HOUSING OF DAIRY COWS

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 56, 8 April 1929, Page 10

HOUSING OF DAIRY COWS

WILL IT 1XCREASE DIVIDENDSP AN IXTERESTIXG QUESTIOX. (Specially Written for the Telegraph) Is the housing of dairy co'ws a practical and economieal proposition in Xcw Zealand? That is a question that is interesting many dairy farmers at tlio present time, following on exferiments with housing on tlie Hauraki Plains. There are soine who believe tliat the way to greater profits and more economieal working of the giuall holding is by keeping the cows off the grass during the bad weather in the Winter months, stall feeding them, and housing them at niglit. Some indeed would go so far as to arouse tlio cows during all the wet weather, especiallv on heavy land which cut up badlv. Housing offers a happy solution of a d'fficult problem in places like the Hauraki Plains, parts of which are low-lying and become absolute quagmires during the Winter months. For specific cases sucli as these, housing will nndoubtedly. pay, provided the j original cost of the buildings is not ioo great. Certain farmers, most of whom have come from England, believe that housing can be cavried furtlier. and made to pay on the avcrage small dairy farm. A COW TO THE ACRE. One farmer in tlie Manawatu district, for instance, lias set liimself to cari'y a cow to the acre, and he lias clioscn tlio housing metliod of accomplishing his ideal. Alreadv he is carrjing 29 liead of stock on a 32-acre farm, so lxe isn't very i'ar from realising his dream. His land is heavy, and lio found that it cut up badly during tlie Winter months. This meant that he lost the use of a lot of the grass through it being trampled by the cows, and lie decided tliat it would pay bini to erect tlie necessary buildings for liousing them. He did the work liimself, putting up a very big concrece slied capable of housing 21 cows in comfort. The cost of this was considerably less tlian half what it would have been had he not done tlie work liimself, and was not beyond the averago farmer. Naturally iu a shed of this kind the labour cost is the greatest cost, and wliere the farmer is readv to do tlie job liimself he can put it up for only £100 morp than an ordinary milking shed. That sounds impossible. but is a fact. Having erected his shed, this farmer decided to house his cows at night and during wet weather, an jdea he _ has since put into practice with considerable success as far as his pastures are concerned. It is yet too early to say what effect this will have on the butter-fat production of the cows, as it has heeii in vogue for only a portiou of the present season but as the herd averaged well over 3001hs. butter-fat last vear. and as herd improvements are still being made. it is unlikely that anv drop will he shown. and it is possihle that tliere will_ already he an increase attributahle in part at least to the adoption of the new system. EFFECT ON THE COWS. Oue o! the first noticeable effects which this had on the cows was the reduction of the incidence of milk fever. The cows failed to cohtiact chills when they were being lioused at night, and it is expected that there will be little calving trouble in future. The cows appear more contented, and as they are fed hav and ensilage indoors in wet weather, and as the shed conditions are perfect hoth as regards ventilation and cleanliness, they should do well. , The most satisfactory and most noticeable improvement. of course, has been in tlie farm pastures, wliich, freed from the tramping of the cows ciuring wet Aveatlier, Iiave made excelknt growth at all times. The very fact that nearly a cow to the acre is already being cavried and tliat the herd is averaging over 3001b butterfai sliows tliat the pastures are in gooJ heart. The work of the farm is mcreased to some" extent as a result of this new ai rangement, but it is contended that if is lnade inlinitc-ly more plensant. in that mud is practicallv unknown. This particular farmer has adopted the cential race idea; that is to say, he has a narrow race running from his milking shed. down the centre of his farm. Tlie cows go down this metalJed race to the different paddocks. and there is tlius practically no mud at all on the farm. In other parts oi the same district, cows have to wade kn^e-deep in mud during had weather. How will this system work in with the new ideas in nitrosenous manuring? Tlie farmer considei-s that it wculd do so very well, as the cows wculcl be left out to graze except i.'lien the weafilier was bad, and would He in the paddocks during the daytime onlv, tlius eating their fill without harming the pasture. THE COST OF HOUSING. Farmers will not rush in and build rnerely hecause it is paying one farmer to house his cows, but they can ; take an interest in the question and j sce whetlier, at the price if would cost ro erect the necessary buildings on their own fanns, housing could be made a profitable proposition. If a building sucli as this, for a smal/herd, could be erected for between £2q0 and £350, it would be a payable investment. As the farmer who has the building put it : "Many farmers spend £15 or £20 a year 011 cow covers, and • are wasting money. That amount j pays the interest on my building, and j the depreciation is negligible." That is another way of looking atj the matter, which seems to show thar • there are possibilities in the idea. Of ceurse housing doesn't mean tliat it is possible to negleet any of tlie other fictors which make for success in dairying. It is still just as necessnrr | 1 1 top-dress the pastures regularlv, ! and harrow, and the herd whetlier honsed or not will never return heavy y elds of butter-fat unless they are i "sted and pronerly culled. It is admittedly an addition in an already heavy farm programme, but if it is an ' addition that will pay ctividends, thrtarmer will not mind adopting it. w Tt 11 at least proving sound on this farm, and there seems no reason why, with 1 tlteap buildings, it should not be pqually satisfactory on anj' dairy farm.