DAIRYING IN DENMARK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19141, 6 October 1925, Page 16

DAIRYING IN DENMARK.

high butter-fat yield. FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE. TOLL DURING LAST WINTER. [BY TELKGBiPH. —OWX COHRESrONDENT. ] TE AROHA. Monday. Interesting impressions of farming in Denmark, his native land, are given by Mr. N. Madsen, who for many years ■nas a dairy-farmer in Taranaki, near Hawera. Writing to a friend in Te Aroha, Mr, Madsen gives a great deal of information as to farming conditions, the quality of the land and production. The Danish farmers, he writes, have received good prices for their produce for many years, ai)d if I had only stayed heie and got a farm instead of going abroad, I feel sure I would have been a weii-to-do man to-day, but now land is too dear.- I have had many pleasant surprises. It pleases me to see that the old country is doing so well. They have electric light and power on the farms, and telephones as well, besides many motor-cars, but best of all they have, increased prcUuction in fspite of the foot and mouth disease, which they have had three times in Denmark since I went abroad. It was very bad last winter, worse than it has ever been, and 35,000 herds,, over 20 per cent, of the herds in Denmark, had this dreadful disease last year. As young stock and pigs always get the disease it means a very big loss to the country. However, in 1924, Denmark exported over 12,000 tons of batter, besides some cheese, cream and other milk products, the value of all milk products being over seven hundred million kroner, or nearly £30,000,000. The export from the pig industry for the same year was 196,000 ions of bacon, 25,000 tons of other pig products, and 206,000 live ,pigs, in all about 235,000 tons of pig products. I cannot give the exact value of it, but I think it would be about £20,000,(XX). The value of the egg production for 1924 was ov=ir £8,000,000. The export of horses was, about 12,500 animals, valued at about £500,000, and of cattle aboijt 170,000 live animals, besides the meat; also, gram, teed, etc. The value of the whole of th«i exports from Denmark for 1924 was about 1800 million kroners, or close; on £80,000,000. Seventy per cent, of the butter went to, England, 25 per cent, to Germany and the other 5 per cent, to other countries. Most of the bacon goes to England, while most of the other live products go to Germany and Central Europe. Much Poor Land. New Zealand is six times the area of Denmark, and has a short arid mild winter as compared with Den mark, and 1 think that only half of this little country can be called good land, while thousands of acres are useless for farming purposes. It is heath, where hardly anything but heather and some kinds of pinetrees will About 20 per cent, of Denmark was covered with heather some 50 years ago; now most, of it has been cultivated, anc either covered with trees, or the best 01 ■it made into farms, but some of it is S a h poor land that I hardly understand ih,i it pavs to farm it. However, some of it is fairlv good. When you consider all the poor land we have here, the fairly ccol climate and short growing season, and place against it the big export you cannot help thinking of the possibilities of New Zealand. It should not be forgotten either, that Denmark has a fairly big town popu.aiion for its size. The capital, Copenhagen, alone has over 700.000, and the whole country has a population of nearly 3i millions. It is true that if Denmark did not impcrt oil cakes, etc.. tor the Block her exports would not be so large, but according to statistics 85 pf r cent, of the feeding units are produced in the country, and only 15 per cent, imported. But perhtps that 15 per cent, could not make up for the loss through foot and mouth disease. I do not think that Denmark has reached the limit ctf her production yet. The farmers use more and more manure every year and they say l it pays, x hey also go n more for testing their cows, though too few arc tested as yet. I have not got the records for the whole country, but I ha»e those of the Island of Funen. There are about 150,000 cows in Funen, of which 47 per cent., or over 70.000, are tested. Butterfat Per Cow. The returns in Denmark are given in butter and not in butter-fat, as in New Zealand, and on the basis of 86ib. of fat for 1001b. of butter. The average of all the cows of the Danish Red breed is 3651b butter; Danish Red mature cows average 3831b. butter; all Jersey cows j average 3961b. butter; Jersey mature cows average 4161b. butter. It looks as if the Jersey is the best cow, but it should be remembered that only about 1 per cent, of the cows tested are Jerseys, and the Jerseys are either imported from the Jersey Isle or are the offspring in the first few generations oif those imported. There are therefore not manv poor ones among them, while the Danish Red if, the native race and there are still many low-grade animals. I hen the Danish Bed gives much more milk than the Jersey, 92551b., as against 67221b., which means more skim milk for the pigs. The following figures show the averages of the eleven highest testing* associations for all cows: —4461b. butter, 4441b., 4321b., 4211b., 4191b., 4161b., 4141b., 4051b., 4031b,, 4001b., 4001b. Moreover 33 associations have between 380-4001b. of butter per cow. The highest yield of any one cow was 8801b. of butter. Forty cows gave over 716!bs. of butter, 56 over 6941b., 99 over 672ib., 147 over 6501b., 229 over 6271b., 375 over 6051b., and 1010 over 5601b. The above returns are all for cows of the Danish Red breed, which is said to be the youngest milking race on earth. Besides, there were 12 Jerseys giving over 6051b„ and 23 Jerseys giving over 5601b. These returns are all from the little island of Fnnen, or as we call it Fyn, and from f>9.449 Danish Red and 648 Jerseys. Average Yield Increasing. Twelve years ago, when I left Denmark, the average for cows tested on Funen was only 2951b. of butter against 3561b. last year, an increase of over 6011). of butter per cow, in spite of the war and three epidemics of foot and mouth disease. The farmers have also suffered heavy losses through sterility among their ccws for some yea?s. About 20 per cent, of the cows have to be put out for that reason j every year, and on an average the cows | only have between three or four calves, ■which, of course, means too many young cows, as experiments have proved that a cow does not get into her best until after her seventh calf.