THE SHORTHORN FOR THE DAIRY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 108, 7 May 1913, Page 8

THE SHORTHORN FOR THE DAIRY.

INSTBTJCTIVE COMPARISONS. FINE PRODUCER. Comparisons are always interesting, and are frequently instructive. When made between the milking performances of different types of dairy cows and between the individual members of a herd they can be educative in the highest degree. At the present stage of the herdtasting movement, the necessary statistics of the milking power of different breeds are not available. "Definite comparisons cannot therefore be made. Nevertheless fairly accurate estimates are being arrived at in some countries, while in the case of the ordinary herds of "New Zealand the returns of the -herdtesting associations furnish a very good idea of the productive standard of our milking stock.

Taking the herds of the model testing associations in operation last year, we have an average yield ranging from C,0471bs of milk to a.93")lbs, and from 248 lbs of butter-fat to 2611b5. Or. the average, of 3,347 cows (including heifers) in four associations was 6.3961bs of milk and 250.451bs of butter-fat. The English average for the ordinary cows of the country is 4,."i001b5 of milk, according to the •'Journal of the Board of Agriculture."

Breed averages are difficult to arrive at. Considerable information is published regarding the yield 'of exceptional animals, but little is heard of the average of pure-bred herds, and it is on the average of the herd, rather than the yield of one or two individual eowe, that any estimate of productiveness should be based. Were it not for the breeding of pure-bred dairy stock according to milk-producing capacity alone by experimental farms and agricultural colleges of other lands, it would be almost impossible to arrive at any comparative idea of the average milking power of the representative herds of the different breeds. Occasionally carefully conducted records of privately-owned pure-bred herds provide the desired information, but too often this dots, not convey all tbe facts desired. At the end of the present season, however, the register of merit scheme of the HolsteLn and Jersey Associations of this country should furnish most valuable data; in fact, the publication of the records of the Holstein and Jersey cows being tested will make the most interesting ami instructive leading the dairy farmers of _w Zealand have set had.

In the last issue of the "Journal" of the British Board of Agriculture, a wellknown Home writer on agricultural subjects, "Homo Counties," gives an interesting account of a pure-bred milking Shorthoru herd—that of the Kelmscott herd. Careful milk records have been kept of the herd for many years: in fac, the herd has been bred for milk since 187S, and cows and heifer calves have been rarely purchased. Thus the record of this herd, i=aid to be tlie largest in the country, and bred for many years to a milk ideal, should provide an excellent demonstration of tlie value of the purebred Shorthorn as a milk-producing animal. What do \yp. find? The yearly average per cow for the 134 bead for the years 1909, 1910 and 1911 was (i,olslbs of milk. This is the net result of many years of testing and culling, the animals being fed to the best advantage the whole time; indeed, if the cows in this country were fed at anything like the same cost milk production would be a poor proposition. For instance, the owners of the herd, Messrs R. W. Hobbs and Son, estimate the cost of' feeding and milking a cow (Shorthorn) for a year— inclusive of grazing, allowing 1J acre at a rental of 30/ per acre —at over £12 a cow. Taking this yearly average of 6,0151hs of milk —from cows bred according to a pedigree of performance, and receiving the best of feeding and attention —and comparing it with the returns being secured from our ordinary farm herds, wo have good reason to be satisfied with the New Zealand dairy cow. Here is the yield of the nvcrngc cow in the four herd-testing associations of Cambridge. Stratford, Kaupokonui, and Sterling last season: — lb. of lb. of milt. butter-fat. Cambridge G. 035 £61.13 Stratford 6.055 25T..4S Kaupokonui 6,377 249.0 l Sterling 6,047 248.19

Thus we see that the average yield of 3,347 cows, comprising ordinary New Zealand dairy herds, mostly cross-bred, is well above that of the noted English herd, though the cost of production of the former, as well as the cost of handling them, is considerably less than with the latter herd. The comparison is even more striking when the milk and butterfat records of those of our pure-bred herds which are as yet available come to be considered — those of the experimental farms' herds. Here they are: — lbs. lbs. butterHead, milk. fat. Weraroa Holsteins 20 11,641 3So Weraroa Shorthorns .. 6 9,541 340 Ruakura Jerseys 10 0,196 332 Rnakura Shorthorns .. 7 8,719 328 Honmahaki « Ayrshires 6 7,790 304 It is not improbable that, when the -figures ex", available of tho semi-official

test 6 of the privately-owned Holstein and Jersey herds at the end of this season, the records may make even a better showing than the above, and that our pure-bred herds of these two breeds wil] receive a fine advertisement. They should demonstrate that New Zealand breelers have the stock, and only require tho definite knowledge of performance they arc now securing to establish herds which will hold their own for average productive capacity with the herds of the breeds in question in any part of the world. The figures of the great English herd of Shorthorns, in the light of our testing records, assuredly do not point to the English pure-bred Shorthorn as being likely to advance the' standard of our milking stock. It 'is early yet to ascertain if the Illawarra pure-bred Shorthorns of New South Wales now in this country are the greatly-improved milking type they are supposed to be, though men who have studied these cattle declare our only hope of securing definite milking stock of the -Shorthorn type lies in their direction. We have heard much of the nonpedigree milking Shorthorn of England, but we have still to make ourselves acquainted with them. The State impor-tations-of Shorthorn dairy stock from England has been most unfortunate. Two of the bulls brought out came from the Kclmscott herd above referred to. This experience -has prompted the suggestion by a prominent official that the Government should lease a farm in the South of England, purchase on a liberal scale some of the best types of the non-pedi-gree milking Shorthorn, and keep them on the farm in question for a full milking period, during which they should be systematically weighed and tested. Then, and only then, he contends, would it bo possible to know that we aTe getting stock of exceptional productive capacity. The idea is an excellent one. It would prevent the heavy losses, big disappointments, and great delays associated with the dairy Shorthorn importations in the past, while the expense would be trifling, as the cost of running such a farm would be largely counter-balanced by the milk produced. It is obviously too risky a business to buy expensive stud stock in England for shipment to this country. and incur the heavy incidental expenses, ! without an accurate knowledge of their milking powr: aud this is what must be done in the absence of the scheme outlived above if we are to secure a deep-milking Shorthorn strain which so many of our dairymen desire. -If the Kelmscofct Tei cords are anything to go by, we cannot : afford to .consider the pure-bred Shorthorn, unless -we are prepared to -wait a ; good many generations to breed out the beef-forming tendency. Should, on the , other iaatd,. the importation of the son-.

pedigree type we hear so much about not prove feasible, then we may well be content with the special-purpose breeds we possess, and which are now being developed on utility principles in a sound manner to a gratifying standard.