10 
, 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
Marcu 15, 1905 
Re ee 
ber two. Of course his estimate of production 
was very low, but he-wanted them to realise the 
point he was making that a good cow must be 
secured. Success could only be achieved by 
bringing a herd up toa certain staudard, and 
the bull is the animal that grades up a dairy 
herd. Do not buy a cheap bull—a good one gets 
fifty pounds a year. Say half of them are heifers, 
and you jown them three years—he thus pro- 
duces 75 heifers: put 75 good heifers against 75 
bad ones, and you see the difference. 
Therefore, whether it costs £1 or £10 more, 
secure a good bull: it is the greatest economy. 
Rather than use a bad bull, farmers should beg, 
borrow or steal a good ons. Wool men do not 
mind how much in reason they pay for a ram to 
improve their flock: so should a dairyman re- 
gard his bull. 
REARING THE CALVES. 
The next matter is in regard to rearing the 
calves. No matter how good they are, they 
might be spoilt as a milk producing animal un- 
less properly reared. The tendency of a calf is to 
lay on flesh; there is no necessity bring a calf 
up on a cow. Two bad results are liable to follow 
if itis done—it gives a tendency to beef, and 
the milk of the cow isalways poorer. That is a 
matter they could prove for themselves, and the 
point had been tested hundreds of times. 
When born some leave the cow on the calf 
for twelve or twenty-four hours. At many 
dairies they remove the calf as soon as they 
notice it, at others they leave them on for two 
or three days. 
This method has its good points, and the 
main advantage is, that it is thought that the 
tendency to milk is thereby obviated. He pre- 
ferred, on the whole, to remove the calf as soon 
as it is noticed, and give it its mother’s milk for 
the first seven days, as the milk of a newly- 
calved cow is of special quality, containing cer- 
tain medicinal properties which are good for the 
young calf. The calf should have new milk for 
the first twenty-one days, then the amount 
can be gradually lessened after a fortnight, and 
substitute separated milk. Any sudden change 
brings about digestive troubles, and is one of 
the main causes of scours. At the end of a 
month the calf need be given no new milk, but 
something must be substituted for the fat which 
has been taken from the milk; that is an easy 
matter. 
Boiled crushed maize, fed with tho milk, is 
good and cheap; but linseed oil cake is best. 
Two ounces daily, mixed with the milk, then 
gradually increased to 4 oz as the calf grows, dis- 
solye in hot water, and mix with the milk, and 
always feed the latter warm. The cow’s milk is 
at a temperature of a hundred degrees, and the 
thing is to follow nature as closely as possible. 
It must be given under clean conditions, 
Itisnot good to feed from a common trough 
unless the calves are graded, N othing goes bad 
more quickly than milk, and any left in the 
trough turns bad and contaminates the fresh 
lot when putin. Itacts as a starter for the new 
dot, which might not turn bad there and then, 
but will do so in the calf’s stomach with in- 
jurious results. At four months, or Say six 
months, old, the calf will be fit to turn out. In 
the meantime, it would have learned to graze, 
and therefore good clean, sunny paddocks 
should always be provided, and the house they 
use ubsolutely clean. If the culf-scour germ 
once gets under the boards of the calf pen floor, 
you will have it every year until you shift the 
pen, The young heifer will be turned out from 
the time she is six months old till eighteen 
months, and then all depends uupon her treat- 
“Iment when being brought into milk. If the 
heifer is onthe beefy side she should be sent 
to the bull younger than otherwise, as this is 
the only way to develop the milk-producing 
tendency and to counteract the beefy tendency. 
The dairyman is frightened of stunting the 
cow by having her in calf too young, but there 
is nothing else for it if she is of a beefy ten- 
dency. 
The only way then is to give the young cow 
four or five months’ rest after dropping her calf 
before putting her to the bull again, so that she 
gets a good chance to develop, and at the same 
time a start has been made in developing her 
milking qualities. 
It is a great mistake to milk a heifer for two 
months and then turn her out. She should be 
milked just as a grown cow. 
BREEDS. 
The dairyman need not have pure bred cows 
to commence successfully. His type will be deve- 
loped by the bull he keeps in a couple of gene- 
rations. A crossbred cow will yield as much 
milk as a pure bred if bred on right lines. 
Each dairyman should make his selection to 
suit his circumstances, It would be folly to try 
to keep Shorthorns on poor land, and it would 
be unwise to retain the small breeds on good 
land if you wanted to make something out of 
your steers. 
Tf a man has a good run and wants to secure 
something for his steers, his attention should be 
confined to three or four breeds—the Short- 
horns, the Red Poll, Holstein and the Kerry. 
The Shorthorn is an ideal cow if the land is 
rich, but they are not suitable where plenty of 
good fodder could not be procured without 
much exertion. The smnll breeds will forage for 
themselves. 
