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About Estacada progress. (Estacada, Or.) 1908-1916 | View Entire Issue (July 8, 1915)
ing gluten meal it is a very difficult matter to extract all of the butterfat from the buttermilk. In general, feeds containing much oil have a tendency to silghtly in crease the fat content of milk when first fed, but the fat percentage grad ually returns to normal. It seems that the feeding of concentrated oil feeds stimulates an abnormal condition in the cow for a few days and radical changes are noted in the composition of the milk, but the continuous flow of milk containing a high per centage •fi fat is due to the individuality of the cow and not to the rich oil feeds. Linseed oil is considered by some authorities as an excellent feed for dairy cows, but after careful investi gation, the following conclusions seem pertinent in regard to it. Lin seed oil causes a decrease in the vala- tile acids and an increase in the melt ing point of butterfat. However, the melting point of the butterfat is not always indicative of the firmness or body of the butter. An excess of lin seed oil produces a soft, salvy butter, Water Ash & Fat Hard- Content Casein ness Dry Feed 7.60 3.07 88.93 17.0 Mangles 8.24 2.66 89.13 16.7 Potatoes 5.89 3.26 90.89 15.5 It is rather difficult to locate the origin of taints in milk since the milk may become tainted after it leaves the cow. While it is entirely possible that warm milk may exhale odors in cooling, it is also true that it is capable of absorbing other odors at the same time and that an exposure, even for a short time, to an air that is befouled or tainted with any ob noxious gases may be sufficient to im- picgnate the milk so that the odor «■an be recognized hours afterward. BesiJes the odors that are absorbed subsequent to milking, milk invariably has a more or less pronounced odor that is derived directly from the ani mal herself that is usually referred to as the “ cowy” or “ animal odor,” due to certain feeds. The peculiar proper ty of rapid diffusion throughout the sy.-tem by means o f the circulation and the subsequent absorption by the Typical Kasteni Oregon bonanza wheat farm. with an inefrior flavor. Linseed oil meal when fed in a balanced ration does not affect the quality of the but ter. The experimental work with such feeding stuffs as silage, kale, rape, clovers, etc., and their effect on the quality of butter has been extremely limited and very little data is avail able. But the work that has been done would appear to substantiate a few facts. Other conditions being favorable the butter made from the inilk of silage fed cows is o f an ex cellent quality, having the proper con sistency and body and free from an unpleasant flavor that one might ex pect from the silage. Even rape silage imparts no taint to the butter. Turnips and rutabagas need to be used on the dairy with extreme cau tion, because of their liability to im part an unpleasant taint hoth to the milk and to the butter. This depends to some extent upon the amount fed and the method of feeding, which should not be done until after milk ing. This Station in 1896 carried on some experiments comparing the feeding o f dry feeds exclusively and the feed ing o f some root crops. Five cows were used in the test which extended over three months time. The first period they fed clover hay, corn stalks and grain mixtures. The second period they added mangles to the above ration. No material changes in the quantity of butterfat yield were noted, but an analysis o f the butter produced showed some variations. The average percent of fat lost in the buttermilk when the cows were fed nothing but dry feed was .022, when mangles Were added it was i'27, and when potatoes were added it was .025. The average time re quired for churning was on dry feed (34) minutes, on mangles (36) min utes and on potatoes (86) minutes. In churning cream from potato fed cows a great deal of frothing occurred and it took twice ar long to complete the churning. Comparative Composition o f the Butter: TYPES OF FARMS MOST PROFITABLE Personal Preference, Loca tion, Kind of Soil and Available Capital Amount of Labor Income Bears Di rect Relation to These Important Considerations, Says Federel Ex pert in Farm Management, U. S. Bureau of Farm Management. From Lecture of D. A. Brodie at Oregon Agricultural College The very first factor in determining the type of farming is personal pref erence and experience. Very few people engage in farming who do not have some preference as to type of farming. Occasionally we find a farmer unsuited to his taste or former experience. In some cases he keeps on with it because the circumstances do not permit o f easy change, or the type may be well suited to the local conditions and therefore not good bus iness to change. To one who is looking for a suit able location for a farm, this phase of the matter will wield a great in fluence, as he will very naturally look for the conditions which suit his fa vorite type of farming. It not in frequently happens that in the desire to establish a favorite type o f farm ing local conditions are overlooked and a type wholly out o f keeping with these conditions may be established, instances are, the planting of fruit and truck localities where transporta tion facilities are inadequate, as has been done in many sections here in the west, or the establishment of from town. No doubt this marks the distance where the best combination of