WEIGHT OF DAIRY CALVES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 303, 22 December 1926, Page 22

WEIGHT OF DAIRY CALVES.

AN INTERESTING STUDY. i The weight of dairy calves is a factor which frequently concerns New, Zealand dairymen when purchasing a bu)l to turn out with their grade hprds. Calving trouble is of ten' induced through-a calf carried by a small-boned cow being too big at birth to permit of a normal delivery. The wrjter recently encountered an interesting article in , an overseas ex-change-touching-the. weights of the-dairy calves born in the herd of the Missouri Agricultural College during, the past 12 years, and these present , quite an interesting study. . The weights mentioned show that the Jersey calves are the smallest,'weighing on an average 551b; the /Ayrshire second in weight, with an average of 691b; the Dairy Shorthorn third in -weight, with an average of 731b; and' the j'riesians are the largest by far; "with an-average of 901b. It was found, further, that the Jersey female calf-averages 531b at birth, while the "male averages'sßlb' at birth; the female Ayrshire averages 631b at birth and the mate averages 731b; the difference between the male and female Shorthorn is but- lib, but the female Friesian weights 881b and the male 931b. The weight of .Guernsey, average of both sexes, was '711b, and the average of the brown Swiss 1001b. The variation was considerable -in these calves, being as much as 301b to 80lb in the Jerseys. There was considerably more variation-, however, among Jerseys than among other breeds, which: is undoubtedly due tc< • £be. size of the 1 mothers. It was found that the weight of. the Jersey calf- at birth was 0.5 per cent of the, weight of ■ the. mother, the' Ayrshire weighing, 6.9 -per cent of the dam, the Guernsey 7..2 per cent of the weight of the dam, .the Shorthorn 6 per cent of the weight of the dam, and the Friesian £ per cent, of _the weight of-the dam. -' • ■ ,