THE "SCRUB" BULL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 29 April 1922, Page 3

THE "SCRUB" BULL.

(By a Writer in a Produce Journal.)

The general adoption of herd-testing will lead to a very radical change in many customs and habits in the dairy farming industry. It is the first step towards placing dairy farming on a business basis and the elimination of guess-work. Herd-testing enables the farmer to know which are "guest cows'' and which are "paying boarders.'' As soon as the value of herd-testing is thoroughly realised and its commercial importance fully recognised, the dairy farmer will wish to go further. Herdtesting cannot be regarded as the beginning and the end. It leads to other progressive steps. There are two points which must come before the mind of the thinking farmer. The first is the disposal of culls; the second the improvement of his herd. Accepting the fact that herd-testing spells the exit of the "robber cow,'' it leads to the logical conclusion that the more butter-fat the herd produces the greater the profits. This may introduce a constantly increasing butter-fat standard by" each farmer. As his herd improves, so will his standard advance. It will possibly be found that the farmer in a few years'' time will not be content to accept the minimum of his first year with a herdtesting association. But if he is culling cows he has to dispose of them. If he sells them as dairies through the{ yards in the present methods, he will pass his culls on to someone else. The vendor may say that he has to dispose j of his culls. He should remember that the seller of to-day may be the purchaser of to-morrow. He may sell his culls to-day; he may buy some other farmers' culls to-morrow. This points to the necessity of a change in the methods of selling dairy cows. It indicates that the time must come when a herd-testing certificate is going to become a very important adjunct in the sale of a dairy cow. Whatever may happen in this direction, it deals only with the female side of the herd, and at its best can only advance the farmer a part of the way. In conjunction with the improvement of the dairy cows j comes the necessity of good bulls. There' can hardly be any opposition to the contention that the "scrub bull" is a menace. If it is to be that the dairy cow is to be sold on this herd-testing certificate, then it is legitimate to ask! that the bull should be judged on his butter-fat backing. It is only by concentrating the attention of farmers to the necessity of action that any improvement on the existing state of! affairs will be brought about.