The Red Poll has all the good attributes of 
the Shorthorn on a smaller scale. It is one of 
the most valuable of breeds. It is hardier and a 
greater forager than the Shorthorn, conse- 
quently will do on poorer pastures. 
The Holstein is perhaps the greatest milking 
breed in the world, having been bred for the 
milkpail for 2000 years. A cross with the Short- 
horns gets good steers. The milk is not as rich 
as the Shorthorn, but it gives a larger quan- 
tity. 
The Kerry must not be confused with the 
small breed, the Dexter-Kerry. The Kerry will 
cross well with the Shorthorn, and will hold its 
own anywhere On light lands, with deficient 
rainfall, where a regular supply of green fodder 
is not available, it would be hard to procure a 
better animal. 
As for Jerseys, Guernseys, and Ayrshires, 
these small breeds did not give a revenue from 
steers, and the best thing to do with the bull 
calf is to knock him-on the head, 
Take the Jersey asa valuable butter breed, 
with an eye ta nothing else; she gives a fair 
quantity of extremely rich milk. ‘There is no 
better butter cow in the world. Itis a false im- 
pression to imagine they are delicate; the fact 
is, that there is no tuberculosis on the Channel 
Islands, and the United States admit Jerseys 
without the test. 
There are two classes of J erseys. Seeing that 
so few Jerseys had been imported, he did not 
know where all the thoroughbred animals came 
from! Put a Jersey bull to any class of cow 
and the progeny will probably be of good color. 
He had seen quarter-bred animals shown as pure 
bred, and what more could be expected of their 
progeny than weeds. 
' The proper English Jersey should have plenty 
of substance. He had seen these seven breeds 
referred to running together under the same 
conditions, and the Jerseys were certainly not 
delicate, although they could not stand the cold 
like Ayrshires or Kerries. Crossed with a Short- 
horn, the Jersey produces a good calf, but he 
would not advise crossing with the small breeds. 
The Guernsey cow promises to be the most 
popular cow in somo of the States. Perhaps a 
thousand years ago the Jerseys and Guernseys 
were all the same breed, now they are very 
different. The Guernsey is larger and coarser; 
consequently hardier towards tho cold. It had 
been used for draught purposes once, which 
should account for its size compared with the 
Jersey. It crosses well with the Shorthorn, 
Ayrshire and Holstein. 
— 
ABOUT MILK AND CREAM, 
When the milk is drawn from the cow it is at 
a temperature of about 100 degrees, and that is 
the right heat to separate at. Never separate at 
less than 90 degrees, or there will be a loss of 
cream. When the cream leaves the separator it 
must be cooled, and that is why it should be 
delivered as soon as possible to the factory. 
The time must come when cream must be 
delivered daily. Itis the only way to procure 
first class butter, and the farmer would secure a 
better test sample. It is a bad habit to pour 
your hot cream of one milking into the cold 
cream of the previous milking. Separate into 
another vessel, and when cool mix and stir 
thoroughly. Afterwards the more cream is 
stirred the better, as a fresh surface is con- 
tinually being presented to the atmosphere. 
Some farmers never stir, but allow froth to 
accumulate on the milk—nothiug is worse, for 
the cream at the bottom becomes sour and 
affects the whole lot. 
Dairying, except on clean lines, is impossible 
A dirty man is an enemy to his district, as 
his product might mix with others and spoil the 
whole output. 
He urged farmers to go in for ensilage. It 
is the easiest thing in the world to make—it 
only wanted cutting at the right stage, and 
would keep one year or ten. 
be CORTESE SS 
Vegetable Experiments in Texas. 
(J. K. Ropertson anp E. ©, GREEN.) 
EXPERIMENTS are reported on the culture of 
onions with and without irrigation, and of 
beets, radishes, lettuce, carrots and turnips for 
bunching for the early market. With each crop 
tests of varieties were also made. The growing 
of early garden crops for northern markets is 
rapidly developing in south Texas, 
Onions .. Wich this crop the seed was sown in 
beds and the onions transplanted to the field 
when they had attained suitable size, Thrips, 
which seriously affected the onions in the seed 
bed, were kept under control by spraying with 
whale oil soap used at the rate of 2 lbs dis- 
solved in 6 gallons of water. At setting out time 
the tops of the onions were trimmed to about 
5 inches, and the roots cut back to about 6.75 
inches, Hight cultivations were given. In addi- 
tion the unirrigated plat received one hoeing. 
Level cultivation was practised and at no 
time was it deeper than 1.5 inches, ~The irri- 
gated plat received four irrigations in addition 
to the preparatory ope which was given to both 
irrigated and unirrigated alike, A mixed ferti- 
liser containing 4 per cent nitrogen, 6 per cent 
Phosphoric acid, and 9 per cent potash was. 
applied at the rate of 500 lbs per acre and 
worked in each side of the row in March. 
Rat aindnaien oe 
