RED POLLS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 107, 19 April 1933, Page 12

RED POLLS

DUAL PURPOSE CATTLE GREAT FUTURE PROPHESIED. FINDINGS OF MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE. Although New Zealand farmers ire not much in favour of dual purpose cattle, there is no doubt that both Milking Shorthorns and Bed Polls are having greater attention focussed on them than before. A prominent official at a recent Canterbury show prophesied a great future for the Red Poll breed. Writing in the English “Live Stock Journal’’ Major Agnew says: “The Red Poll is essentially a duel-purpose animal, although there are enthusiasts who attempt to emulate the performances of the dairy breeds in milk production. A few years ago milk was predominant in the minds of most breeders, but a change of ideas is in the air, and the call is now for beef and butter-fat as well as milk, especially from Australia and South Africa. “A cow that can average 800 gallons of milk with 4 per cent, butter-fat and produce a bull calf that will weigh Bcwt. at 16 months old must surely be the ideal cow for the average farmer. And this performance is nothing out of the way for a Red Poll cow. “For the big dairy farmer, with a milk contract in view, it is milk, and milk only, that counts. But the bulk of the farmers in this country, either from locality, distance from the rail, or the size of their holdings, cannot economically take up milk contracts. They probably want enough milk for the local “round” and some over for ealf rearing, and a bull calf that will sell readily off the cow in the local market, and enough butter-fat to make butter-making a useful sideline when the demand for milk is slack. VALUE LN MEETING DEMAND. “And last, but not least, it must be • great advantage, in this era of ‘.baby beef” and small joints, to breed a bull calf that can be steered and sold off fat at 16-18 months old. “It is the fashion in - -ne quarters to scoff at the dual puij ..e idea by pointing out that dual-purpose cattle “cut no ice” at the London Dairy Show or the Christmas fat stock shows. The answer to this argument is that 99 per eent. of British farmers have neither the means nor the time to compete at such shows, which are primar ily the happy hunting ground of the big breeders. But there is one dualpurpose type that all the butchers seem to like, when they can get him, and that is the Red Poll. “There are eows in the country that give huge yields of milk in the lactation and then fail to calve again for long periods, and there are cows that •re so beefy that they cannot bring up their own calves. Are these ideal types for the ordinary farmer! “The Ministry of Agriculture certificates given to cows which for three successive years produce a live calf •nd average 900 gallons of milk, have of late years been awarded to more eows of the Red Poll than to any other breed, taking into consideration their numbers. This fact may not be generally known, but a glance at the annual Register of Dairy Cattle issued by the Ministry of Agriculture will prove it. “To revert to the fat stock shows, it would probably astonish most if they heard of the immense amount of expensive food required to get a beast “into the money” at one of these shows. This cannpt bo a practical proposition for the ordinary farmer, who requires an animal that will live rough and look well up to 12 months, and then fatten off for the butcher in the shortest possible time on normal rations without any costly forcing. “I do not want in any way to criticise other breeds, all of which have their own use in their own sphere, but I hold a strong brief for the dual-purpose Red Poll as being the ideal type for the average farmer who cannot afford ‘frills.’ I n Australia, South Africa, Rhodesia and Kenya the Bed Poll has proved that it can flourish and pay its way in a hot, arid climate, and as they insist on butter-fat and beef as well as milk, the Red Poll exactly fills the bill. It is very noticeable how the bulls of this breed stamp their type on the progeny of whatever cows they are mated with.”