BREEDING BETTER COWS

Northland Age, Volume 6, Issue 2, 9 October 1936, Page 6

BREEDING BETTER COWS

The operation of the guaranteed price for dairy produce in no way relieves the dairy farmer of the value of economic production. Farmers whose herds are brought to a reasonable producing standard are able to show small profits, but where herds arc below this standard their owners at the best are receiving little return for their and capital investment. To increase the production of such herds and so place the industry on a sounder basis the obvious suggestion is to breed better cows and much can be achieved in grading up nondescript herds by means of a good purebred sire. Supplementing a herd by indiscriminate purchases, which are frequently of the cull type, from other herds often causes loss and disappointment. An all-important phase in dairying is the raising of good heifer calves which are to become herd-builders, and a good reward can be expected from the extra attention given to their rearing. The best plan for building up the production standard of any herd is to breed better cows to replace those already in the herd. This superiorproduction ability in the heifers can be definitely brought out by mating the cows to high-class pure-bred bulls from high-producing strains. In many cases it may be preferable to purchase one or more pure-bred bulls to serve as a nucleus of a pure-bred herd, but this is not necessary, and many dairy farmers have secured excellent results by gradually grading up their former non-descript herds by means of a good pure-bi’ed sire, states the “Leader”.

Since the cost of raising a poor calf is just the same as for a good one, one should raise only those sired by a pure-bred bull and out of the cows that are of good type and the best producers in the herd. Period of Profitable Production The period of profitable production for the average dairy cow is about five years, so that, on the average, each member of the herd at seven or eight years of age must be replaced by a heifer. The dairy herd of 20 milking cows must rear, on the average, at least four heifer calves each year. In districts devoted largely to the sale of whole milk, the lack of ample supplies of skim milk adds greatly to the cost of rearing calves, and, as a result, these herds are maintained at the necessary numerical strength largely by the purchase of cows in the open market. As these only too frequently are culls from other herds, it is not surprising to find in such districts herds that over a period of many years have shown little or no improvement in quality. A series of experiments carried out some years ago demonstrated that the use of skim milk with supplementary feeds was the cheapest method of raising calves—the next cheapest being the running of the calves with their dams, and the most expensive the use of whole milk. It is of interest to note that running the calves with their dams costs approximately twice as much as rearing them on skim milk, while, with whole milk, the cost was three times as great. In view of these results, it is difficult to suggest that dairy farmers supplying whole milk should undertake the rearing of their own calves.

* For the period of five years, 19311935, there were in New Zealand 864 deaths through motor vehicles. For the same period there were over 600 deaths by drowning.