FRIESIAN ASSOCIATION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 3 July 1924, Page 10

FRIESIAN ASSOCIATION.

PRESIDENT’S -ANNUAL ADDRESS. At the annual meeting of the Fresian Association, Mr AY. D. Hunt gave a valuable paper on its objects and aims. What are the aims of the New Zealand Friesian Association, or what should be its aims? What are the aims of the individual breeders who make up the association? Going into breeding Friesian stock, or any other class of purebred stock, is just like going into any other undertaking. The first question a man should ask himself when he is going into the undertaking is, what is the service that he proposes to render to the public. Is he going to render some sendee that the public wants and is willing to pay for. He must be sure on this point, otherwise it is not worth while tackling any undertaking. If he makes sure that he is providing a service that the public wants .and is willing to pay for, then 'heis on a sound basis. If he renders the service efficiently, he will be well paid. If he does not render it efficiently, his undertaking will not succeed. It is true that some people do succeed for a. time in putting something over on to the public that the public does not get value for, but success of this kind Is always short-lived. No man can make a permanent success of his undertaking unless he is giving value to the public for what he gets from it. Now what is the service that- breeders of Friesian cattle propose to render to the public, and for which they expect the public to pay them ? . The service they set themselves out to render to the public, and for which they expect the ■ public to pay them? , The service they set

themselves out to render is this: They propose to improve the general dairy stock of the country by the use of purebred Friesian| cattle. The success of Friesian breeders will be in proportion

to the efficiency with which they render this service. The Friesian Association as a whole will only go. forward if it succeeds in rendering this service at least as well as, and. preferably better than, any other dairy breed society, and when we come to the individual breeders within the society, those breeders will succeed who best render the service of improving the dairy stock, and those breeders who .do. not give efficientservice iii this direction will go.out. Now, how are Friesian breeders going to improve the general dairy stock'of the country? There .is only one way of doing this, and that is by breeding bid Is of proved producing quality for the use of the ordinary dairy farmers of the country. These bulls must be prepotent in dairy producing qualities. If the ordinary dairy farmers of the country find that they are getting good results by the use of Friesian bulls, then the breed will advance, but if they do not get these good results the breed will not advance. The sole aim and object of purebred studs of all domestic animals—it does not matter whether they are dairy cattle, beef cattle,'sheep, pigs, or anything else—is to'produce and sell males for the use of the ordinary farmers who are not breeders of pure stock, and it is only as a breeder succeeds in finding a remunerative market for the male stock that he breeds that his success can be measured and he will succeed as a breeder. In addition to the market for male stock there is, of course, a market for femaleistock, but this can never be a big market unless the market for the' male stock is remunerative. The ultimate aim of every breeder must be to produce and sell male stock, and if a good market for .this is not obtainable the sale of the female stock at good prices won’t last long.

Now, how is a breeder of Friesian stock to pro cl uce bulls prepotent in dairying qualities? . Because this is what lie must do if he is to succeed. Breeders have two ways of trying out their cattle. One is by testing "them for production and the other is by showing them. Tn. my opinion the only method that- will give permanent success is testing. If, in (addition to succeeding in testing, one can also succeed in the show-ring, so much the* better, but show-ring success in dairy stock watbout also proving them by means of official tests will, to my mind, never get. a breeder any permanent success. The basis of the whole thing is successl’ul official and semi-official testing, in conjunction with the elimination of some undesirable qualities that it is quite possible for a-high-producing cow to have. 'Hie elimination of these undesirable qualities .can come either through the show-ring, or by means of the breeder’s own selection. . Now let us think for a moment, what is the most profitable class of cow for the ordinary farmer to have, and why it is the most profitable class. It must be our aim to produce bulls that

will sire the most profitable class of cow for the ordinary fanner to have. What is the advantage of the high producer to the ordinady farmer over other cows ?

The dairy cow is merely a machine to convert the feed that a fanner has into milk products, and the most profitable cow for the farmer to have is the one that- is going to give the largest amount of milk products for a given amount of feed. It is in this connection that cows vary so enormously. It is tne improvement of cows in this respect that- is the work of the breeders of purebred dairy stock, and the only true and accurate guide that the breeder has to keep him on the right lines in his work is by means of testing. Let us consider for a moment the different kinds of cows that farmers have, and why it is that some cows are so much more profitable than others, that some cows have the capacity of giving a much larger percentage of milk products from a given amount of food than others.

