HERD-TESTING PAYS.

Matamata Record, Volume XIII, Issue 1111, 3 April 1930, Page 6

HERD-TESTING PAYS.

KIWITAHI FIGURES. Over 30016 of Fat Per Cow. Some good production figures are down to the credit of the herd of Mr. R. R. Heaton, of Kiwitahi Railway, who has been testing for a number of years and building up his herd each season from heifers from the leading cows mated to sires’ of high (production»standard, while the lower producers are culled out. Mr. Heaton has a number of cows which have already given over 300 poilnds of butterfat, and as the end of the season is still two months off he anticipates that the majority of his herd will have reached the 300-pound mark before the tests are completed. With three more testings to be made, one cow' is already credited with 366 pounds of fat, another with 365 pounds, one with 332 pounds, and a fourth with 308 pounds. One of the heifers has given 305 pounds of fat, and the next three in order have produced 277, 269 and 261 pounds of fat. •- • The farm, of 95£ acres, is in wonderful heart and at present is carrying 47 cows and heifers, 20 incalf heifers, 15 calves, 2 bulls and 4 horses, as well as a number of pigs and 283 sheep. Mr. Heaton states that he has too much feed and is held up with topdressing until the sheep can eat the rank growth down. He maintains that farmers are now topdressing to carry larger herds and are all milking insufficient cows. To gain the full value of topdressing he advocates larger herds, or, as an alternative, intensive mowing when the grass is rank.