perishable and staple products ex ists, and where land values are low enough to allow fair profits after the interest on the investment is deducted. The size of the farm is a factor in determining the type of farming. A man who is looking for a farm on which to establish a poultry plant is not likely to look for large acreage; likewise, one who contemplates gen eral farming does not look for high- priced land near the city. These figures are largely made up from the study of representative general farms and do not represent any highly specialized types. In all these sur veys the size in direct relation to the labor ¡ocome. This indicates that, for general farming at least the size of the farm is important. The following table on the relation of size of farm to labor income makes this matter clear: Avg. Acrers Avg. Labor Avg. Income per farm. Income. per Acre. 37.4 416 11.12 72.9 848 11.63 106.9 998 9.34 149.4 1467 9.82 179.1 1956 10.92 239.8 2758 11.42 321.8 2838 8.82 623.8 6182 9.91 Relation to Farming. The type of soil is also a factor in determining the type of farming. Cer- ta;n crops are adapted to one type of soil and some to another, as, for ex ample, one set o f truck crops such as cabbage, celery, turnips, etc., are suit able to a muck soil, while sweet po tatoes, tomatoes, etc., are best suited to lighter soils. Likewise others do best in clay soils. The same is true of field crops and the kinds of stock that are to be kept. In this connection such matters as drainage, rocky or stony land need to be considered. Above all the land A specialized type of farming. milk makes it necessary to use consid erable care in the feeding o f certain food stuffs. In the majority of cases where such foods are fed to excess and are given to the animal imme diately after milking the peculiar odors will be thrown off so that at the succeeding milking they will not be apparent. KECORD YIELD OF ALFALFA SEED IN HARNEY COUNTY Oregon Agricultural College, Cor vallis, Ore., July 5 A yield of 9.6 ounces of seed and 42.5 ounces of straw was secured from a single al falfa plant in Harney County in the fall of 1914. The plant was .selected from the border row of a field planted in rows 26 inches apart, season of 1913. This plant was separated by about 30 ii ches each way from all the other plants. Concerning the plant, Mr. L. R. Breithaupt, the county apent conducting the co-operative tests in which it was produced, says: “ The plant was the Baltic variety, a hardy, dry-land strain with wide- spreading root system and much d i vided crown, characteristics o f alfalfa adapted to withstanding drouths of summer and severe cold of winter. Baltic alfalfa is one of the “variegated alfalfas,” so-called because o f its great range of blossom colors. Any color from light yellow to varying shades of green and purple may be found among the flowers of a single plant, whereas the ordinary alfalfa has but the purple blossom. This va riation is believed to be due to a small amount o f the blood of the hardy, wild-flowered variety of Central Eu rope, secured through natural hybrid ization.” So far as can be learned this is the heaviest yield ever recorded from a single plant of alfalfa. A number of co-operative tests have been conducted in Harney County, and Mr. Breithaupt, who is also superintendent of the Har ney Branch Experiment Station, thinks it probable that alfalfa seed of this variety will soon be produced there in commercial quantities. A new dry land cro p —alfalfa in cultivated rows—that is converting Kastern Oregon wheat lands to the diversified type of farming. dairy and other types which require steady labor in places where such labor cannot be had. Location of L'arm. The location of the farm in its re lation to large cities and market cen ters determines the character o f pro ducts that must be produced if prof its are to be expected. Market milk and cream must be produced within easy access to the centers o f distribu tion. The same is true o f other perishable products. Likewise, pro ducts of large bulk like hay, cannot be profitably shipped long distances owing to the heavy cost o f transpor tation. On the other hand grain and stock can be raised further back from the centers where land is cheaper and because they can be shipped long dis tances with little loss. The distance that the farm is located from town and the character of roads and the topog raphy are also important factors. Figures taken from Bulletin 295 of Cornell University show that in this locality the most profitable farms are located between one and two miles should be fertile or a cheap means at hand for making it so. Capital Available. The available capital has its in fluence on the type o f farming. To those already in the business it con trols to a large extent the rate of ex pansion in any direction, such as en larging enterprises already estab lished or in starting new ones. COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES AID "Cooperative societies among farm ers improve the quality and increase the quantity o f farm products,” says Dr. Hector Macpherson, o f the Ore gon Agricultural College. “ They are an incentive to better business meth ods, by joint marketing they lower expenses and increase prices for com modities, by cooperative purchase they make immense savings in purchasing farm supplies, and they promote neighborliness, stimulate social soli darity, create a desire for education, and result in all-around better citizen ship.”