Agricultural history: New Zealand's 1948 milking revolution

Agricultural history. Dr W. E Petersen's 1948 visit to New Zealand.

By Dr Clive Dalton

Pan Am has landed


In1948, a quiet revolution hit New Zealand dairy farming. It arrived with the landing of a Pan American World Airways airliner at Auckland Airport, carrying Dr W.E. and Mrs Peterson from Minnesota University in the USA. New Zealand cows and dairy farming were never the same again.

Before 1948
The milking machine became popular in New Zealand in the early 1900s and caused another quiet revolution, mainly because it freed people from the time-consuming chore of hand milking. The result was increased herd size (to even up over 100), and increased farm income and more export income for the nation.

From hand to machine
However, much of the old hand-milking attitudes were just transferred from the three-legged stool to the milking machine, as 'the mechanical milker' wasn't trusted by many dairy farmers to get all the milk out of the cow. After the machine came off, the standard routine was to 'strip' the cow by hand to get the last drop of milk from the udder. Remember that in these times, the entire family was expected to turn out to milk the cows.

Why strip?
Stripping was done for two main reasons. The last milk from the udder always had the highest fat content, and in those days farmers were paid for 'pounds of butter fat' produced. So the strippings could help boost the income - at least that was the firm belief.

Also, if you left any residual milk in the udder, it was an ideal medium for bacteria to multiply and cause mastitis, and in the days before antibiotics, this disease was difficult to cure with old remedies.

Retired dairy engineer Tom Clancy told me that on the family farm in the 1950s, he had to milk with his mother and father and they all kept to their own bails in the walkthrough shed. Tom said his mother set that standards, both before and after they got a milking machine, and tried to keep an eagle eye on them. She took ages to strip her cows after the machine came off, and expected them to do the same. But Tom and his father managed to do a 'quick strip' when she wasn't looking to get their cows out and finish milking.

Double stripping
Many Herd Testers from the 1950s in their circuits around farms weighing and testing the milk from each cow for official recording told me that they often tested on farms where 'double stripping' was carried out. Here you stripped the cow once after the machines came off, and then waited a while and stripped again before releasing her from the bail. The Herd Testers hated these farms (and their owners who inevitably were tight with money) as double stripping extended milking by hours.

A long-retired farmer still has vivid memories of how things changed on their family farm. As a small boy helping to milk their very large herd for the times of 120 cows, he remembers his father changing the milking routine overnight. He wasn't sure whether his father went to a Petersen meeting, but the message and change was rampant in the district. It was massaging udders for the magic 30 seconds after they were washed that he remembers most. Many herds in his area he said were 10-15 cows from which the family could make a living.

The Petersen revolution

What happened in 1948 is documented in a small book of 79 pages with the title of 'Dairy Cow Wisdom - What Dr Petersen Told N.Z.Dairy Farmers. Despite being widely distributed at the time, the book is now very hard to find.

It was published by the "N.Z. Dairy Exporter" and printed by Hutcheson, Bowman & Stewart, 15-19 Tory Street, Wellington with the foreword is by C.W. Burnard, Editor 'Dairy Exporter'.

Introductory paragraph
This states - 'This book has been produced because many farmers at different meetings addressed by Dr Petersen asked whether it would be possible to have all the questions he was asked throughout his New Zealand tour made easily available in one publication. It has been produced also because those of us who have been to a number of his meetings know that Dr Petersen had the answers to all the farmers' milking problems'.

Mr Burnard pays tribute to Mr Arthur Ward (pictured on cover with Dr Petersen) who was Director of Herd Improvement for the NZ Dairy Board and who made the visit possible. Peterson had taken a great interest in Ward's work and clearly they had a lot of contact before the visit.

Burnard also says in his introduction that the information Petersen brought with him about 'the elevated milking bail' would have lasting effects on New Zealand dairying. He certainly was right about that.

Petersen's tour
Petersen toured the whole of New Zealand to packed audiences wherever he went. A picture caption in the book shows such a farmers' welcome and states:

'At Ruatoki, Dr Petersen was given a royal welcome by the Maori farmers of the district, who turned out in large numbers to learn more about better milking practice'.



Psychology of the dairy cow
The first chapter in the book is called "The psychology of the dairy cow' and the lead in paragraph states:

'On his arrival in New Zealand, Dr Petersen was asked to deliver a broadcast over all the national stations. Little or no time was available for preparation, so the address which follows was really an impromptu talk to farmers. It was given on Saturday October 9, and while some ground it covers was given in his other addresses to farmers, it contains many worthwhile points'.

In this talk Dr Petersen makes points which are well accepted today, but were clearly revolutionary at the time. Here's two of them:

'I think farmers and people in general have not recognised the cow as an individual and how she behaves'.

'The way she performs in the making of milk is dependent not only on the feed she gets, but also on the way she is handled'.

Key message points
The crux of the Petersen message in this introductory chapter of the book is stated in these words:

• Number 1. The cow must be relaxed and must want to be milked or we won't get all the milk out of her.
• Number 2. This a relatively new one: that she should be stimulated by a proper massage of the udder and teats to let down her milk approximately one minute before the milking is to begin.
• Number 3. That the milking machine should be operated properly and that the vacuum levels should be watched carefully or injury may result to the cow.
• Number 4. That all the milk can be gotten out of a cow by proper manipulation of the teat cups.
• Number 5. The mechanical milker is removed as soon as the milk ceases to flow.

This is summarised again in a little box on page 20 in the Chapter on 'Modern Milking Methods'. Here they are:

1. Avoid anything that will excite or disturb the cow.
2. Stimulate the let-down of milk about a minute before milking begins.
3. Operate the machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.
4. Don't strip by hand.
5. Take the teat cups off the cow the moment milk ceases to flow.

