Most Urgent Need In Dairying Industry

Northern Advocate, 25 November 1943, Page 2

Most Urgent Need In Dairying Industry

“The most urgent need in the dairying industry is for sires that are capable of leaving daughters better than the dams they were mated with; otherwise more profitable production is impossible’’ This statement was made today by the Chief Herd Recording Officer for New Zealand (Mr C. M. Hume), in an interview with a “Northern Advocate” representative relative to herd testing and other allied features cf dairying. Herd-testing had dropped back during the past two years on account of shortage of staff due to war conditions. said Mr Hume. “We were the first organisation to recognise the necessity for women to replace men for war service, and we took steps to train them. Practically all were members of the Women’s Emergency Herd Testers’ Reserve. ’ said Mr Hume. “These women have done excellent work, in many cases under much more trying conditions than the men who preceded them." Many Girl Testers The association was in the position of having members who require a testing service, and these will be supplied as soon as post-war conditions allow. There are approximately 180 herd testing girls in New Zealand, the number in Northland varying from 17 to 20. The experience of herd recording had shown that emphasis must be transferred from the cow to the sire. It was the good bull that made a highly productive dairy herd, not a few good cows. It was for that reason that all propaganda was in the direction of educating the dairy farmei to this most important fact. The Herd Sire Figures recently taken out proved beyond doubt that the average herd sire in use in the Dominion was only maintaining the standard of production, not increasing it, as so many dairy farmers imagined. There were, of course, a number of cases where, through testing', a considerable improvement in production per cow had been obtained, said Mr Hume. The unsatisfactory point, however, was that the average herd in the Dominion was practically stationary with no immediate prospect of improvement. There were, however, certain strains within each breed which were higher producers than other strains, and it was to locate such animals that herd testing was so essential. Expansion After War The post-war years would see a great expansion in the testing industry service organisation. Much spade work had been done during the war period, and as opportunity offered, the industry would obtain more reliable detail as to the most sound lines on which production should be guided. “I emphasise again," said Mr Hume, “that practically all this work will centre on the herd sire. The most urgent need in the industry is for sires that were capable ot' leaving daughters better than the dams the sires were mated with; otherwise more profitable production is impossible.” Farmers should recognise that the satisfactory winter feeding of stock was fundamental to a maximum production on the part of the cow. In addition, disease problems were invariably reduced by the cow’s resistance not being impaired through lack of feed, concluded Mr Hume.