BUILDING A HERD

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 159, 21 June 1935, Page 10

BUILDING A HERD

Testing an Essential Factor TYPE AND PRODUCTION Important factors to consider iu starting a dairy herd were outlined m the course of tin address given to members of the Dannevirke Jersey Breeders’ Club recently on Mr Somervill’s property at Otawhao, by Mr Dale, stud stock officer of the New Zealand Loan uud Mercantile Agency Co,, Ltd. Air Dale said that in starting a herd it is necessary to m»ko it a business proposition and in this connection consideration mutt be given to the selection of the foundation stock, the building up of the herd to a state of efficiency and holding it there. It is a man-size job to build up an efficient herd and it is an even bigger job to hold. “You must watch yield; develop and increase it from the start,” said -Mr Dale. “You must maintain type, for type at its best means constitution, vigour, capacity for feed, and beauty of form. [ have been asked, ‘Of what value i,s beauty uf form?’ It gives us pleasure in our work, pleasure in the possession of animals that we can show others. In fact it is beauty of form combined with production that gives us the incentive to carry on, that will keep the family interested in the farm so that there is some likelihood of their taking more than parsing interest in their work. That is why’ yon. must select your foundation stock with care, show your test cw.vs and test your show cows ami you will see for yourself the added interest your family and you will have in the work of the I arm. J UDGING THE COW. “A good judge has an eye for a good animal and lie becuincs proficient only with practice and study.

would do well to study and practice with the score card, familiarise themselves with this and get the correct value of an animal as a whole. For mating, selection according to type ami production is an absolute necessity it we are to progress towards the breeder’s goal winch is type and production combined. We aim lor constitution, type and dairy conformation as lar as possible. When records arc not availaole we have to judge the productive ability of an animal according to external indications. In yoiAg animals and those that are far advanced in lactation it is mure difficult to select for production, as indications are not so well developed as in older cows in Hud! of season. There are some experienced judges who can make a very fair job but even with experience. and study mistakes are made. A judge’s eyes and hands are not able to determine the amount of fat a cow will produce within 50 or lOOlbs. of fat. Still, if tests are not available we have to tail back on selection. “Testing is the only true indication of a cow's ability to produce. Without testing it is impossible to know just how good a good cow is or just how bad a bad one is. To improve your herd, test for production, select for type, dairy conformation, and constitution, and cull ruthlessly.” POINTS DEMONSTRATED. Mr Dale demonstrated the various points in the animals during his address, emphasising what the various requirements were in conformation. Air Dale expressed the opinion that the purchase of a herd sire was of the greatest importance; a good sire tending to success and a poor one only to disaster. “Choose the best pedigree type ami backing you can afford,” ho said. “Progressive dairy farmers today demand constitution, type, and production, with the free knowledge that a sire of this description will raise the standard of their herds, a«d on these grounds they are prepared to pay good prices. Look for production in a bull’d ancestors and in the dams on both sides. Type is not perhaps as closely related as production as there are strong producing animals that lack to some extent this quality. Still/ animals that please the eye sell for higher prices and add to the pleasure of breeding dairy cattle. Look for prepotency in the first three or four generations and look for transmission of dairy type and breed of character in the female and the same in the male always with the idea of femininity in the one and masculinity in the other. BULL’S CHARACTERISTICS. “The bull that has dams of undoubted dairy character and is himself like them except that he is of masculine character is the bull to eelect. Avoid in breeding stock, weak common heads with dull, vacant expression. Jn a bull this never indicates the power to impress his own likeness on his progeny, rather the reverse. In a cow look for sweetness, femininity and a look of refinement.” The improvement of dairy stock, Mr Dale concluded, was due to a great extent to better care, feeding and testing, hut we still had a long way to go. There were too few bulls from tested dams on both sides and not until breeders could supply bulls _of outstanding constitution and having ancestors proved for production over a long period would improved production take place through breeding.