Breed on the move

Press, 27 February 1981, Page 16

Breed on the move

The world conference of Ayrshire breeders was regarded as a perfect vehicle for exchabging ideas and views about methods, the secretary of the World Federation of Ayrshire Breed Societies, Mr J. Lawson, of Scotland, said. Speaking before the federation’s fourth annual world conference began in Christchurch this month, Mr Lawson said the Ayrshire breed was becoming increasingly highly regarded throughout the world’s dairying countries for its “convertabilitv and adaptability.” Mr Lawson (right), who is ;

shown with the federation’s president, Mr A. A. C. Weir (Matangi). said the number of .Ayrshire breeders was increasing rapidly. The breed was now used in’ 15 countries, and to give an idea of its suitability in alltypes of environments, was farmed near the Arctic Circle and the Equator. Ayrshire breeders were cooperating in improving the productivity of their breed. For instance, a Canadian bull, which had a paper value of S3M because of the quality of progeny he sired, was now used world-wide by means of artificial insemination.

Mr Weir said Ayrshires were being increasingly appreciated by New Zealand dairy farmers, because of their superior grass conversion ability. Many New Zealand dairy farms w r ere now situated oh ■rough country which, a few years ago, would have been regarded as suitable for only sheep and beef cattle. He said New Zealand’s top butterfat-producing cow was an Ayrshire farmed on this type of steeper land. The number of Ayrshires in New Zealand was increasing by about 10 per cent every year, he said.