milk had been increased several 

 quarts per day and without affecting 

 the quality. The amount of milk 

 obtained was approximately propor- 

 tionate to the amount of water drunk. 

 It is of very great importance that the 

 water supplied to cows should be clean 

 and pure. A quantity of the water 

 consumed by the animal is passed into 

 the milking utensil, and if the solids are 

 held in an impure solution, which must 

 be the case if the cow is allowed to drink 

 bad water, we cannot expect pure whole- 

 some milk. 



Choice op Cows. — The all-important 

 question— as the best manager and a 

 supply of the best foods and water will 

 not produce a large supply of good milk, 

 unless the cows are by breeding and 

 training a machine to convert food into 

 a plentiful supply of milk — is the choice 

 of suitable cows. I would recommend 

 procuring the cows from Queensland, 

 as it being a semi-tropical country the 

 cows will suit our climate better than 

 cows imported from a cold region. 

 The choice of individual cows is very 

 important, but as it is not possible 

 for anybody from here to do that 

 personally, it would be possible to get 

 the help of the Queensland Agricultural 

 Department, who will no doubt depute 

 the Agricultural College authorities, or 

 their dairy expert, to do theii best for 

 us. I suppose the ordinary laymen or 

 even most of those who are interested in 

 dairying little know how much depends 

 on the choice of the best miik breed and 

 the individual choice of the cows for the 

 success of the industry. For Ceylon the 

 best breed would be the Ayrshire or the 

 cross with the Ayrshire bull and any 

 good milking strain. They are strong 

 and healthy and produce a large supply 

 of very rich milk and are known to do 

 well in sub-tropical regions. In choosing 

 a milk cow an experienced dairy man 

 would look for the following points : — 

 Forehead and muzzle broad, face long 

 and clean out, ears fine, horns smooth, 

 neck tapering, forequarters deep, the 

 back and loins leve) and wide, the legs 



fairly short with a good amount of bone, 

 the hams allowing plenty of udder room, 

 the frame well rounded, with deep chest; 

 the skin should be soft and pliable, the 

 tail long and the hair fine. But still 

 experience has proved that the points of 

 a cow is not a sufficient guide for the 

 choosing of dairy cattle. Buying cows 

 without knowing their performances 

 is liKe buying a pig in a bag— you never 

 know what you have got until you open 

 the bag. If we want good results from 

 a horse we look for the performances of 

 his ancestors. Why not do likewise in 

 selecting a cow ? Although I have made 

 a study uf the points of a cow I would 

 rather have a record than all the points 

 she could carry. Individuality, quality 

 and performance are what we require 

 in all animals for the dairy, and these 

 points can only be determined by placing 

 each cow on her own merits. In Ceylon 

 all that we can do is to get the best cows 

 selected from the best herds and by 

 keeping a record of their performances 

 and retaining the progeny of the best 

 milkers, we will establish a first-class 

 dairy herd of our own. 



In conclusion, I must state that there 

 is good money to be made out of the 

 business, but the present modes of run- 

 ning dairies must be altered beyond 

 recognition — for instance, calves must 

 not be allowed to run with their mothers 

 and suck them, they must be removed 

 and kept separately two or three days 

 after birth, and fed with fresh milk 

 drawn from their mothers. The present 

 process of allowing the calves to suck 

 the mothers during and after milking 

 means the waste of a lot of time during 

 milking ; means that the calves get the 

 best of the milk as the last stripplings 

 are the richest in fat, and the great loss 

 sustained by not being able to milk a 

 cow at all in case of the death of the 

 calf. The hand feeding of calves has 

 another great advantage, that of making 

 them tame and docile from their very 

 birth. The two-hand system of milking 

 must be insisted on as it is of great 

 importance. Cleanliness in everything 

 must be a speciality. The introduction 

 of delivery horse-cart is of great im- 

 portance, as it makes possible the 

 delivering of milk from a reasonable 

 distance from the city and also greatly 

 facilitates an early delivery. The two 

 horses and carts that I have estimated 

 for could cover a very big milk deli- 

 very round. 



This matter is well worth the consider- 

 ation of capitalists who wish for quick 

 aud handsome returns with no great 

 risk. 



