PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY

Hawera Star, Volume L, 14 February 1931, Page 12

PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY

SIZE OF THE MILKER

At fi meeting of milking Shorthorn breeders in Massachusetts, United States, a man who teaches dairying said that lie always stressed the practical importance of size in dairy cows, in his class-room work. Big cows, with roomy barrels, he said, possess a great digestive capacity and, therefore, produce more milk than small cows. He further remarked that in dairy herds of all breeds there is a constant tendency toward less rather than greater size in the average of the animals.

Practical breeds have discussed these and related points for years. Most of them prefer medium-sized cows to big cows, and as between a very large cow and a small one of the same breed that produced well, they would choose the latter; provided, of course, that she was not conspicuously small. Most of the highest- producers in dairy herds are medium to comparatively small size, for their breed. Cows that are exceptional in size, usually do not turn out so well in the long run as medium-sized cows, for breeding performance, than mere bigPlenty of size, combined with 'smoothness, quality, and the capacity to- pro-

* duce and reproduce -satisfactorily, is to be desired in a cow of any breed. Every experienced stockman Knows, however, that, as a rule, exceptionally large animals of any breed are deficient in smoothness and quality, and disappointing as breeders. Breeding for extreme in any direction is too hazardous for practical purposes. Individuality, trueness to type, and what is sometimes called “temperament” in dairy cows, are of greater importance, in milk production, and in bredeing performance, than mere bigness, even if it- be combined with fair to good quality and milking ability. As a milker, breeder, and dam, the medium-sized cow almost always excells the cow that is much larger than the average of her breed. The man who knows his cows and his breed does not bother much about size. It will usually take care of itself if the herd is handled and fed well. The most economical producers and reproducers within a breed vary widely in size, hut the majority of them are medium to small in stature.