Impact on farms
I have spoken to many people who were milking cows on the family farm at the time of the Petersen visit, and despite their advancing years, they still have vivid memories of the lecture attended and the 'take-home' message.

The positive result was to banish leg ropes, udder cloths and stripping for ever from the cowshed. The less enthusiastic took a few more years to accept the message - and changed in the end because or neighbour pressure. They didn't want to be the 'talk of the district' and be a farm where nobody wanted to work for them.

Some old farmers even remember the confrontations they had with their fathers (and mothers) who were not keen to leap into overnight changes encouraged by someone from America! There were even threats by the young ones to leave home if the Petersen changes were not made.

Ruakura Research Station
Dr Petersen's message fell on very fertile ground in New Zealand as Dr C.P. McMeekan was in control of dairy research at the Ruakura Animal Research Station which was formed in 1939. Dr W.G.(Watty) Whittlestone was the main researcher on milking along with physicist Doug Phillips who joined the team in 1947. Below is a famous photo of Petersen and Whittlestone meeting.


This Ruakura team drove the development of the revolutionary Ruakura Milking Machine, and it was into this environment of researching how a milking machine really worked that Petersen's message was promoted.

The Ruakura Milker is now a museum piece. Thousands sold around the world

Farmers were told about what was inside the cow's udder and the hormonal control of milk 'letdown' starting off in the cow's brain. Then they could appreciate what was going on outside the cow when she came into the dairy for milking.

Whittlestone and Phillips were starting to introduce this message to farmers as part of their early research findings, but they had not got involved in its wide extension In any case, spreading the good news was the work of the Advisory Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries at the time. Petersen's visit was clearly an almighty boost to Ruakura's work.

There are many photos in the book of Dr Petersen viewing cows at Ruakura, and being photographed with scientific and farm staff. This picture below is a classic example of men who made a massive contribution to agriculture in New Zealand.


Meeting of great minds
There was a wonderful co-incidence reported and photographed in the book. One of the world's most influential geneticists, Dr J.L. Lush from Iowa State College was in the New Zealand at the same time as Dr Petersen - and they met at Ruakura. See picture below.



Lush wrote the 'bible' for students of animal breeding and genetics, and the principles outlined in his book are still relevant today.

All of us who were students of animal breeding treasured this book in its familiar green cover - 'Animal Breeding Plans', Iowa State College Press, Ames, Iowa, first edition 1937, third printing 1949.





The elevated milking bail
This is another fascinating chapter as it must have had a major influence on milking developments in New Zealand. The introduction reads:

'This article gives information about the elevated milking bail system now being introduced in America. It should be emphasised that in New Zealand milking sheds must comply with regulations laid down by the Dairy Division. Moreover, as some adaptation of the American system will be needed in this country, farmers should be warned against adopting the system till some authoritative trials have been made here'.

The 'official warning' tells you a lot, as MAF must have been suspicious of farmers coming up with innovative ideas to first get cows up off ground level to save the agony of back bending, and then to squeeze them up together for milking. This is what drove the invention of the Herringbone in the 1950s..

Questions and answers
There are 24 pages of the 191 detailed questions and answers that arose from Dr Petersen's travels around New Zealand. This must have been a major job for the Dairy Exporter's journalists who collected them and the editor who collated them. Somebody from the Dairy Exporter staff must have covered all the meetings.

Then these questions and answers are all indexed in the back of the book totally 296 cross-referenced entries. This would all have been done by hand- no automatic computer indexing by word processing packages in 1945.

Animal behaviour and welfare. Training heifers for milking routines

Training heifers for milking routines

By Dr Clive Dalton

Research knowledge
There is now plenty of research to show that cattle can learn basic routines in a very short time, and these can result in economic benefits to the farming business.

With hand milking and in the early days of machine milking when herds were small, the importance of the ‘human-animal bond’ was well known.  In the recent move to large herds, there has been a massive tendency to forget about cow behaviour and the importance of ‘stockmanship’, which is all about this intriguing bond.

Rising costs
With the rising costs and worldwide shortage of skilled labour, especially in large herds, management needs to exploit the human-animal bond to produce more milk with high animal welfare standards, which will achieve high returns on capital invested.

The animal's view

On the animal side, because milking letdown is under hormone control, cows which are less stressed produce more milk, have lower Somatic Cell Count (SCC) so milk quality is improved, and they have less mastitis with less pain and suffering, and reduced veterinary costs.

The human's view

On the human side, when the milking routine is a pleasant experience, the milkers’ positive vibes are automatically transferred to the cow, and especially the maiden heifer calving for the first time.

If the human has trained the heifer well for this first lactation so she won’t meet any novel or traumatic experiences during milking, then a successful outcome in achieved in terms of animal welfare, animal health, veterinary costs and more milk in the silo for the rest of her life.

Heifer training routine



The heifer training routine below has been developed by Landcorp Pastoral Farming near Taupo, under the supervision of Farm Manager David Morgan. 

It is to be highly commended as an example of how the human- animal bond should be exploited.




Routine details
Stage 1

1. Bring heifers from the paddock into the collecting yard at the dairy and let them stand without disturbance. This allows them to experience the smells and sounds and feel the hard concrete under their feet. 
   

  

2. No people should be present and no radio playing  or any other noise.

3.  No access to milking bails (note gate across entrance to bails to close them off).  

 

 4.   Gate between entry and exit to and from the platform open (see picture above).   This allows free exit from the yard.

5.  Heifers should exit and move away from the yard and out of sight of those standing waiting. They have got to appear to be escaping back to a paddock.