We can divide cows into roughly three classes. We will take one cow of each class and call them one, two and three. Now, before a farmer can get any milk products from these cows he has got to provide each of them with what is known in the language of scientific feeding, as the maintenance ration. Before a cow can give any production at all it must he provided with sufficient food to enable it to live and maintain its condition. Exhaustive tests have been made in this connection, and it lias been proved that in addition to air and water, .which we will assume are free, a cow weighing, say, 12001bs live weight, will require to maintain itself at that weight without producing anything and without using up any of its food in the way of taking exercise by looking for food, a daily ration of approximately 181b,s good oaten straw, 30!{lb mangolds, and 1 1-5 lb linseed cake. With this ration a cow’ of this weight will just maintain itself and keep alive without losing w r eight, but without producing anything. These experiments were made with animals in stalls protected from the weather, with the food brought to them, and without having to take the exercise of moving about and searching for food. Stock running under ordinary New Zealand conditions, exposed to.the weather, especially in winter time, having to travel for their food and collect it themselves, w’ould probably require as the maintenance ration 40 to 50 per cent increase on the figures I have given. We can take it, therefore, that under oiir New Zealand conditions, with average weather, we require as a maintenance ration for twelve months for a dairy cow of 1200 lbs weight, roughly, say, 3£ tons of good oaten straw, tons of mangolds and 6c\yt of linseed cake. We, of course, do not give just this particular class of food on New’ Zealand dairy farms, but- we have to provide as a maintenance ration the quantities that I have stated or their equivalent in other kinds of food such as grass, hay, turnips, etc. I do' not say that a. cow’ getting the mere maintenance ration would not give any milk. She would, however, only give milk by taking it off her body. If she was merely provided with a maintenance ration she would go on giving some milk, ,but getting steadily thinner, until she arrived at a point wffien she had to give up giving milk in order to preserve life. In order to- build up her condition again she w’ould require more food than the maintenance ration. In the end it means that every cow’ has to get approximately the ration, or its equivalent in other foods that I have stated in order to live, and it'ii. only the food beyond this maintenance ration that is available to be converted into milk products. Now each of iny cows. Nos. one, two ancUthree will require this maintenance ration, and it is only the food that they get in addition to this that will be converted into milk products. The maintenance ration may be called the overhead expenses of the cow. It has got to be provided whether the coiv produces mi’k or not Wv will now take cow’ No. 1. She is a cow with a good sound constitution and a vigorous appetite, and will eat lots of food. She is, however, the type ol cow that is inclined to put on beet. Of the food that she eats in addition to her maintenance'ration, she will convert, say, half of ijt into milk and the other half of it into beef. No. 2 is a cow t of the dairy type. All tho food that she will eat- in addition to her maintenance ration she will convert into milk. She is, how’ever, a cow of a somewhat delicate appetite and not, therefore, a large eater. She is not, therefore, a largo producer, although perhaps a fair one. Cow No. 3 is another cow of the true dairy type. She will convert all the iood she consumes, in addition to the maintenance ration, into milk products.

Unlike cow No. 2, however, she is a cow r with a large and vigourous appetite. Her digestive organs are of the best. She has the capacity to eat a large quantity of food, and as she converts all she eats in excess of her maintenance ration into milk products she is a large producer. It is quite conceivable that if she is provided with sufficient food she will produce twice as much as cow No. 2.

Now- let us look at the profit and loss account of each of these three cows. Let us assume, for argument's sake, that, running under ordinary good dairy farm conditions, cows Nos. 1 and 2 have each produced 2501bs of butterfat, and cow’ No. 3 has produced 500 lbs of butter-fat. Cow No. 1 you have to debit first with its inaintenance ration, and then it has eaten a large quantity of additional food, only half of which it has converted into milk products, and the other half has gone into beef. It is obvious that the half that has gone into beef is'just as unprofitable as the maintenance ration.

Now for cow No. 2. She has produced 2501 b butter-fat, arid this has been obtained by the conversion of the w’hole of her food in excess of the maintenance ration into- butter-fat. She has only given the same amount of butter-fat as cow No. 1, but she is obviously a more profitable cow, as she has not eaten so much. She has converted all she has eaten beyond the maintenance ration into milk products, and has not used any up to' put on beef.

N ow ta l* e cow No. 3. She has to be debited with the maintenance ration the same as the other two, but she has eaten a large quantity of food in addition to the maintenance ration, and has converted the w’hole of it into production and has produced 5001 b butter As compared with cow’ No. 2, she is a much more profitable animal, because she has saved one maintenance ration. She has only required the same maintenance ration as cows Nos. 1 and 2, and she has consumed a large quanadditional food, the whole of which has gone into production. It is cow’s the type- of No. 3 that it is the aim of every dairy farmer to , h ? ve V A „ rarmer with a herd of cows like No. 3 is on the road to fortune, w-hile Ins neighbour on the one side stocked with cmvs like No. 2, is making a bare living, and his neighbour on the other side, stocked with cows like No. u S f ast to bankruptcy. Now what Friesian breeders have to aim at blll fe‘ , l at "i 11 Produce <w» like No. 3. If they do this there is no fear of the future of the breed it will march on from success to success. If, however, Friesian bulls produce too IV ,P e T nta 8 e of cows like Nos 1 have 2 ’ta he bl i eed WIH g °c d ° Wn ' and will ha\e to make room for other more efficient breeds.

