A NEW DEPARTURE

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1295, 25 November 1911, Page 15

A NEW DEPARTURE

Tlw Ilnwkcsbury eompolilioii, in addition to luring Ihe pioneer of tlw ckkInyinp ooinpDlih'nns in easily li-ads (ho way in odacntioiiiil (lain. <lerivod from Dip (psl.s. Jls laloft doparlnro will lw Iho loslinp of Ilin worst liiycrs which a hroNler produce?, as woll n.s lli« best. l>ll the face of it, somo breeders will think this a useless lesl, hut (hero is more in it (him a .suiicrlicinl glauco vovwils. It is well known lo ovory poul-try-brooder Iliftl there is n very InrßO jiorcentage of "wiusters" in every flock, and it is tlin lost of the breeders to be ablo to eliniinato Ihe.so "wasters." It is not only essential to discover good layers but, for foav of sending the poor stock out to clients or reducing the profits of his own flock, tho brooder wants to know the. unprofitable birds. Provision is niado in the next ITawkcsbury tost for a breeder to enter his best selection of hens, and his worst. That the science of breeding is little understood in Now Zealand is demonstrated from tho fact , that, one year, you find a j breeder at the top and, tho next, midway, or near Hie bottom of the test. Evidently there is a 'want of knowledge. Discriminative power is required to enable a man to breed on scientific lines. Only 0110 ninn has shown nny pretension to uniformity in Australia, and that is Mr. Padnian, and yet he was caught "napping" in breeding his pen in (ho present j\ov Zealand test. One, at least, of his birds has laid very few, if any. eggs, and yet she was bred from prolific* layers. There was a something lacking, some deficiency in selection that overthrew ll>. Padnian in his calculations.

How important it is for the reputation of a breeder that he should know how to select. Time will come, in the growing of _ the day-old chicks Iwsinoss when specialist breeders will produce tho poultry for layers, and only these men who can show knowledge of selection will have any hope of ca.pluring the business. Picking Good and Bad, it The following, taken from the Sydney 'Daily Telegraph," of last week, comments forcibly on the above subject:— When the suggestion was brought forward at tho committee meeting to arrange for a lest of pens of bad layers at Die Ifawkesbury College, next year, one member, who ranks as one of the biggest and most successful breeders of layers, immediately said, with enthusiasm: "I'll support that; I can pick six bad enough for anything out of mine." : That' was tin honest admission.- Some' of ■■ the applicants for pens have signified their inability to enter a duplicate pen, because , they "never breed any bad layers." 'J.'Jio public nowadays know too much to swallow thai sort of statement.

A man with a comparatively small number of chickens could perhaps not. pick six bad enough' to do "justice" lo his judgment; but those who raise chickens by hundreds anil say they have no wasters simply announce their ignorance of what I heir hens can and do do. We venture the opinion that there is no strain in tins State yot worked up to such 'a pitch of general productiveness that it does not throw each your a proportion tit pullets that are not worth their feed as layers. Many of our biggest and most prominent egg-men still practise a good ileal ot .indiscriminate breeding,'and for rh.it reason they are not making- any' progress year by year in tho productive canacit.v of their flocks.

It is to focus aUention nnd effort on this matter of selection that the comimtteo has instituted his test of duplicate pens. They did s;i without any very definite idea of whnt the result would be; but they recognised (hat there wero valuable possibilities .in it. In the same way, when ihe laying competitions were lirst started 11 years ago. no one foresaw tliat they would develop into such a great educative.influence.as has been the case. Likewise something of- very practical value may be the outcome'of this Inlest step. Most egg-farmers now consider they can select their best layers with tolerable accuracy; but it is equally important that limy .should, if poWc, be able to pick the robbers as pullets, and weed them out. The committee is divided in opinion as to the value of flic tIo K an or other svsenis, but it. is hoped that new-informa-tion of service-to the industry willl-e brought to light, especially as so man? of the applicants are very anxious to give proof of their ability to accurately discriminato between good, bad, and iu'differout. It if certain that these competitors who are fortunate niiovigh to be .-elected to participate in I his test, and who can show a wide maririn between their goed and bad pens, will earn great kodus and will make good" with (ho public as skilful nnd discriminating breeders The buying public have been educated up to mace no faith in Haslies-in-tbe-pan poriormanees; they support the breeders who *hnir TOiHslejitly in the competition?. In the future thev will probably accord mcrciifpd sunporl'fo those whose consistency is based on n foundation of unerring judgment in selection.