  

6. Do this routine for 3 days.

Stage 2

1. Bring heifers into the collecting yard.
2.  No people present.
3. Radio on.
4. Allow access to 3 bails with feed (molasses) in the troughs.
5. Allow free exit from the yard, again making sure heifers appear (to their mates standing in the yard) to be escaping in a regular flow.
6. Do this for 4 days.  Over this time, most heifers will have learned to enter a bail to taste the feed, and back off while it is stopped.

Stage 3

1. The platform is set moving at the lowest speed possible.
2.  Radio on.
3. Milking machines turned on.
4. All the bails are kept full of feed.
5. Heifers are allowed to enter and leave the bail on their own.
6. While on the bail, udders are treated with wetit and/or teatspray.
7. Near the end of each session, a person gently guides any reluctant heifers to enter the platform with a small backing gate. By the end of 2 days of this practice, all heifers are happily going on the platform. (See picture below - manager showing where he stands holding gate).
   

  
 

Farm manager showing where he stands to encourage any of the last reluctant heifers to go on to the platform.  He quietly closes the gate behind them so they walk on.

8. The total training has taken 2 weeks.

Stage 4

1.  Heifers calve with the cows.
2.  They come in for their first milking after their calves have been picked up in the calving paddock.
3. Their udders are massaged before the cups are put on for the first time.

 Heifers return to grazing on their own with no dogs or stress, attracted by a new feed break.

Facial Eczema (FE). Farmer Information. Part 3. (Dairy Cattle). Management.

Agriculture, farming, animal husbandry, animal heath, disease, Facial Eczema, Dairy cattle, management, advice, recommendations

By Dr Clive Dalton

Original 1991 information written by Dr Barry Smith and Dr Neale Towers, Ruakura Agricultural Research Station, Hamilton, New Zealand.

 
3. (Dairy Cattle). Management.

• Make early preparations - in December or early January.
•  Learn about spore counting - contact your veterinarian.
• Find out which are your worst paddocks (by spore counting) and avoid grazing them during danger periods.
• Never make stock graze into the base level of pastures. The fungus grows on the litter at the base of the pasture and the spores are concentrated there.
• Choose a prevention option from one of the following three:
•  (1). Spray pasture with fungicide. Check that spray unit is properly calibrated and purchase fungicide early.
• (2). Use a suitable zinc prevention method. If you have a suitable water reticulation system, add zinc sulphate. Otherwise dose with zinc oxide or spray zinc oxide on to pasture.
• (3). Provide supplementary feed (crops, fodder, hay or silage). Use to reduce grazing pressure on toxic pasture.
• Have a concentrated calving and calve early so that you have at least 80% of annual production in the six months to the end of January.
• Get rid of all surplus stock early before spore counts become high. This allows you to reduce grazing pressure for remaining stock. If things get worse dry off the herd.  This will immediately cut pressure on feed by half. It will also cut your income so it's an important decision.
• If replacement heifers are grazed off the farm make sure that the manager is taking adequate measures to protect them against FE.
• Care for affected stock by one of the following options:
• (1). Dry off milking cows.
• (2). Confine in shaded area, barn etc.
•  (3).Treat infected skin lesions.
• (4). Provide access to water and quality feed. Cattle with clinical FE will prefer to graze at night or in overcast conditions.

Disclaimer

This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the authors do not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Facial Eczema (FE). Farmer Information. Part 6. (Dairy Cattle). Zinc oxide. Crisis dosing.

Agriculture, farming, animal husbandry, animal health, disease, Facial Eczema, dairy cattle, dosing in crisis, zinc, dose rates

 By Dr Clive Dalton

 

Original 1991 information written by Dr Barry Smith and Dr Neale Towers, Ruakura Agricultural Research Station, Hamilton, New Zealand.
 

6. FACIAL ECZEMA: (Dairy Cattle). Zinc oxide. Crisis dosing.

• Where the danger of FE does not normally warrant routine zinc oxide dosing, cattle can be protected by dosing during danger periods only, i.e. "Crisis dosing".
•  Crisis dosing gives less protection than long-term routine dosing and therefore requires higher dose rates to give adequate protection.
•  Daily dosing during danger periods will reduce the number of animals affected and the severity of the liver damage in affected animals by about 60%.
• Crisis dosing is best restricted to daily or at most twice weekly dosing. 
• Zinc oxide drenches can be prepared with or without a seaweed based "stabiliser".
•  Stabilisers have two advantages:
• (1). They increase the ease of mixing and drenching.
•  (2). They allow the mixing of more concentrated drenches and therefore use of smaller drench volumes.

Unstabilised drench
Recipe

• Mix 1 kg zinc oxide with 2.5 litres of water.
•  Sprinkle powder on water and leave to wet.
•  Stir until smooth and lump free.
•  If too stiff to flow through drench gun, add a little more water.
•  If too thin to stay in suspension, stir in a little more zinc oxide powder.
• This produces about 2.7 litres of drench.

Stabilised drench
Recipe

• Mix 1 kg zinc oxide powder with 1 litre of water and 200 ml of "stabiliser".
•  Mix the stabiliser and water first.
•  Sprinkle powder on the water and let settle and wet.
•  Stir to a smooth creamy paste.
•  This produces about 1.4 litres of drench.

Use liquid "farm" strength seaweed fertilisers as stabilisers such as Maxicrop
(Bell-Booth Ltd), Sea Magic (Yates Ltd) and Green Label Response (Coast
Biologicals Ltd).

Dose Rates

• Unstabilised drenches: 10 ml/100 kg liveweight.
• Stabilised drenches: 5 ml/100 kg liveweight

Approximate daily dose volumes - Crisis dosing

• If dosing at 2- or 3-day intervals, multiply the daily dose rate by the number of days between doses.

Note: Proprietary mixes such as Cozinc (Coast Biologicals Ltd), Maximix  (Bell-Booth Ltd) and
 Nu Zinc (Nufarm Ltd) should be mixed and used as recommended on the product label.

