THE 2000 GALLON COW.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 28 October 1922, Page 4

THE 2000 GALLON COW.

The talk that the progeny of cows j whose milk yields are increasing must deteriorate is ridiculous in face of the : facts (says a Home paper). Pedigree dairy cows show no lack of stamina. I The object of the farmer is to increase his yields in every possible direc- ! tion. Improved agriculture has been' based almost entirely on the results of an insistence on this fact. And we know that there is no crop, and no animal product, that is not capable of greater yields than are obtained on the farms of this country—increases that are possible and entirely beneficial. . j The country, "further, demands that this doctrifie of greater possible yields shall be preached in and out of season iif our agriculture shall be anything like what the country requires it should be. In spite of this, however, it is curious that whenever farmers do achieve success in increasing production critics voice alarming stories of I its danger. j So far as cropping? are concerned, I increased production has been constant|ly hindered, and the full benefit of--1 artificial fertilisers has never yet been taken advantage of, simply because of the parrot-cry that the land is injured by big crops. Heavy crop yields never injured any land; that they are grown indicates that the land, is in the best productive condition. The land may be injured if that high productive condition is not maintained by proper care and the supply of the necessary plant foods, I but that is a very different thing to | injury merely because it has produced a big crop. A Veterinary Surgeon's Theories.

Recently considerable attention has been giveii to* some remarks on the dangers of forcing milk yields, made by Mr. Sidney Villar, a veterinary surgeon, at the annual conference of the National Veterinary Medical Association. Mr. Villar attacked the cows who are giving-2000 gallons pf milk or oyer in ia single lactation period. He did not bring any single, instance in which such large yields had caused degeneration in the animal—he only thought that such must-occur, as well as'increased tuberculosis, if the practice of increasing the milk yields were persisted in.

If the theories of Mr. -Villar are true,, it must not be forgotten that they apply in- their danger to all that milk recording and its application to •■breeding stands for. AYe have had something like 15 years' milk record-, ing, and during that time we haA-e had ! experience of many generations of cattle AA^hich have consistently and sub- ■ stantially raised their milk yields Avith each generation. The reports of the milk-recording -societies are emphatic in pointing out that each year there is , a general increase in the yields of the1 milk-recorded herds j while the records' show.that almost invariably the younger generations exceed their dams in yield. Where this is the case it is absurd to talk of degeneration. - Animals that in*, actual fact maintain their regular breeding have no lack of stamina, and that increase their production are improving, ;and the talk that the orogeny of cows Avhose milk yields -are increasing "must deteriorate" is ridiculous in face of the facts.

What Nature Teaches. We have^; dealt Avith the question from the standpoint of the many coavs that have increased their yields under the influence of milk-recording. The 2000 gallon coavs are but incidents in the results of milk recording. Out of something like 100,000 cows whose milk yields have been recorded in this country, 52 have given 2000 gallons of milk' or more in lactation periods of a year or under. We have the actual history of all these, coavs, and the curious fact is that even these have all (Aye believe) shown greater vigour, and-given greater yields Avith each neAv generation. The fact-is that Nature is teaching us much Avith regard to our dairy cattle, and through milk recording is confounding much of the pessimism of those who have little faith in the boun- I ties of Nature for those who work to' assist Nature.. j