802 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ocr., 1897. 
Danish Dairying. 
Tue Mark Lane Express gives the following description of a Danish dairy 
farm on the island of Fiinen. The estate is the property of Count Bendt 
Wedell, one of the presidents of the Royal Agricultural Society of Denmark, 
and was visited by some 200 members of the British Dairy Farmers’ Association, 
in order to see if they could learn something as to the method by which 
Denmark and Sweden make butter-making pay at its present low price :— 
The first surprise was encountered on the Dutch railway (the party 
having travelled vd Harwich and the Hook of Holland). ‘he dairymen were 
struck by the enormous number of cattle in the fields ; indeed, so thick on the 
ground were they that an explanation could be found in it of the relatively 
large production of butter in that country. In meadow after meadow, with 
great frequency, were herds of from fifty to 100 of the Dutch black and white 
cows, a breed which gives a large quantity of milk, though lower in butterfat. 
There were, of course, many smaller herds, but dairying is a most pronounced 
industry. It might be added, too, that the hay harvest was in progress, and 
the yield of grass exceedingly heavy, which will be of great benefit to the 
farmers, who with their numerous stock must require all they can possibly get. 
Neatness and tidiness of the cottages and fields and absence of waste were 
unmistakably to be noticed and admired, and appeared to account to some 
extent for the lower profits that they manage to live upon. There had been very 
little damage done to the crops by the recent storms, the injury being confined 
to the knocking down of rye. This crop is almost ready to cut, and wheat, 
barley, and oats are fast coming on, although, generally, they will be some time 
before they are ready for reaping. During the whole of the railway journey 
through Holland, not one mowing-machine was observed in use, all the labour 
being done with the scythe. - 
On arrival on Danish soil, the party at once proceeded to inspect the 
establishment of Count Wedell, who gave them a hearty welcome. 
The dairy is, like the farm buildings, in the latest and best style. They form 
four sides of a huge square: the dairy on one side, the offices, &c., on another, 
cowhouses on the third, and horses on the fourth. Behind one block is an 
immense barn, said to be one of the largest in the world. The dairy, though 
fitted up in the best method, can scarcely be called a ‘‘ show” place, as is the case 
with some of our important dairies in Great Britain. It is intended for work, 
and the work is done. The Alpha Laval separator is used to extract the cream 
from the milk of 190 milking cows, and turn it into butter, which is sent to a 
centre for despatch to England. The cows are of the red Danish milking breed; 
they have fine skins and hair, and possess several of the characteristics of the 
Channel Islands breed, but they have small and irregular udders, which do not 
suggest an annual average yield of from 5,000 lb. to 6,000 lb: of milk per cow. 
The milk gives off 34 per cent. of butterfat. 
The method of making butter is as nearly mechanical as possible, and what 
labour is performed is done by women, there being only one man in the whole 
of it, and he attends to the engine and machines. When the milk is brought 
into the dairy from the cowhouse, it is pasteurised, then cooled down and 
separated, and the cream put to ripen, a pure “starter” or ferment being used. 
The skim milk is given to the calves as is necessary, or made into cheese. ‘The 
butter is churned in an ordinary Danish churn containing dashers, and is put 
to drain ona rough table such as is used in some parts of France. Salt is 
added to the extent of 13 per cent. when the butter is worked, the working 
being done on a circular rotatory table. The butter is taken, when finished, to 