Some motor-driven drenching systems cannot be adjusted to the recommended dose
volumes. Therefore the drench mixture must be adjusted so that the correct amount of
zinc oxide is given.

Disclaimer
This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Facial Eczema (FE). Farmer Information. Part 11. (Dairy cattle). Zinc sulphate. Using in-line dispenser.

Agriculture, farming, animal husbandry, animal health, disease, Facial Eczema, prevention, dairy cattle, zinc sulphate, using in-line dispensers, dairy cattle.

By Dr Clive Dalton

Original 1991 information written by Dr Barry Smith and Dr Neale Towers, Ruakura Agricultural Research Station, Hamilton, New Zealand.

11. FACIAL ECZEMA: (Dairy cattle). Zinc sulphate.  Using in-line dispenser.

There are a number of in-line dispensers or dilutors available commercially. Those, which add a constant proportion of a concentrate into the reticulation system, will give best control of dose rates. While it is not necessary to know exactly what the dilution rate is, those systems with variable dilution rates will be easier to set up to provide the correct dose rates.

Equipment Required

In-line dispenser

• Check that it will function with the water pressures, flow rates and daily consumption expected for your property.
•  The dispenser should be installed in a sheltered position protected from frost, and at a convenient location for daily refilling.
•  The dispenser is best installed on a by-pass line so it can be disconnected when not required without interrupting the water supply.
•  The dispenser should be downstream of household or dairy shed water draw-off.
•  A source of water will be required for refilling the concentrate tank.
•  Fit an in-line filter if your water supply is sandy or gritty to protect the working parts of the dispensers.

Zinc sulphate concentrate reservoir

• A tank or drum equipped with a sight glass and holding enough concentrate to last between servicing. Alternatively a dip stick can be used to measure the tank contents.
•  The size of the tank can be estimated by dividing the maximum daily water consumption of the herd by the dilution ratio of the dispensing unit.

Example:
200 cow herd @ 100 litres drinking water/cow/day (maximum) using a unit which adds 1 part concentrate to 128 parts of water.

Concentrate tank size - 200 x 100/128 = 156 litres .

The concentrate tank may be larger than the calculated volume.

Getting Started
1. Set the daily refilling level on the concentrate reservoir.
2.   Adjust the dispenser (or tank volume) so that each day half to three-quarters of the solution in the concentrate reservoir is injected into the water supply each day.

Either

• Mark a temporary "FULL" line on the tank and fill to the mark with water.
•  Turn on dispenser and record the water level in the tank 24 hours later.
•  Refill and repeat two or three times.
•  Adjust the position of the "FULL" line or alter the dispenser dilution rate so that from one half to three-quarters of the water in the concentrate tank is used each day.
•  Mark two lines at one quarter and one half of the "FULL" line.

Or

• Measure the average daily draw-off from the concentrate tank filled with water.
•  The "FULL" line should then be marked at 1.5 times the average daily draw-off. Mark the half and quarter lines in the same way.

• Calculate the amount of zinc sulphate to be added each day.
• Multiply the dose rate for each class of livestock by the number of animals and total these figures.
  

Example:
How much zinc sulphate would a farm with 160 Friesian milking cows, 65 yearlings, and 40 calves need each day?

160 COWS x 36 g = 5760g
65 yearlings x 22 g = 1430g
40 calves x 15 g = 600g
Total = 7790 g = 7.8 kg

Two forms of zinc sulphate
There are two forms of zinc sulphate available.
(1). Zinc sulphate heptahydrate is the material commonly available.
(2). Zinc sulphate monohydrate is now also being sold; this is a more concentrated form of zinc sulphate and is used at two-thirds the dose rates used for the heptahydrate.

Once calibrated, a volumetric measure is sufficiently accurate for regular use.  Weigh out the required zinc sulphate into a plastic bucket. Level the surface and mark the height. Fill the bucket to this level each day.

Daily Maintenance

• At the same time each day, add the daily total amount of zinc sulphate to the concentrate reservoir.
•  Refill to the “FULL” line with clean water and stir to dissolve the zinc sulphate.
  

Twice-weekly or weekly maintenance

• An in-line dispenser can be used to protect stock at locations which cannot be serviced daily. In this case, the concentrate tank must be large enough to ensure that only half to three quarters of the concentrate is used in the intervals between servicing.
•  At each visit, add enough zinc sulphate to last until the next visit. So multiply the daily requirement by the number of days until next serviced.
• Refill the concentrate tank to the “FULL” line.
  

Fine Tuning

• Throughout the season adjust the position of the FULL and EMPTY lines or the dispenser dilution rate so that before refilling the concentrate level falls between the two lines on most days.
•  Do not be concerned about the occasional day when either more (a very hot dry day) or less (a wet day) concentrate is used.
• Adjust position of "FULL" and "EMPTY lines or dilutions rate only when the concentrate level is consistently outside these limits.
• If wet weather causes very low usage of the zinc concentrate for 2-3 days stop adding zinc sulphate for a few days until the concentrate level again drops to the half empty line.
  

WARNING
Concentrated zinc sulphate solutions are caustic. Wear protective goggle and avoid direct skin contact.

Disclaimer
This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Facial Eczema (FE). Farmer Information. Part 12. (Dairy cattle). Zinc sulphate. Direct addition to supply tank

Agriculture, farming, animal husbandry, animal health, disease, Facial Eczema, prevention, zinc, zinc sulphate, dairy cattle, addition of zinc to supply tank.

By Dr Clive Dalton

Original 1991 information written by Dr Barry Smith and Dr Neale Towers, Ruakura Agricultural Research Station, Hamilton, New Zealand.

