ECONOMY IN DAIRYING

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXXII, Issue 2803, 20 November 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

ECONOMY IN DAIRYING

THE BULL IS HALF THE HERD. Perhaps the greatest economy that can be carried out on a dairy farm is in the direction of making the herd produce more without increasing the number. - A standard of production should be set up. A dairy farmer might say to himself, “ any cow that does not bring in so-much per annum is not worth keeping.” A cow is a machine for producing milk. If a manufacturer has a machine which, in spite of oiling and cleaning and careful driving, will not produce as much as a newer machine he promptly discards it in favour of the improved article. So the cow that will not respond to careful feeding and shelter, must be culled out. The farmer is not compelled to make a sudden change. By the expenditure of a reasonable sum for a good bull, with a milking pedigree behind him, in a few years the herd may be worked up into a more payable proposition. Tn an American town, the bankers and business men formed a “ better-bull association.” They sent away for a hundred bulls and disposed of them to the dairy farmers on easy terms, more bulls being purchased ns the instalments on former loans came in. As business mon they recognised that the easiest way to meet low prices was to increase production per cow.