Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 1906. DAIRY CATTLE FOR POOR LANDS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLI, Issue 51, 13 March 1906, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 1906. DAIRY CATTLE FOR POOR LANDS.

THE KERRY AND DEXTER COWS. IN continuation of our articles of special interest to the farming community we publish below some particulars relating to breeds of cattle adapted to such conditions of soil and exposure as are not uncommon in the hilly and sparsely grassed regions in the back-block areas of this district. Among the most practicable kinds, Itnowa aire .dy to local graziers either by experience in breeding or by reputation, are the Irish "Kerry" and the "Dexter," both of which have been somewhat exhaustively experimented upon at the Hawkesbury (N.S.W). Agricultural College and the Berry Experimental Farm. . ' • * • » As yet the J£_rry has been new to Australia "But'in 'the 'few places where the breed has beep tried "it lias made a fine impression. The Kerry-Shorthorn cross has"also ' ptovgA successful. The best cow in the Hawkesbury Cpl'ege herd, in fact, is of this cross. On her second calf she gives well over four gallons of milk a day, with excellent dairy quality, nnd her carcase is also good, conveniently running to beef as she dries off, but hot 'b-ion;. Dv fhe score of great hardiness and thrjtiiness ihe cross is likely to commend itself strongly to breeders in the rougher and drier portions of the state, where conditions approximate to some extent to those in ■liL'li pj" the Nelson province. Apart from the dairying usefulness of the Kerry-Sliortlibr'iV ' cross, tho hjiljgpks make" as nice animals for tho slings ns anyone would wish to see. • « • • • Of the (om' distinct breeds native to Ireland the Kerry ajona .survives, and this is reasonably regarded as an evidence of merit. Fifty" "years ago Sir William Wilde, an acknowledged cattle authority, spoke of the Kerry as being "exceedingly jjardy. rjcfi and abundant oin milk, and possessing the additional advantage of rapidly fattening upon very moderate fare, when brougnt from its native hills into the plains and fertile country. Several possess many of M)e finest points belonging fo the modern Shorthorns, and are in some respects superior, owing to their fattening as well as their milking qualities." Coming down to cjuito recent times Watson, in his book pn "T.he Best Breeds of British Stock,'' declares the Kerry to bo "distinctly the poor man's cow, thriving w.h.re no English or Channel Islands' breed, could get a !i v ing> and during extremes of heat and cold, of the hardiest possible constitution. It has beaten all other breeds in the queston of milk in proportion to live-weight and as the Prince of Wales (now King Edward) remarked some years ago, produces the finest beef in the world." Watson then goes on to say: — "An advantage of the Kerry is that three of them can be kept in place of two cattle of any other breed, and they grow fat where a Hereford or Shorthorn would starve. As an admirer of Shorthorn (living as I do in the heart of the Shorthorn country), I believe it to be by far tho best breed of British cattle ; but when I see it in the hill-country valleys, with good, frame, b_t otherwise a sn_dow of what it ought to be— in such cases I am confident that the Kerry would prove the better animal." The "Dojfter" is an off-shoot of the Korry ; in fact it is often spoken of as tho Doxter-Kcrry, having first been bred by Mr Dexter, then factor to Lord Hawarden. It is on record that Mr J. j Suttor's Dexter Red Rose, which gained j first prize in her class at "the English Royal Show, gave, in one year, 12,4731 b of milk, or considerably over 1200 gallons. The Duchess of Newcastle's i beautiful Kerry wnich won the English Royal blue ribbon two years in succession, gavo, i»j 10 gjonths, 845 gallons of rich milk. Qther cattlf;. from the herd of the same breed, arid from which thr New South Wft!fi/f State imported Kerrys were 'largely purchased, pave during 10 months' milking, 775, 615, 905, 907. 474 (hoi fer), 687, 629, 655, and 502 gallons respectively, the four latter being Dexter records. Thf? milk of the Kerry and Dexter is nearly as rich ns that of the Jersey, and this gives an idea of the value of these animals. At a recent London dairy show the Kerry cow Belladonna won In the mixed breeds buttei class. She had been 189 days calved, and yielded in tho 24 hours 261 b 7oz of milk, which produced lib 7ioz of butter a week after being six months calved. # # # _ ♦ In the milking trials held at the same show alluded to above, the following were the yields of the prize Kerrys : — In two days' (48 hours) milking, one cow, Dahlia, gave 87£lb. of milk, which tested 3.54 in the morning, and 4.37 in ' the evening, representing an extra yield of 21b. of butter a day, or 141 b. a week. The second prize Kerry yielded 81_lb of mi|k, or an average of 40ilh. n dav The, {homing's milk contained 3. 4 1 ? per

cent of butterfat, and the evening's milk 4.65 per cent. This represents a yield of slightly under 21b. (1.941 b) a day, supposing butter to contain 85 per cent of butter-fat. At a later show 10 Jerseys and one Kerry lined' up for competition, with the result that eight of the best Jerseys in England had to be content to take places behind the 'Kerry, while tho two which beat her had N&iy narrow margins to spare. This Kerry gave five gallons of milk a day, testing equal to 21b. 6Aoz of butter a day, or nearly 171 bof butter a week. ***** The Australian record is perhaps more interesting to our farmers than the English one. At the Berry (Shoalhaven, N.S.W.) experimental farm the Kerry cow, Belvedere Bratha, is the best animal of the entire importation. Taking bad and good years, she has perhaps yielded more butter than any other, and certainly during the dry years (1901 and 1902) she was at the top of her stall. In 1902 (the drought year) she gave 83401 b. of milk, yielding* 435 !b. of butter. Her test averaged 4.6 ncr cent of fat In 19Q3 she gave 8255 lb. of milk, yielding 4331 b. of butter. For" this period her test was slightly higher. Her daughter, Midnight, by Gay Knight (imp.) gave 592 gallons of milk on her first calf, yielding 3201 b. of butter. Passing to the butcher's side of the comparison, it is on record that a Kerry steer exhibited at tho Smithfield Club Show (London) sold for £ .0 : also at the same time a three-year-old Kerry heifer, on being killed, was found to dress 61.84 per cent of her live weight, the dressed, carcase weighing 7261 b., the live weight being 11741 b. The opinion expressed was that no more satisfactory carcase had been seen. At the fat stock show held in London in 1898 six out of 16 prize-wi nners. in the small classes had Dextp'r qr "Kerry blood in their veins. t" t » * « The chief and distinguishing merits of these breeds, saya Mv O'Callaghan, an Australian authority, are their extreme hardinoss, their robust constitution, their adaptability to all climates, and their ability t9 thrive undo, conditions where most other cows would starve. Mr O'Callaghan continues : — "The Dextpr cro§s is especially suitable for very small foldings'" and for suburban cattle for private families; but the true Kerry is fit to take its place in any dairy herd wh_re economy and profit are studied. The Kerry is essentially a butter cow. It is not a cheesemaker's beast ; it is not the animal for the man who has ai) eye more to huef than milk ; it is an animal which crosses well with all the larger breeds', and it is an animal which, if adopted, would make a lot of our light and medium lands much moro profitable fiian thoy are at present." Although l|ie 'foregoing remarks especially re'fer't'o the 'dvdughtyand arid conditions bf gotjjg pprtions of New South Wales, with ' modifications they apply equally to many parts' of the Nelson province where Ipt'l'? 1 ti? !{ lias, been deeme) virtually impracticable to kpor> j dairy, cattle, If the Kerry and the Dexter and their crosses will thrive on our poor hill and back lands and small holdings, then there is no reason why co-operativo dairying should not be indefinitely extended in the province till it becomes a far more important local industry than it is at present. !