12. Facial Eczema: (Dairy cattle). Zinc sulphate.  Direct addition to supply tank

• On many farms trough water is drawn from a large supply tank which feeds water to the troughs at a constant pressure. 
•  Most tanks are at least 22 000 litre (5000 gal) capacity and, when the tank capacity is sufficient to provide more than the expected daily draw-off by stock, the zinc sulphate can be added direct to the tank (Fig.1).
• As a rule the tank should contain about 100 litres for every lactating cow or cow equivalent.

Procedure
To calculate the amount of zinc sulphate to be added each day.

• Use the table below to calculate the dose rate for each class of stock on the farm.
•  Then total these figures.
  

Example:
How much zinc sulphate would a farm with 160 Friesian milking cows, 65yearlings and 40 calves need each day?

160 COWS x 36 g =5760
65 yearlings x 22 g = 1430
40 calves x 159 = 600
Total = 7790 g = 7.8 kg

Two forms of zinc sulphate
There are two forms of zinc sulphate available.
(1). Zinc sulphate heptahydrate is the material commonly available.
(2). Zinc sulphate monohydrate is now also being sold; this is a more concentrated form of zinc sulphate and is used at two-thirds the dose rates used for the heptahydrate.

• Once calibrated, a volumetric measure is sufficiently accurate for regular use.  
• Weigh out the required zinc sulphate into a plastic bucket. 
• Level the surface and mark the height. Fill the bucket to this level each day.
  

Daily Maintenance

• Add the daily zinc sulphate to the supply tank at the same time each day.
•  The zinc sulphate should be dissolved in water before adding to the tank.
• If the supply tank is regularly refilled, e.g. by a pump on a time switch, the zinc sulphate should be added just after filling.
  

Twice-weekly or weekly maintenance

• If the supply tank is large enough to supply water for several days without emptying if the inlet is shut off, then it is not essential that zinc be added daily.
•  At each visit add enough zinc sulphate to last until the next visit, i.e. multiply the daily requirement by the number of days until next serviced.
• The greater the interval between servicing the greater the variation in zinc concentration in the supply tank and the greater the chance the water will occasionally be unpalatable to the stock.
• Service as frequently as possible - do not leave more than half the number of days needed to empty the tank.
  

WARNING
Concentrated zinc sulphate solutions are caustic. Wear protective goggle and avoid direct skin contact.

Disclaimer
This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Facial Eczema (FE). Farmer Information. Part 13. (Dairy cattle). Zinc sulphate. Direct addition to trough.

Northumberland, farming, animal husbandry, animal health, disease, Facial Eczema, prevention, dairy cattle, zinc, zinc suplphate, direct addition to trough

By Dr Clive Dalton

Original 1991 information written by Dr Barry Smith and Dr Neale Towers, Ruakura Agricultural Research Station, Hamilton, New Zealand.

13. Facial Eczema: (Dairy cattle). Zinc sulphate.  Direct addition to trough.

Direct Addition to Trough

• Direct addition of zinc sulphate to the trough in the paddock may be undertaken when small numbers of animals are involved such as on small "life style" blocks and the average water consumed daily by the animals is less than two-thirds of the trough volume.
•  Adding zinc to the water trough is only suitable for protecting cattle - sheep don't drink enough water to ensure zinc intakes are high enough to give adequate protection. Dose sheep with zinc oxide.
•  Start early so that you can measure daily water intakes and introduce the zinc sulphate gradually before conditions become dangerous.
•  If spore counts are already dangerous or weather conditions favour fungal growth and rapid increases in spore counts, the troughs should be primed with zinc sulphate to bring the zinc concentrations up to the necessary level immediately.

Procedure

Priming the troughs

• Add 0.75 g zinc sulphate for every litre of trough volume (use 0.5 g/litre if using zinc sulphate monohydrate).
•  Example: for 400 litre trough add 300 g zinc sulphate.
•  Tie off ballcock, stir to dissolve zinc sulphate.
•  Remember to prime all troughs before use, e.g. when moving stock to new paddock.

Daily maintenance
Calculate the amount of zinc sulphate to be added to the trough each day.

• Multiply the dose rate for each class of livestock (Table 1) by the number of animals and total these figures.

Example:

• How much zinc sulphate would a 4 ha block with 2 suckling cows, 4 Friesian yearlings and 4 Friesian calves need each day?

2 F x J cows x 32 = 64g
4 F yearlings x 22 = 88g
4 F calves x 15 = 60g
Total = 212 g per day

• Add the zinc sulphate to the water trough and stir to dissolve.
•  Keep the ballcock tied off to prevent dilution of the zinc sulphate solution.
•  Refill the trough next day and add a further day's zinc sulphate.
•  Where the water pressure is low and trough refilling is slow the water supply can be left connected. There will be greater variation in zinc concentrations and intakes but good protection should still be obtained.
•  Where the cattle drink only a small part of the trough content each day replenishing the zinc and refilling the trough can be done less frequently than daily.
•  Multiply the daily zinc sulphate requirement by the number of days since the trough was last filled.
•  Add this amount of zinc sulphate and refill the trough.
•  Tie off the ballcock again until the next refilling.

Disclaimer
This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Facial Eczema (FE). Farmer Information. Part 14. (Dairy cattle). Zinc sulphate. Using in-trough dispensers.

Northumberland, farming, animal husbandry, animal health, disease, Facial Eczema, prevention, dairy cattle, zinc, zinc suplphate, using in-trough dispensers, examples

By Dr Clive Dalton

Original 1991 information written by Dr Barry Smith and Dr Neale Towers, Ruakura Agricultural Research Station, Hamilton, New Zealand.


