Record for Ayrshires

Press, 26 August 1977, Page 15

Record for Ayrshires

Figures recently released for the 1976-77 herd testing season reveal a new record for the Ayrshire breed in this country. For the first time a herd of the breed comprising 100 or more cows has averaged in excess of 226 kg or 5001 b of fat. This performance has been credited to the Lakeside herd of Legg and Companv at Leeston in Canterbury. Their herd of 110 cows averaged 5549 litres of milk with a 4.2 per cent test and 234 kg of fat in 288 days, which is couivalent to 12,5961 b of milk and 5161 b of fat. Other Ayrshire herds to exceed the 5001 b mark for fat from figures received to date, according to the breed association, include the Ravensdale herd of R. F. Pollock at Outram, Otago, with 57 cows averaging 5425 litres of milk, with a 4.4 test and 238 kg of fat in 300 days (5251 b of fat) and the Alpine herd of J. Z. HospenthaL of Kaponga, Taranaki, with 85 cows averaging 4613 litres of milk, a 5.0 test and 230 kg of fat in 278 days (5081 b of fat). The Ravensdale average is their best to date and their third successive one in excess of 5001 b. The Alpine herd is the first Ayrshire herd in Taranaki to exceed a 5001 b herd average and it contained 17 cows to produce over 272 kg of fat (6001 b