AYRSHIRE BREEDERS’ COUNCIL MEETS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6842, 21 February 1929, Page 4

AYRSHIRE BREEDERS’ COUNCIL MEETS

The council of the -Ayrshire Cattle Breeders' Association met in Palmerston North yesterday, there being present Messrs A. M. Weir (Southland), in the chair, F. Mills (Hawcra), J. D. Aitchison (Linton), W. C. Wallace (Cambridge), C. B. Morgan (Woodville) T. Webb (Palmerston North), C. Webb and H. Webb (Levin), P. Bremer (Ok-aiawa), and C. Morgan Williams, (Kaiapoi). Show Cup Competition.

The Council received a reply from the Manawatu A. and. P. Association as to why the breed had been left out of the Johnnie cup competition. The letter stated that Mr D. Buchanan had been deputed to draw u-p the conditions and his proposal had been accepted. It was explained to the meeting that Mr Buchanan was an Ayrshire breeder and he had left the breed out of the competition so that ho would not bo able to compete for it himself. Mr T. Webb considered that the breed had been slighted by being left out and other cattle breeders had commented on the position. It was decided to send a deputation to the A. and P. Association in an endeavour to get Ayrshires included in future.

Fighting Diseases.

The Director-General of Agriculture (Dr Reakes) wrote stating what the Department was doing in the matter of coping with cattle diseases and remarking that breeders and dairymen generally, were unaware of the comprehensive nature of the investigations being carried out. The Department was also keeping in close touch with similar investigations in other countries. The letter gave a detaled account of what the Department was doing. The Council expressed appreciation of what the Department was doing, Mr F. Mills stating that he knew of his own knowledge that the authorities were up against difficult problems and farmers should not bo impatient with the Department. In his own district experiments were being undertaken with a vaccine to try and combat contageous abortion, but the results so far were not striking. However, the work was being prosecuted vigorously.

Standardised Cheese,

After a brief discussion in which the opinion was expressed that the standardising of cheese would eventually ruin the New Zealand trade at Home, it was decided to issue a protest to the Department against the new regulations and affirming the resolution of the last meeting of the Dairy Breeds Federation that no alteration in the

quality of New Zealand cheese exported should be made. Judges and Shows. The names of Messrs J. X). Aitchison, (Linton), G. Carter (Carterton) and T. Galpman (Palmerston North) are to be submitted to the Wellington Winter Show Association as judges of Ayrshire cattle.

A discussion ensued on the best method of encouraging breeders outside Southland to attend the next Koval Show at Invercargill and the chairman’s suggestion to grant a points’ prize for breeders from outside Southland was adpted.

Testing. That breeders could not get away from herd-testing as a progressive move, was the opinion of the chairman when asking for consideration of a suggestion that C.O.K. testing should still be encouraged. There was no doubt that the semi-official test was falling off and in any cate farmers were getting somewhere with the ordinary herd-testing while the C.O.K. was taking a long time to give the results desired.

Mr Mills thought that the association had not got its moneys worth in the past by subsidising tho C.O.K. test as so very few breeders had entered. Mr Morgan spoke in favour of holding derbys—one in the North Island and another in the South Island.

Mr. T. Webb pointed out that derbys had been discussed previously and no good results had been secured. Members thought the subsidising of tho C.0.1t. had proved an inducement to breeders to tost and it would not be advisable even to cut the subsidy down.

Mr Morgan Williams moved that subsidy be continued for another year and this was agreed to. Challenge Shield.

It was decided to allocate the autumn show points challenge shield to the Cambridge A. and P. show.

General,

The next half-yearly meeting of the association was fixed for Invercargill at, Royal show time. It was decided to ask tho auctioneers to hold the Ayrshire national sale in Palmerston North at the time of the annual meeting in June.