14. FACIAL ECZEMA: (Dairy cattle). Zinc sulphate.  Using in-trough dispensers.

• The use of in-trough dispensers will reduce some of the problems caused by the direct addition of zinc sulphate to the trough.
• These devices still permit variations in concentration of zinc in the trough and the units may need twice-daily attention. 
•  By comparison, the in-line methods cause smaller and more acceptable variations in zinc concentration and consumption.
• They are more convenient, requiring at most only a brief daily attendance at the one supply point.
• However, for the smaller herd, the dispensers have been refined and can give acceptable results if the makers instructions are followed.
• They are much cheaper devices, but less convenient than in-line methods.
  

Procedure

• Calculate the amount of zinc sulphate to be added to the trough daily.
•  Multiply the dose rate for each class of livestock (see table) by the number of animals and total these figures.
  

Example:
How much zinc sulphate would a 4 ha block with 2 suckling cows, 4 Friesian yearlings and 4 Friesian calves need each day?

2 F x J cows x 32 = 64g
4 F yearlings x 22 = 88g
4 F calves x 15 = 60g
Total = 212 g per day

• If attending the trough twice daily (preferred method for in-trough dispensers) add half the daily amount on each visit to the trough.
•  In-trough dispensers rely on the turbulence recreated by rapid inflows of water when the ballcock operates to ensure mixing of the zinc sulphate throughout the trough.
• Where flow rates are low occasional stirring of the trough will give better mixing and more even zinc intakes by all cows.
• Use the dispenser according to manufacturers’ directions.
  

Two forms of Zinc Sulphate

• There are two forms of zinc sulphate available. 
•  Zinc sulphate heptahydrate is the material commonly available.
• Zinc sulphate monohydrate is now also being sold; this is a more concentrated form of zinc sulphate and is used at two-thirds the dose rates used for the heptahydrate.
• Once calibrated, a volumetric measure is sufficiently accurate for regular use.
• Weigh out the required zinc sulphate into a plastic bucket. Level the surface and mark the height.
• Fill the bucket to this level each day. 

Disclaimer
This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

50 years of artificial insemination and herd improvement in New Zealand.

By Clive Dalton & Claire Rumble.

Now a new Google knol - click here to read online.
Originally published by the Auckland Livestock Improvement Association, Private Bag, Hamilton.
ISBN 0-473-00294-9
April 1985

The cover of the book shows Moria Toomath (daughter of the late A.S. Wiley) of the Puhinui Jersey stud on her Koranui farm with a bull calf born in August 1984. Moira named the calf 'Puhinui King James' and he is rather special, because there are eight generations of AI breeding in his pedigree. His ancestry traces back to a foundation cow bought by Sydney Wiley in 1940. The Puhinui stud has been firmly based on AI breeding for 40 years.

Introduction (2009)

By Dr Clive Dalton

In musing over how things have changed in New Zealand dairying over the last 20 years, and the contribution genetics have made to this, I dug out the small book which Claire Rumble and I wrote in 1985 to commemorate “50 years of Artificial Insemination and Herd Improvement in New Zealand”.

At the time, Claire and I were employed by the NZ Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries. I was a Scientific Liaison Officer at the Ruakura Research Centre (where folk had forgotten AI in New Zealand had started), and Clare was Technical Editor in our MAF Wellington Head Office. We thought it an interesting and important story then that should be recorded for posterity, and nobody else was going to do anything about it.

Claire and I got in contact again in 2009, and after all these years we thought that in these internet days, the material should be made accessible to anyone interested in New Zealand’s agricultural history and especially in dairy cattle breeding.

We can’t remember how many books were printed, but it was not a lot due to Jack Burton’s very small ‘slush fund’! It was not sold, but copies were given away to anyone LIA thought would be interested. It’s amusing now that many people can remember the publication, but few can find their copy. The book rarely turns up in second-hand bookshops.

The words have not been edited or updated. Sad to say, most of the people mentioned in the story have now passed on.

What’s the story about?
Tokoroa dairy farmer, and lifelong servant to the dairy industry, Dudley Lane summed the book up in his foreword.

“The book highlights the initiative and dedication of the scientists, technicians, administrators and farmers who pioneered the introduction of artificial insemination of dairy cattle in New Zealand.”

It’s really a bit of a detective story with the New Zealand dairy cow playing the lead role. New Zealand’s cow population was building up in the early 1900s and somebody must have decided to officially record their milk yield. Obviously farmers wanted to know which were their best cows, so they could breed replacements from them.

The first problem was how to handle all the data collected and from it sort out which were the best cows. It was the dawn of the science of statistics never mind genetics.

But then as the bull was the key to herd improvement, finding the top bulls was the key, and then they hit the wall over how to get more offspring from a bull.

Two popular sires in 1981

The Friesian (right) had more than 150,000 inseminations, and the Jersey more than 125,000.

The pedigree breeders held all the power and the sale of their bulls was the key to genetic improvement. Then the urge to speed up herd improvement made farmers start wondering if this new (and to many very dodgy) process called Artificial Insemination could be of use to get more from their bulls. This is the core of the tale.

AI or AB
This was a serious debate about which term to use, and you have to laugh about it now. New Zealand started with the term AI (Artificial Insemination), were diverted by the UK Milk Marketing Board to call it AB (Artificial Breeding), and then UK changed back to AI and left New Zealand in the lurch with a term that now is only use in NZ and Australia!

History of Herd Improvement
Dairy farming in New Zealand has always been a cooperative business, so this chapter is very important to understand the organisations that had to be set up – and made to work – to get anything going. Electricity was just being introduced to farms, milking machines were coming on stream, and pencil and paper was the means of recording everything. The introduction of the Burroughs ‘adding machines’ by Arthur Ward (a former accountant) for processing cow records was a revolution!

