REARING DAIRY HEIFERS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 1 July 1933, Page 3

REARING DAIRY HEIFERS.

While it is always advisable to rear -the best eow calves of the dairy herd with a view to filling a vacancy in the herefrom time to time, it does not always that the best milch cows will produce the be6t calves. That - as to say, the foest calves for rearing as young cows: 'The calf may take after.'the'bull more than its dam. Unless the bull which sires the dairy herd is of a deep milking strain, his. offspring may in 6ome cases prove disappointing as milkers. The - best we «an do in any case is to select the best calves from, the best cows. Then- if 'some of these good calves, as natural- ■ <ly they may, develop into inferior dairy cows, we must just fatten them and turn them over to the butcher. But we •never know how a heifer may do at the milking pail until she calves and is tried. Of course, we can to a certain extent judge whether a heifer will make a useful cow or not. If she is developing a good udder of the proper shape and has fairly prominent milk veins, we may accept her ias a promising young eow. But how often, have we seen a heifer showing little promise as regards udder development, etc., before «alving, and yet even beat a more promising lieifer at the pail afterwards. Some heifers and cows let down the udder,in a greatly distended form several clays before calving. Others show little development in this way until actually about to calve. Thus it is very difficult to judge a heifer .before calving; and it is a vast degree more . difficult to say whether she will make a useful cow when just of an- age to mate with the bull. It is a sporting chance which must often be taken. Much may be done to develop a leife'r's milking qualities by means of careful and regular milking and seeing that the udder is completely emptied at every milking. Feed well to produce a good flow of milk.