Now, assuming that a dairy farmer has a crossbred herd of cows, the type ot No. 3, why is it that he cannot/ by saving bis own bulls, continue to breed his herd within itself and keep up the fane type that he has. The reason why he cannot do it i s that his herd is a ciossbrecl herd. His animals are not prepotent. They will not breed true. ls ?% fr? long years of breeding on the right lines from proved animals that any quality can become fixed, ancl the animals become prepotent to that quality. Breeders have known this for generations, but it is only quite- recentl.A that the reason became known lhe reason is that the reproductive geim cells of crossbred animals are mixed, some having the qualities of one ancestor ancl some having the qualities of another. The quality of their progeny depend,^upon the accident of which germ cells come into use. It is quite possible for crossbreds mated toproduce some good animals, but the progeny will be verv mixed. Inrebreds. on the other hand if they have been bred true, that' is if all the ancestors have the qualities desired, have all their germ cells alike, all containing the inheritance of the desired qualities They are thus prepotent to the qualities that are required. Thev are said to breed true or to carry oil the desired qualities. It is obvious, therefore, that unless care is taken in a purebred herd to eliminate all animals that have not the qualities aimed at, and if animals with undesirable qualities are. allowed to creep into the pedigrees, it is possible tor purebreds to have their germ cells almost as mixed as crossbreds Bulls coming from a. herd with these mixed qualities will not breed true They will not be prenotent to the qualities aimed at.

Now there is only one wav for" a breeder of purebred dairy stock to make sure that his stock are going to be prepotent to dairy producing qualities,, and that is hv testing them and then breeding the best to the best and eliminating those animals that do not come up to the necessary standard of production. By only putting through his herd the blood of proved producers he will make as nearly sure as possible of having the reproductive germ cells or all his stock carrying the productive inheritance aimed at. There is no man that can tell just how his animals are going to produce until he has tested them. There are, of course some judges who can pick them better than others, but there is no man who can actually make certain of pickiiw his best producers over a whole season without testing them. This is now generally understood. If a genius were to arise, who could pick cow s that would produce, without testing them no one would believe him. A man who Hants now to buy a young animal carrying prepotent qualities, must see tho producing qualities of its female ancestors on both sides of its pedigree. Pedigree showing 'producing capacity is now recognised as being of the utmost importance in dairy stock. A man with a purebred herd must not only see that his cattle are the right t.Vj e, but that the pedigrees are right, if he wishes to introduce anv outside blood into his herd he has got to not only buy an animal of the right type, but he must get a pedigree for production that is going to improve his own pedigrees, and not injure them. Unless pedigrees for production are kept right, the reproductive germ cells of the herd "ill get mixed, and they will become whftt might nlmost he called “purebred crossbreds.” The longer a pedigree is lor proved production the better. A long production pedigree shows that the strain is carrying on from generation to generation. This is recognised in other countries. A few years ago T was in America and inspected there a number of their best studs of Friesian cattle. In one of the very best herds they have there I picked on two very good cows, each of which was of a, good type and had put up a good production record. One cow I thought was rather better on type than the other, but not much different. She also had put up a slightly better record. 1 asked the owner to quote me a price for a bull calf from each of them, and the price u^ as kcd f°i - the one that had out up the smallest record was twice as much as he asked for the one that put up the biggest record. I asked him to explain his reason, and he pointed out the pedigree of the one lie was asking the high price for. All her female ancestors for three generations back, on both sides, had put up big records; whereas neither the dam nor the grand-dam of the

other cow had been tested, and lie did not know what their production was. Length of pedigree for production makes a lot of difference to price in America.

