Final report of the Committee on the Production and Distribution of Milk.
- Great Britain. Committee on the Production and Distribution of Milk.
- Date:
- 1919
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Final report of the Committee on the Production and Distribution of Milk. Source: Wellcome Collection.
30/104 (page 22)
![Total Cattle. | Cows. . Other Cattle. 12-7 (= 51°8 per cent.) 11°8 (= 48:2 per cent.). Beef Production “4 oo 103 Pe Z 1°29 tons per 100 acres. Mik tn, 75), See F287] ; : : 97. Judging from the average British farmer’s confidence in pasture land for-milk production, one would expect-to find a-larger proportion of pasture in Germany than in Great Britain. The average British 100-acre farm, maintaining 81 cows in milk, had 69 acres under grass and clover, while the average German 100-acre farm, maintaining 12°7 cows in milk, had only 32 acres under pasture. This greater proportion of arable enabled the Germans to produce, per 100 acres of cultivated land, not only 281 tons of milk and 1:29 tons of meat, as against 17°4 tons of milk and 1°49 tons of meat produced by the British, but im addition 33 tons of grain and 55 tons of potatoes, as against 15 tons of grain and 11 tons of potatoes in Great Britain. It is evident, therefore, that a high production of beef and milk does not necessarily involve a low production of grain and that, in fact, the increase of pasture in Great Britain, amounting to 3,800,000 acres in the last 40 years, has resulted in a serious decrease im the total amount of home-produced food, with a corresponding increase in the imported supplies. 98. The above figures for Great Britain refer to the period before the inauguration of the war-time ‘Plough Policy ’’ of the Food Production Department, which, though intended as a war measure, will dairy stock kept need not necessarily follow the ploughing up of a certain amount of grass land. On the contrary, an increase in the area of arable land and the introduction of suitable crops, will increase the stock-carrying capacity of the farm, and make the farmer less dependent on purchased foodstuffs during the winter. In their third Interim Report (Cd. 315, page 13) the Committee made definite recommendations to the Boards of Agriculture with regard to the development and the extension of the growth of soiling crops ‘on dairy farms, and the desirability of providing facilities for the making of ensilage for use during. the winter months. In an Appendix to that Report (pages 28-29) illustrations contributed by practical farmers were given of the use of green crops for soiling purposes on dairy farms. Since the issue of the third Interim Report the results of trials in different parts of the country, and particularly the demonstra- tions at the Harper Adams Agricultural College,* have emphasised further the advantages to be derived from arable dairy farming. In the experiment at the Harper Adams College a small herd of cows has been maintained on a succession of soiling crops and a small allowance of concentrates, without the use of any pasture land for a period of nearly two years, and the results are very encouraging in respect of milk yield and estimated profits. By the system followed, 10 cows require only 15 to 16 acres of arable land, or 14 acres per cow. On many dairy farms the heavy nature of the soil will make it always desirable to retain certain fields as pastures and meadows, but there are numerous dairy farms where a proportion of the land formerly under grass is well suited for arable cultivation, and the Committee are convinced that by the adoption of arable dairying in many counties, the density of the cow population can be greatly increased. 99. Demonstration Small Holdings.—In this connection, the Committee welcome the scheme under which the Boards of Agriculture are establishing a limited number of Arable Dairy Farming Demon- stration Holdings, for the purpose of each of which the Boards will acquire a holding of from 25 to 80 acres of land to be devoted to the growing of arable crops suitable for stall feeding to dairy cows. The necessity for demonstrations of this nature in different parts of the country has arisen partly because it has been claimed in some milk-producing areas that, as a result of the plough policy of the Boards, it is not now possible to produce as much milk as formerly, and partly because of the necessity for intensifying milk production. Given the fact that much more milk can be produced from an area where the land is under arable cultivation than under grass, what now requires to be demonstrated is whether the return obtained compensates for the extra labour involved. A further purpose to be served by these demonstrations is to show whether it is or is not possible for a holding of 25 to 30 acres conducted on the intensive system to return a net income at least equal to that which can be obtained from a 50-acre holding carried on in accordance with the usual practice. 100. Value of Lucerne._-The Committee hope that dairy farmers will study very carefully the advan- tages to themselves and to the country which can be obtained by maintaining a large proportion of arable on their farms. Greater efforts should also be made to bring to the notice of farmers the. enormous value of lucerne. Where the ‘soil is suitable and adequately drained so that a good plant can be obtained, this crop will produce a greater weight of green forage or hay per acre during the season than can be obtained from any other soiling crop. ‘There is also no expense in seed and cultivation after the first year, while the forage or hay obtained is of high nutritive value and the fertility of the soil is greatly increased. ‘The neglect of lucerne on dairy farms in England is one of the weak spots of contemporary farming. If its value were more fully realised, much more systematic and determined attempts would be made to overcome the difficulties of getting a good and lasting plant. The increase in the acreage of arable land and the necessity for obtaining the maximum supply of cattle food for summer and winter, for increasing the fetility of the soil, and for reducing the importation of concentrated feeding-stuffs, all point to the advisability of a greater utilisation of lucerne in the future than in the past. 101. Increased Dairy Stock.—Since the chief reason for advocating an increased head of dairy stock is to obtain a larger quantity of milk for consumption as such, it follows that this increase should be chiefly in the breeds yielding milk most suitable for this purpose, such as the Dairy Shorthorn, Ayrshire, Friesian, and such other local breeds as can hold their own in economical production against these better known breeds. * Harper Adams College ulletin, 2a, 1918. — In =](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32177240_0030.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