It was the dawn of statistical analysis – and Arthur had to lead the industry into this age. He persuaded Olive Castle to leave her maths teaching job in Wellington and join him. She should have been honoured for her contribution to the dairy industry but never was. Progeny testing, Sire Surveys and Contemporary Comparisons were developed by Olive and were copied world wide. It was a great example of the Kiwi way – of getting science into the paddock.

First steps to AI
Looking back now, this part of the story is mind blowing and you have to wonder if it could be done today with all the bureaucracy. The “NZ Co-op Herd Testing Assoc”, asked the Director General of Agriculture to get on and develop an AI service. Nice and simple – “get on with the job" mate!

The original AI laboratory at Newstead in 1952. The cars (from L to R) are Stan Southcombe's A40, Max Cooper's Morris Minor, and Sel Sheaf's A 90.

Remember what things were like. Rough roads, Model T and Austin cars, no electricity on farms, no idea of how to get semen from a bull on a farm (a pickle jar was used!) and then keeping the semen in a test tube in Tom Blake’s waistcoat pocket till he got to a cow on another farm to insert it into the vagina. The story and what the folk charged with getting the show on the road is amazing looked at from today’s systems.

Back to the beginning
This chapter is about an amazing man – Dr John James, a UK trained vet who came to New Zealand to do research on mastitis at Wallaceville. He sort of got diverted to Ruakura and the rest is history! It’s an amazing bit of history too – of what he achieved, like the invention of the straw to hold semen and the stainless steel insemination gun – 40 years before its time! The only gun left is in an AI museum in Russia!

Dr John James - the driving force behind getting AI working in NZ

Dr James led the research along a difficult and winding path of working out how to preserve sperm, dilute it to get more cows mated from one ejaculate, with the enormous challenge that only New Zealand has – to get all the cows mated over a period of 6 weeks in spring.

John James is generous in his recognition of all the staff at Ruakura and then at Newstead who helped to get the job done.

Semen for sale
One day, which must have been momentous, semen was offered for sale to commercial farmers with a very reasonable guarantee of success. Imagine the responsibility on the heads of all those involved, because if the cow didn’t get in calf, the farmer’s income next year was severely affected by the three-week delay in calving.

Then of course, once the novelty of the technique was accepted, farmers expected that they would be getting the very top bulls in the country, and that each year’s models would be better than last year’s. The pressure went on pedigree breeders which up to now were assumed to have the best stock. This assumption was now being questioned!

How to organise this distribution of semen took some very special people, and they didn’t fail to deliver. However one idea somebody had ‘failed to fly’. It was to send semen from Hamilton to Massey by carrier pigeon – which was in theory faster than the train! A saddler was commissioned to make the leather pouches needed.

AI goes to Northland
Apparently the dairy farmers in Northland had the clear impression that nobody cared much about them, so they got organised and were going to set up their own organisation. They went a fair way along the road and three wonderful stirrers who lived into their 90s made the Dairy Board see their point of view and provide an AI service.

AI made such an impact in Northland that the local management committee got a letter from a ‘Miss” requesting semen, saying she had never married but wished to have a family – ‘preferring Scottish and definitely not Irish blood’. She was available for interview any time. The meeting exploded with members clamouring for more details.

Technicians and training
The star of this chapter, and many would say of AI in New Zealand is Max Cooper (photographed in action below). Max was raised on a Hamilton farm, now with the city at its doorstep and had seen cows being inseminated on the family farm and thought it would an interesting job.

Over a very long career with the NZ Dairy Board, he led the charge of getting AI to work on farms, and to keep getting better results. He became a major trainer around the world. He was always the star turn at the annual Ruakura Open Days when buses taking farmers around the farm always ended at Newstead where Max had a bull primed ready to mount to deliver some future genetics for the industry.


Max told some great stories – all true! He was once accosted by a very nice lady who said she’d pay his wages if he stopped the ‘dirty pracice’ he was involved in. He tried in vain to explain it was a bull’s semen he was using on the cow. Many farmers always let the bull serve the cow before and after insemination and one farmer told Max that at the climax of mating, an electric pulse passed from bull to cow.

Forward into the fifties
The hero of this chapter is Pat Shannon (pictured). The progress which Pat and his colleagues brought about in the 1950s is an applied science classic. Pat is the first to acknowledge the help they got from “serendipity”!

The secret was in the dilution process as when they started they could get 10,000 inseminations from one ejaculate provided it was used within the first and at most the second day after collection. Their work (in 1956) got 150,000 inseminations from an ejaculate – and with massive advantages in keeping quality.

Taking the message to the farmer
This chapter pays tribute to the pioneering farmers whose supported the system set up to revolutionise dairy herd improvement. Herds were increasing slowly in size, the demand for proven bulls was increasing, the market for unproven ‘pedigree’ bulls had collapsed, and their was a storm of ‘plain speaking’ from pioneers like Dr C.P. McMeekan at Ruakura and Alan Candy.

These pioneers formed the NZ Society of Animal Production and the Dairy Board set up the Consultancy Officers’ Service. Things were really on the move. Jeff Stichbury of the Dairy Board drove the consultants, and relished the challenge of getting out in his Austin A40 to confront farmers the length of the land.

Which bulls to use?
This chapter is about the devopment of the ‘Sire Proving Scheme’ which had, and has continued to be the very core of dairy cattle improvement. It’s all about finding the best bulls which are then used as “Premier Sires”.

The process then developed to find the best cows from the extensive database of cow records (one of the biggest in the world) to be the mothers of future Premier Sires. Farmers put these cows up on contracts so any bull calves born were put back into the system to be progeny tested. This process has not changed – its only got bigger and better over the years.

Consolidation in the sixties
This bit of the story is about research to improve the extenders to keep semen viable for longer and the technology of deep freezing was racing ahead.