A breeder of Friesian bulls has two classes of buyers to look for. One class is the Friesian breeder who wants stud bulls, and the other class of buyer is the ordinary dairy farmer with crossbred herds. A buyer of a stud bull, if he knows his business, can only afford to introduce into his herd the best blood going. The hull he buys must be one whose type is right and whose pedigree for production is going to improve all his own pedigrees. If he himself has been testing, and has fairly good pedigrees for production of his own he cannot afford to introduce into his herd, at any price, a bull without a good production- backing, no matter how fine an animal he might he. He might he an animal that would win in any show ring in the country, yet no breeder with tested stock showing good production could afford to use him, simply because the bull would spoil his pedigrees. His stock from a production point of view would be shortpedigree stock. It w’ould not matter if you could trace his ancestry back to thp days of Adam, if it consists of untested animals it is a sliort-pedigree as far as production is concerned. It is the hreeders of purebred cattle that can and will, pay the highest prices for the bulls that will suit them. A man can only get this market for hulls if he thoroughly tests his stock, and can give with his bulls pedigrees showing good backing for production. The ordinary dairy farmer, with crossbred cattle, wants the best bull he can get at a moderate price, and he is much more likely to go to the man who is getting high prices for some stud bulls and who can sell dairy bulls with good production backing than to the breeder with the best show ring stock in the country, but without hacking for production. We have in this country a most excellent system, of testing purebred stock, carried out by the Department of Agriculture. The' only fault I can see in it is the high rate they charge for the first few animals tested. 1 think, in view of the high place our dairy produce has in the production of the country, the Department of Agriculture would be ■well advised to reduce the charges on the first few animals tested in order to encourage breeders to start testing. I know some people complain about the artificial feeding that is given to tested animals, and sav that they should be tested under ordinary, dairying conditions. Ido not agree with this view. As I have already said, the type of cow that we want to produce is the cow- that will consume a large quantity of food arid convert the whole of the food she takes in excess of her maintenance ration into milk products. The only thing that brings that quality out is feeding them to the extent of their capacity. No cow can give a. big production under full feeding unless she has the capacity to eat the food and convert it into milk. The strain of animals that will give big production, generation after generation, under high feeding, is the profitable strain for any farmer to use. The farmer who buys bulls of this strain will find that he is breeding the right type of cow. 1 mentioned some time back that even with high production there were faults to be avoided. There are many faults in dairy animals that are eliminated by testing alone; that is, animals having these faults will never give big production. Pinched noses, narrow muzzles, small heart girth/ lack of depth, and delicate constitution never go with high producing animals. The putting out of animals that won’t produce will put out this type. There are however, other faults that a high production animal can have, hut which must he eliminated if we wish to produce profitable stock. I will mention a few of these faults 1

,The pendulous ■ and fleshy udder. Cows with this fault are sometimes very heavy producers, but they should be eliminated, because. their udders almost always break down comparatively early in life. The better they are fed the more quickly do they break down. Unless a cow will hold her udder up during a fairly long life she is not the most profitable type of cow. Bad feet are another fault which should he eliminated. A bad-footed cow might give very high production if she is carefully looked after and her feet attended to, but she will produce stock with had feet, and the ordinary dairy farmer wants cows whose feet give little or no trouble. The round, strong foot is what is wanted; not the long pointed foot that is continually growing out at the toes and throwing the cow back on its heels.

Then there is the droopy rump that so often goes with the ‘liadly shaped and badly attached udder that will not last. This must, therefore, be eliminated.

To succeed, a breeder must feed well and test consistently, and eliminate the faults that I have just mentioned. In introducing stock into his herd whose blood he intends to put right through his herd, let him get animals, if hulls with plenty of production behind them, an d if females with proved production hohitid them and proved producers themselves. If he does this he will rind the right dairy type emerging ltselt. and he will soon breed plenty of good animals that will enable’ him; by selection, to put .any extra polish on Ins herd that he wants to. The breeder who does this is on the road to success, and the public will soon find him out. He won’t need to advertise. As Emerson puts it: “If a man can write a better book preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbour, though he build his house in the woods the"world H-ili make a beaten track to his door.”

ANNUAL SMOKE CONCERT. A distinct success was scored by the Taranaki Friesian breeders in their organising of the annual social event at which a provincial association entertains breeders from other parts. Mill. Mareliant, president of the branch, made an excellent chairman, and he was supported on the one hand by His Warship the Mavor CVIr L. A. Hone), and on the other by Mr \Y. I>. Hunt (Dominion president), and Mr .T. R corrigan, M.P. Apologies were received from Messrs F. Hanford. A. J. Barr, L. T. A.vlwnrd. D. Dickie, and L. 0. Hooker. In a very interesting and happy speech the Mayor cordially welcomed, delegates to Hawera, stressing the pleasure all felt at Hawera being made the meeting place for the annual conference, show and sale. In the course ol bis remarks, he made a strong appeal to all farmers to improve their herds and their methods of feeding and farming generally, and so increase the output of the farming industry. A short toast list was honoured, all the speakers striving successfully to make their remarks quite apropos and fitting to the occasion'. The result was a markedly successful function. After the toast of His Majesty the King had been honoured, the New Zealand Friesian Breeders’ Council was proposed by Mr Payne (Dunedin) and responded to by Mr W. D. Hunt and Mr H. R. Green; “Kindred Associa-