Page 28 Advertisements Column 4

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20274, 27 June 1931, Page 28

AUCTIONS. H. MATSON AND CO. CULLING; PROFITABLE. OLD DAISY COWS SHOULD NOT BE RETAINED. BENEFITS OF HERD-TESTING INCREASED BY SYSTEMATIC CALF MARKING. One of the arguments often used against fcerd testing l>y farmers with limited capital is that while it shows them the unprofitable cows, they cannot afford to cull these animals out of the herd. This is true only where the farming is on such a poor scale that a crossbred or inferior bull is kept. Where there is a good purebred bull at the head of the herd (and over 75 per cent, of the herds in many testing associations now have such bulls) it is possible to grade up over a . few seasons, eliminating the less profitable producers. Up to the present there is _no system of marking developed, which indicates at once that a cow is a cull, and, provided the animal is not an absolute "dud," the farmer is justified in selling her at the yards. It has to be remembered that standards on different farms vary so greatly that what ia a oull cow from one hard may be the highest producer in the herd of the purchaser. There are farmers who have succeeded in building up their herds to average production of over 8501b fat. The culls from such ft hord may produce 250-300lb and be excellent buying for a neighbour who has reached a much lower stage in production records. Selling, therefore, may be justified in 041 cases except where an animal is culled for disease or exceptionally low production, in which case it is practically criminal. Work which has been carried out in certain European countries to ascertain the most, profitable yearß of a cow'e life indicates Lu t the period from about three years to six years is the period of greatest production. Thereafter the animal usually shows decreasing production, although m the case of a well-bred cow this may be kept up to normal, by special feeding. The value of this knowledge, from the practioal farmer's viewpoint, is that it gives him something upon which to work in his culling operations. If a cow has reaohed six yeaTs of age or over, and. if he has good heifers coming along, it will be wiso to cull out the older animal oven if the heifers are unlikely to give as great a production the first season. If a purebred bull with good butterfat backing is mated with the cows it may be expected that the heifers will show greater - returns than their mothers at maturity, so that thn farmer can have every reliance in 'making his own herd replacements. There is no doubt whatever that this is the most profitable wajr of keeping up the herd and of improving its production. That has been proved 'by all the most successful farmers, for there are few really good farmers who buy their replacements under ordinary circumstances. A second advantage which heifer replacement has over buying is that disease is kept out of a clean herd. Those who have followed recent interesting work in connexion with big testing work will have noticed that the definite advice is given that it pays to breed your own pigs, and that the greatest profits are never in ado by those Farmers whose policy is to buy weaners at the start of the season. Tho breeder of those weaners is receiving H, share of the" fattening profit. In the same way farmers who regularly buy their replacements are giving away some share of tho legitimate profits of the farm. The value of herd testing, and especially of tho calf-marking movement which has sprung up with it, is very clearly apparent when culling is carried out, especially in districts of intensive dairying. It is gradually becoming more, and more difficult to sell a cow with9Ut any records, and the price is becoming commensurate with the quality. Tho stage hag not yet been reached when it ia impossible to get. more for a. "dud than she is worth, but it will come in a few years. ' . The farmer who tests and works bis herd up to a definite standard of say 2501b fat cai secure reasonably good prices for the cows he culls, which are producing 2001b. Moreover, when he gets to the stage where hi* heifers are re&dy to take their places in tho herd, he commences culling his six-year-old cows that are giving 2601b, and he finds a satisfactory demand and good prices. It has been proved conclusively in New Zealand that the difference in price between marked calves and unmarked calves more than pays the testing fees of the herd. There" is every reason for believing that the difference in price would become steadily more marked as the heifers increased in age. Thus tho testing farmer is steadily building up his assets, and at tho same time improving the health of his herd. Experienced farmers know that the older cows are more liable to disease than the younger animals bred on the farm, bo that by culling out the older' cows thev are reducing disease risk-v-now no light consideration in most of our dairying districts. The farmer is naturally looking for every penny of profit he can get at the moment, and it certainly appears that some extra profit can be worked up through the judicious use of herd-testing and culling. Naturally, If every farmer adopted the ideas put forward here thore would be no market for cull cows, but as there is no likelihood that fanners will generally adopt alterations ife procedure, tho scheme is bound to pay those who adopt it. There will never be a time when every farmer has adopted the most progressive possible ideas, for ideas are continually changing, and they change more quickly than the average farmer Is prepared to alter his practice. One has only to remember how top-di'esslng and rotational grating have spread through tho country during the iMt few years to realise that there are thousands of farmers now making less profit than they should because of out-of-date pasture management methods. • It is exactly the same with herd improvement, and it will continue to be. Testing, instead of being looked upon as an added expense, should ,ba regarded as a profit-maker. Certainly it depends on the farmer himsell whether ef not H be made to render profit, but for the few it has proved such in practicer—"New Zealand Farmer." CONSIGN YOUR STOCK TO MATSON'S. "The Faraors' Friend." The. only Private Firm. The Oldest Firm. Best Prices. Prompt Payment. H. MATSON and CO. TOO MUCH SCIENCE! .Can science find the farmer a certain and stabilised, market for his produce! Up to now it has not been able to do so t and it is feared never will. Has it improved the methods of farming in any way t On the whole, the standard of British farming has gone done enormously during the last thirty fears since scientific teaohing has been in the ascendant. It is not all to do with economics that the . arable land is more full of weeds and twitch than has ever boen the case for the last eighty years. We travel round the countryside and see neglected, fences, ditches, drains, and watercourses all choked up and not functioning properly, so that the land cannot produce a crop owing to being waterlogged, and yet the country ia paying thousands a. year to organisers and lecturers to impart' scientific knowledge and methods of farming to practical men who want nothing but fair markets, to enable them to make ft living out of the industry. Of all industries agriculture is the oldest, and in spite of everything science can do the basic principles pf tilling the soil must remain the same as in the earliest times. We' get more labour-saving implements and implements that do their work perhaps better than soma of the older makes, but all the same those of us who are no longer "chickens" can remember the old types of ploughs, harrows, and sniffles, and although modern implements take fewer horse and . man power to work than the old ones, much of the work is done no better, even if it is done as well. The wonderful crops of corn that were to be seen fifty years and more ago, the neat fences, the well-oleaned ditches and watercourses, are not seen to-day, although so much stress is being laid upon the value of scientific research. v Farming is one continual battle with the forces of Nature, and Nature has not altered mtfch since the beginning of time, nor is it likely to. We are being taught that it is uneconomic to grow roots to fatten stock, and that the old methods of winter feeding are out of datft. Yet in practice those farmers who have always stuck to the -system of growing roots as a rotation crop and fat--tening a large number of cattle and sheep in winter, are holding their own, and, if not making money, are, at any rate,. making a very fair living. Then we are told not to -feed roots to dairy cows, and yet those who do have had no reason to donbt the soundness of the system. No .one wants to belittle the value of a knowledge •of science nor what science has done for agriculture, but to go on spending more and more money when farmers want a market for their produce and some form of protection against unfair foreign competition. is an utter waste of public money. USW LTXIT NOW IN EVERY PADDOCK. Lasts three or four , times longer than Rocksalt. U. MATSON sad CO, M6S4ft