BEEF PRODUCTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19691, 18 July 1927, Page 15

BEEF PRODUCTION.

FOUNDING the herd.

METHOD of purchasing

AND A WARNING

To many this is a very simple proceeding at least, so they think. A visit to a collection sale, a number of purchases, and the thing is done. Actually quite the reverse is the case, for the result is a collection and not a herd at all. It is failure to recognise this fact that is so often the cause of disappointment, and, incidentally, of dispersion sales, writes Buccaneer in tho London " Live Stock Journal.' Yet consider how can it be otherwise ? How can one bull be expected to suit a largd assortment of females of different breeding, of various top crosses, from different herds, and of all sorts of sides and all sorts of shapes? Yet such is expected by the hopeful almost daily. A collective sale is far from being the best place in which to seek foundation female stock. In the first placo it may generally be assumed that the cattle on there, are thoso that the breeder has decided he can do without—culls, in other words—for it is generally the case that the best are retained at home. Again, cattle at such sales are shown m very high condition, and flesh, after all .covers a multitude of faults. The man of experience is often enough decieved by masses of fat, and what applies to the old h;> applies tenfold to the novice. Then what is known of tho cattle entering the ring ?,. Practically nothing, unless an extensive tour has Been made before the sale to see the sires and dams, which is practically never done. However, there it is. Having made purchases at this collective sale and that, one has to make the best of a bad job, and there is nothing to be done except to inaugurate a campaign of culling and weeding out. Many of those jolly looking females which looked so nice as they waddled round the ring prove quite useless and have to be shed. Some are poor milkers, some indifferent breeders, for which reason in probability they were cast in the first place by their breeders. These have to go then. The collection has to be moulded into one type; uniformity in make and shape have "t-o be attained. This is a long and weary process, but when it has at long last been achieved then, and only then, has the original collection graduated as a herd. The rest lies with the sires used. The weary, and more often than not disappointing, period of selection and grading up can, however, be greatly curtailed in two ways. The principle is the same in each case, for the rnotto is "Uniformity and type." One herd is thus clearly indicated, or at any rate herds very similar in breeding and general characteristics. Hence the dispersal of some well known breeding herd should be attended, or a visit paid to a well-known breeder of established reputation and repute. By adopting this procedure the odds are all in favor of the novice, for in each case the cattle can be seen at home and in natural condition; the sires and dams can be inspected, and the breeding records and show performances of each animal can be ascertained. '

There are many people who enjoy the glamour, and incidentally the advertisement, of a public sale. They can have this at the dispersion and gratify their vanity at the same time. The really important point is that at a dispersion sale or by means of direct purchase from the breeder reliable cattle can bs bought of the same type and breeding—cattle which have not had the stigma of the draft or collective sale ring branded upon them. In this way the probation period is practically dispensed with, the weary process of foundation' having been done, as it were, by another, and the way is clear to carry on the work already begun. The foundation then being right, the future lies with the sires selected. But in this case the bull has a chance, for the females are of the same type and top crosses.

There is all the difference in the world between a herd and a collection of cattle —a fact which is recognised by too few. A herd leads to success, a collection nowhere.