THE SHORTCOMINGS OF THE SHORTHORN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 22, 21 October 1907, Page 2

THE SHORTCOMINGS OF THE SHORTHORN.

WHY THE DAIRIES HAVE DROPPED ..HIM. ~.. ,: .:•..■ Why is tho valuable old Shorthorn disappearing from , OH! , dairies? Thore used to be —in fact thero jt'll are —some surviving members of the old milking strains in existence. But they aro few and far apart.••' ;' "The reason is," said Mr. Parmett,' a.milking Sliofthorn .fancier of Canterbury, and a judge at tho recent Hawkes Bay Show; "that they aro so extremely irregular. Tho beef men, I am sorry to say, havo/allowed the milking qualities to be entirely neglected, so that to-day somo of tho beef Shorthorns cannot, rear their own'icalve's. i A milking Shorthorn,,'on' tho contrary, is ; still an enormous milker. , . , lam breeding- milkiug Shorthorns, and have endeavoured, as far as in-breeding would permit, to;"foster tho milking habit. Occasionally : it is necessary to introduce fresh blood, and at thpso times it is very difficult to nvotd lbss'bf ground. It is hard to buy .a bull and know fcliat.it has been bred from a milking strain: That is/I believe, tho .'reason why tho. Shorthorn,has been -abandoned in the .dairies. ■ • It', is so 'utterly^uncertain!''/ Mr. ; J. :AVallj ii man who,has',acjiieved'iqdnsiderable ''success as A breeder of.aiiimals, and who wdn'tiic chief dairy prizes in: the Hawkcs IkvShow with Holstoin Shorthorns,, admitted" the irregularity of. Shorthorns; 'Ho gets over HI liowevoiYby^ißver. , putting the Shorthorn blood on the bull's" side. Ho uses a Shorthorn!.-co \f witli a Hqlstein. bull,. and he declares that that makes ihc best dairy'cow.