DAIRYING IN THE OLD COUNTRY.

Manawatu Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 7905, 14 January 1904, Page 3

DAIRYING IN THE OLD COUNTRY.

Some Surprising Results.

The milking records of the Jersey, Eed Polled,' and Shorthorn dairy herds, owned by Lord Rothschild, of Tring JPark (Englad), for the year ended September 30th last, are published in the Field of November 28th, and afford an excellent example of careful and resourceful management. Obviously the keeping of these records must involve a considerable amount of trouble and unwearying exactitude, but such trouble has its reward, always, in enabling the dairy farmer to weed out at once, the unprofitable members of bis herd. Taking the animals that "were in the herd the whole year, the yields per head work out as iollows: — Twenty-six Jerseys, 6659£ ]b of milk ; 37 Eed Polls, 7007f1b ; and 26 shorthorns, 72411b. The butter yielding records of Dr Watney's Jersey herd at Buckhold (England) for last year are also given in the same issue of the Field. The 23 cows that were in the herd the whole year gave an average return of 457'861b, and the 26 that Were only part of the year in the herd an average of 367"161b. The Jersey is commonly regarded as a poor milker, and while it is admitted that her milk is tich, her value to the dairy farmer is discounted owing to the fpaucity of the quantity. But what do we find in the Tring herd?— 26 Jerseys averaged 660ga1, a figure which is higher than vfiha great majority of averages of dairy fvvrmers who keep shorthorns and. other large cattle of a deep milking type. Amongst the animals referred to was one who gave 1280 gal, and two others which nearly reached lOOOgal each. A "third cow which gave 850 gal, has averaged 870 gal per annum for five years, while the biggest milker of all averaged 950 gal yearly for four years. Lord Bothschild's Eed Poll cattle—of which he owns a numerous herd—included 37 cows which were in the herd for the entire year, and which averaged 700 gal per head—one exceeding and three others approaching lOOOgal. One «ow had averaged 950 gal a year for ten years; four others had averaged over SOOgal per head for periods of four, five, and six years.

Coming to Shorthorns, we find that 26 animals averaged 724ga1. Four of the cows exceeded lOOOgal, while two others exceeded 900 gal. One cow averaged lOOlgal per annum for three years, another 930 gal for five years, and still another 930 gal for six years. Selection, sound feeding, and good management produced these surprising results. The details regarding Dr. Watney's j herd show equally wonderful results. In both cases (the Field states) the system of daily book-keeping is perfect, the milk produced, and the milk -accounted for being almost balanced, in ■spite of its quantity. Dr. Watney's ■herd is kept entirely for butter-making. Twenty-three Jersey cows averaged -45751b of butter fat per head, no less than seven exceeded 5071b, the best producer being a cow yielding 5551b. With <one exception every animal yielded more than 3601b butter. Apart from the 23 cows mentioned, there were twentysix cows which were in the herds for parts of the year. The average yield of these was .placed at 3671b per head, bo that taking the whole herd, the average yield was 4241b of butter. At Is per 4b 4241b of butter is equal to £21 4s Od, -but it is stated that all of Dr Watney's Gutter is sold for Is 6d per lb—and the ■demand for it is greater than the supply. jEver at the comparatively modest price <of Is 3d per lb, and 2d per gal for the drim milk, the return per cow from this dairy would exceed £80 per annum.