A MILLION GOWS

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 61, 9 September 1921, Page 8

A MILLION GOWS

THE HERDS UNDER TEST

THEIR WORTH TO NEW ZEALAND

Mr. W. M. Singleton, Acting-Director of,the Dairying Division of the Department of Agriculture, has - prepared a valuable report on the results of oowtesting in the Dominion. The season reviewed is that of 1920-21. In an interview on the subject, The Post, learned from Mr. Singleton that in all 15,480 .cows had been tested of the million dairy cows in the Dominion—estimated at 993,----473." as 'on 31st January last. . . $ The past season was not so good as its predecessor, for there was an exceedingly, diry autumn, and the yield of milk from the million herd was consequently much reduced. ,' Mr. Singleton reports that the'average of the cows under test was 206.421b of butter-fat in a milking period of 215 days. The average daily yield of butterfat per cow is about one pound.- Butterfat was worth well over 2s per : pound. : It has reached over 2s 3d as returned' to shareholders ,in co-operative factories during the N 1920-21 season. Dannevirke '■ co-operative company returned 2s 8d to ' shareholders. Mataura and Rapanui 2s 9d. Tikorangi paid out, 2s ll£d. Eltham. Co-operative. Company paid 2s 2{&. To take the ! value |of butter-fat , produced at J 2s per pound for last season is a conservative . figure; but Mr. Singleton believes the 'yield of tested; cows of 0.96911b per cow per day, to be I above the average for the Dominion herd. As it is, the Dominion's herd of dairy cows was increased by 100,000 head last season, and, it will be greatly augmented this current season. The low price of sheep and' beef cattle has resulted this j season in the diversion of grazing land' to dairying. The demand for cows is ex.ceedingly keen, as.stock agents' reports from all parts of the Dominion, but especially from the North Island, will show. • AN EXPERT OPINION. Of course, 'there are cows, and cows. It is, to improve the producing capacity of the Dominion's milking herd that the tests are conducted, Mr. Singleton stated to The Post. "My opinion is that unless the Cow-Testing Association members or dairy farmers are inspired through the testing of their cows to breed better animals to take the place of culls, the greatest ■ lessons that cowtesting can teach are largely lost. Lowproducing cows should be replaced by, heifers sired, by purebred bulls. Herdtesting- will show the paramount necessity that exists of selecting such a purebred bull ; from cows which have certificates of record of production. It is to enable farmers to obtain bulls with a butter-fat record backing that has caused the dairying division of the Department of Agriculture to co-operate with breeders in tHe authentication of the records of production of purebred cows." , The value of exports of butter and cheese (to say nothing of;casein, dried milk; and other j dairy products) for the 12 months. ended 31st July last was:— Cwt. £'■'■■ ! Butter ....... 638,670 8,654,479 Cheese , 1,436,707 8,523,669 , - 2,075,377 17,178,148 The value of the combined exports of butter and' cheese, fdr the 12 month's ended 31st July, 1920, wa5..£9,639,776. ; , Market/conditions may'not be so" good' this 'curxent season as hist, making it all the more necessary that the cow. should do, her part to ..the utmost of I her producing ' capacity.-i Mr. Singleton I'hopes that, the publication, ,of the results of the- carefully conducted. test 3 above referred to, will induce farmers to set/a. watch on their cows f or,; themselves. "Comparatively," he remarks, ."New • Zealand ha.s no reason to be ashamed of'the proportion of her dairy cows being, tested. Moreover, there is' , no reason, to doubt Jour ability to lead in this respect, and iwe trust to see the number of dairy cows on test increase very materially in the near fiiture." WHAT IS DUE TO THE COW.. The. farmers'' part, as. Mr. Singleton sees it, is in better breeding, improve-, 1 ment in; ..the care and feeding; of cows, especially V during' the ; winter - months. Crops must,;be! grown for them in summer for winter feeding. ■ On that subject, Mr. A., H. Cockayne;. Government i Biologist, holds that "the future, proI grass of dairying in New Zealand lies m. the adaption of methods that will lead to the production of bu.titer-fat at the cheapest; possible rate; and, in | general, it. can b> said that, in dairying ; methods which .Increase the butter-fat, production per acre decrease the cost of butter-fat per pound." % The average butter-fat yield of New Zealand herds is legs than 1701b per cow per annum. With sufficient feed available to enable the maximum production to be realised, Mr. Cockayne holds that the average yield per cow would riso in a single year to well over 2001b of butter-fat, At an increase of 301b of butter-fat per cow per annum in a herd of a million head, at 2s per pound on, Mr. Cockayne's estimate there iwould be ian increased revenue for the Dominion of £3,000,000 per annum; from butter-fat. Mr. ■ Singleton insists that increased production must coma mot only from selecting the best butterfat producing cows by carefully recorded tests, but,1 also'-by supplementing _ the .grass feed in the paddock by specially grown crops for feeding the herds. The good cow has shown herself to be worth far more than bare subsistence, to say iJiothing of the duty of man to an animal ..that has served him so well. In a monetary sense, as those intimately connected with the finances of the Dominion realise, the cow has rendered substantial 'help in a time of great difficulty, and she. promises to continue to do so, and to increase her contribution. '