There’s a lovely (true) story of a farmer who was told to keep some semen in the FRIDGE. In those days semen was kept in glass ampules before plastic straws were invented. By mistake he put it in the FREEZER! It was duly thawed and the cow inseminated to produce a nice calf nine months later. He could claim to have pioneered the process!

The Eighties
By 1984, 70% of New Zealand dairy herds were using AI, and to most farmers, they’d never used anything else, so to them there was nothing ‘artificial’ involved. The story in this chapter is mainly about the administration changes that set things in place for the next two decades. Jeff Stichbury reckoned that the AI service and everything that went with it on herd improvement had produced 25kg of milkfat per cow per year more than would have been the case if the old ways had remained.

Records staff of Auckland Livestock Improvement Association in 1984.

Note: very few computers on desks!

Biographies
The book has biographies of Tommy Blake (1882-1966), Dr John James, Paul Kneebone and Stan Southcombe.

Table of events in date order
This is a very useful time line of events from 1909 (the start of Herd Testing) to 1984 (the formation of the NZ Dairy Board Livestock Improvement Council).

DEVELOPMENTS SINCE 1985?

Clive Dalton interviewed Dr Pat Shannon in April 2009 about developments since the book was published in 1985. Here are the points he made:

Pat Shannon aged 81 and still working two days a week at LIC

where he has been employed contributing to the dairy industry for 50 years.

Pat died age 90 on May 4 2016

• The number of inseminations from an average bull's ejaculate has risen from 150,000 to 300,000.
• The life of fresh semen in the field has increased from two days to four days.
• The number of sperm in a straw of frozen semen has dropped from a minimum of 15 million to 10 million.
• Semen carried by field technicians changed from test tubes to plastic straws in the 1990s.
• Advances in computers have allowed more traits to be included in selection indexes.
• Research into 'genetic markers' has allowed the time taken to prove a bull to drop from five years to one year.
• Staff now have desk top computers linked to the Internet, instead of being linked to the main LIC computer.
• Farmers can send and receive their data to LIC via their home computer and the Internet.

Cattle farm husbandry - glossary of cattle terms

Cattle, farming, husbandry, glossary

By Dr Clive Dalton

• Bobby calf: A calf used for meat (veal) with these specifications.
• Has to be at least 4 days old.
• Both sexes are accepted for slaughter, but calves under 15kg will not be collected.
• Must be free from disease, deformity, blindness or any disability.
• Must have been kept warm and have a dry coat.
• A navel chord that is dry wrinkled, withered and shriveled and not pink or red, raw or fleshy.
• Must be alert and able to rise from a lying position and capable of moving freely and sucking easily. It should not be listless.
• Its hooves should be firm and worn flat and not bulbous with soft unworn tissue. This proves it has been able to stand up and walk.
• Must have been adequately fed on milk or colostrum.
• Must be free of drug residues. This is vitally important and has heavy legal consequences.
• Must be clean and kept in hygienic conditions.
• Boner cow: A cull cow mainly from a dairy herd that is in low condition.
• Bull: Entire (uncastrated) male of any age from birth to maturity.
• Run bull – non-registered bull used to mate commercial cows.
• Grade bull – a non-registered bull.
• Stud bull - registered or pedigree bull.
• Marker bull – vasectomised bull fitted with a marking harness to identify cows on heat.
• Potter bull – old bull to be slaughtered for meat.
• Tail-up bull – bull run with cows after the AI programme.
• Teaser bull – vasectomised bull used to locate cows on heat.
• Vasectomised bull – an entire male that cannot ejaculate viable sperm.
• Bullock: Castrated male (steer).
• Calf: Young bovine from birth up to around 6 months old.
• Calving interval: Interval between successive calvings of a cow.
• Calving percentage: Number of calves born per 100 cows joined with the bull or artificially inseminated.
• Conception rate: Percentage of cows that do not return to oestrus within a stated number of days (e.g. 49 or 70) after first insemination or natural mating.
• Cow: Mature female of any age but usually over 30 months.
• Cull cow: Cow of any age but usually old and culled from the herd for age or disease.
• Dairy beef: Beef animal bred from cows of dairy breeds.
• Down calver: Cow about to calve.
• Downer cow: Cow that is unable to stand on all four feet due to disease or injury.
• Empty cows: Non-pregnant cows.
• Fallen stock: Dead animals that are collected for processing for fertiliser.
• Feeder calf: a young calf that is reared for meat production.
• Freemartin: The female of a male-female twin pair. Usually infertile.
• Heifer: A young female up to and beyond her first calf.
• Maiden heifer: Heifer that has not been mated or had a calf.
• Nurse cow: Cow used to suckle calves.
• Pregnancy diagnosis (PD): Veterinary routine to palpate the cow’s ovaries to determine pregnancy. Also done with ultrasound.
• Pregnancy rate: Percentage of cows in-calf after a mating programme.
• Poddy calf: An orphan calf usually from a beef cow that has been artificially reared. Usually a small poorly grown calf.
• Rig: A male with an un-descended testicle or a steer with one testicle still intact.
• Running with bull (RWB): Cows that are currently joined with a bull for mating.
• Springer: A cow about to calve.
• Steer: Castrated male.
• Stag: Male bovine with one testicle.
• Submission rate: Percentage of cow showing oestrus and inseminated in the first weeks of a mating period (e.g. 21, 42 days).
• Target weight: The weight all animals in a group should reach and contrasts greatly to an average weight.
• Vealer: A maiden heifer, steer or bull up to 14 months old, slaughtered for beef.
• Vel: Stomach of bobby calf used for rennet in cheese making.
• Vetted in calf (VIC): Cows diagnosed pregnant by a veterinarian.
• Yearling: Young animal around 12 months old with two permanent incisors.