View report page

278
1909]
Many dairy farmers are very negligent in the management of their
"businesses, and, indeed, if other businesses were carried on in the same
slipshod manner, tradesmen would come to utter grief. It has been frequently
urged that they should systematically examine the quality and quantity of
the milk coming from their cows, that is to say, they should regularly weigh
and analyse the milk from each cow so that they might see if they were
getting a full return for the money they were spending on her feed .
This is done in Germany, where in recent years, as some time ago in
Denmark, the system of milk control has been established. The object of
these German societies, which at the end of 1908 numbered 207, representing
3005 members, owning 88,296 cows, is to enable the farmer by a system of
milk testing, combined with the keeping of careful records, to gauge the yield
of each cow in his herd so that he may eliminate those which appear unprofitable.
For this purpose it is usual to employ a young man to visit the farms at
regular intervals to weigh and record the milk yield, and to ascertain its fat
content. When the animals are stall fed, a record is kept of the amount of
food used, and a scale is adopted for adjusting the quantity of food to the
milk yield. In this manner records are obtained which are found to be of the
greatest assistance in improving the breed of the cattle, which is so important
if good milk is to be obtained. If this were done in this country, there would
very soon be a great improvement in the quality of the milk, while at the same
time we would hear little complaint as to the so-called high standard of the
Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.
"The Dairy World," no mean authority on milk questions, in the leading
article in a recent issue, commenting on the ignorance displayed by a farmer
of 31 years standing, who asked if anyone could tell him of a ready means of
analysis which would ensure perfectly reliable tests, said, "We repeat
"that the risk of conflict with the authorities can be considerably minimised by
"close attention to details, by systematically testing the milk of the animals and
"eliminating those of abnormal tendencies (the italics are the writers) and by a
"little judgment being exercised in the filling of the churns so that one does
" not get an undue proportion of the strippings, while another goes short."
It is to be hoped that this advice will be taken to heart, especially as the
results of the exhaustive enquiries made by Armstrong College, Newcastle-onTyne,
last year, proved the wisdom of mixing the milk of all the cows in the
herd before it leaves the farms, for the milk of the individual cow, whatever
her capabilities of yielding a high percentage of butter fat might be, is likely
to vary within wide limits. These inquiries, according to the report issued by
that institution, point out that no matter how careful a farmer may be in the