BEST BREED OF DAIRY DOWS.

New Zealand Mail, 27 August 1902, Page 51 (Supplement)

BEST BREED OF DAIRY DOWS.

COMPETITION OF BREEDS. Before dairying became the important industry it now is, in which a large caudal, ls invested, employing many hands and much costly machinery, farmers in Lew South. Males paid but little attention P class °r breed of cattle they maintained for milking purposes. One cow \>as considered as good as another. Excepting the Illawarra district, where dairying ha s been long established, the extent ot the business on the majority of Jam’s consisted in keeping a few cows K°“ e ", se chl pp, and selling any extra butter that might accrue at certain seasons merely as a matter of convenience rather than as a product specially produced for a profit. It mattered then very little whether the cows were good or iii. dl he rent, or of what breed they were and they consequently received the least amount of care possible. Things are altered now, however, aild those who hope to succeed at dairying, when conducted as a special business, are striving to adapt themselves to the new conditions giving greater attention to the improvement of the cows they milk. ROOM FOR ALL BREEDS.

A very common question is, “What ia the best breed of cow?” In that form, and without knowing anything about the circumstances of the dairyman, or the nature of his land and pasture, the question is not susceptible of a definite answer. Of distinct breeds there are many, and ‘ room for all” is the lesson taught by diversities of local requirements, considered in connection with diversities of properties, of constitutions, and of habits in these breeds. In tlie multiplication of improved races of cattle there are some that claim a place in the competition for favourable notice outsido their several nurseries; that is, a breed like the Ayrshire, for example, having adapted itself to the special conditions of a district, it may then lie found suitable to those of other districts, so that it spreads until we begin to think that there ore no limitations to its extension, but this is rarely the case, and if climatic influences do not limit its usefulness, then the conditions under which its food is obtained, or provided, very often dees. The competition of breeds is, moreover, restricted by the uses for which t liey arc variously qualified, for merit is of various kinds, ami while many compete m certain particulars, there are comparatively few that compete in every characteristic property. Some breeds of cattle and faivi l c.s ia other breeds are specially '. d for riving a large quantity of <f no very remarkable quality—ia

fact, it is poor; others hare an aptness for producing a smaller quantity of very rich milk, which makes them valuable to the butter-maker; while yet others are best for cheese-making, or are remarkable for their capacity for producing beef. The district in which they are placed, and the kind of food they eat, have little to do with these qualities, and breed, is not after all, paramount, for if the land and the climate are not suitable the keeping of a particular breed for the attainment of a special object is sure to end in more or less disappointment, even though it has an excellent and unimpeachable reputation over a very extended area of country. RELATIVE VALVE OF BREEDS.

In fixing on the best breed to keep/attention should be given not only to its capacity for milk, butter, cheese, or beef, or a combination of any two or more of them, but also to its suitability to the environment or conditions under which it is to be placed. The jgenjiine poor man’s cow that can get her living on a common, or find her daily sustenance on the public highways, would l>e out of place on good land in a penial climate, and similarly the large-framed heavy-milking shorthorn or the fine-constitution eel Jersey would fail to-give a satisfactory return in the bleak, hard-land districts where the herbage is of a coarse nature. Thus, the Ayrshire. the shorthorn, the Holstein, and the Jersey have each their places in dairying economy, apart from their capacities for producing milk, butter, or cheese. In estimating the relative value of cows for the dairy, the size of the cattle and the quantity of milk they will give per head are considerations which too commonly swamp all others, while the cost at which the milk is produced per gallon is too generally lost sight of. A firm of manufacturers, whether they make and sell agricultural implements, dairy uteusil? or soap, generally have stnne idea of the cost of the production, and in rivalry or competition with other manufacturers in the same line, try not only to sell cheaper, in order to capture the trade, but to cheapen production in order to make profit. But there are few dairymen, who, though they- compete with each other to pell milk at so much per gallon or butter at so much per pound cheaper than their neighbours, have anything more than a hazy idea as to what each gallon of milk or pound of butter costs them to produce. LARGE v. SMALL COWS. On this question of cost of production, and the cow to keep under different conditions. the size of the animal, or breed preferred has an important bearing. Sup i pose, for instance, and it is quite reasonable to do so, that an Ayrshire cow will : give as much milk or yield as much cheese or butter as a shorthorn, and that five Ayrshires can be kept on land that would maintain only four shorthorns, then the gain would he decidedly in favour cf the Ayrshires; or suppose that a cow of any one breed, weighing 9001 b., would yield as much profit in the dairy as one of another breed weighing 12001 b., in this case 3001 b. of larger cow would be kept at a dead loss, and the advantage would again bo in favour of the small one. If we can find the cow that is suitable to the land and climate, that is cheap to keep, that yields large quantities of the commodity, be it milk, butter, or cheese, that she is kept to produce, and combines it with large size, early maturity, and aptitude to fatten. so that there is something Jeft for the butcher, while she produces calves that have the same “beefy” qualities, that is tlie kind of cow to keep, but many experienced dairymen consider the specialist cow, if we may so describe her, as by far the most profitable animal. If tlie smaller cow is worth less than the larger to sell out or to fatten when she has done milking, it must be remembered that she also costs less to buy, and, as she costs less to keep, is more profitable so long as she is kept at the milk nail. THE SPECIAL PURPOSE COW.

It is generally best to select a breed of ccws foi the specific purpose for which they are to be kept. If for milk only, leave out of sight the, question of beef, • and go for yield of milk in connection with weight and size of c-ow and cost of keep. If butter is wanted, disregard mere quantity of milk, and go for yield of butter-fat in relation to the size of cow and food consumed; and for cheese, qnan tits’ and total solids, along with weight of cow, rather than richness of milk. Certain breeds of dairy cattle are doubtless superior to others in these respects, vet that superiority very often consists in the treatment given and tlie suitability of the soil and climate to some particular breed. On rich pastures the Shorthorn and Holstein will prove more profitable than the Jersev or Ayrshire, while the latter will heat the former where the feed is scarcer a id further to seek in grazing. In very hare, and exposed localities the scrub cow wi'd yield more milk or butter than could be obtained from any of the pure breeds maintained under the same conditions. For all that, it is well to remember (hat breed counts for more than food in the production of milk under ordinary conditions, and that a cow not given to milk will not become a heavy milker on Hie best of food. Dairymen need have no difficulty in deciding as to which breed will suit them best; there are plenty to choose from, and they are all good enough if properly treated. AVERAGE MILK YIELDS.

Whatever breed may be chosen or preferred, the average' annual vield of the herd should reach a certain standard A few years ago 300 gallons of milk per cow was considered a large return from a purebred dairy herd, but nowadays two or three times that quantity is not phenomenal, and much larger records have been made; at least, by individual cows. Some ambitious breeders are even now striving for yearly records that can only be written in four figures. Generally speaking, however, a cow that gives 500 gallons per an,ls.fh° wonder of the neighbourhood, but twice that amount does not now asK™ ad - v^? ced dairymen, and much - yield ? are well authentiWrfs TwJr, South Wales dair -V Collve y some idea of the possibilities within the reach of breeders of dairy stock. One can hardly grasp the magnitude of the undeveloped

resources of the dairy cow. By judicious management, intelligent breeding, feedrng, and care the annual average product of the cows of Australia might be doubled without adding anything- to the cost of producing the milk. A 300-gallon cow eats about the same quantity of food and incurs, the same amount of labour and attention as the cow which gives 600 gallons per annum. What, then, is the use of keeping inferior cows? In all branches of agriculture, old methods and cld machinery have been replaced during recent years by new’ and improved systems and appliances, for working, giving a larger return for the labour and expense involved, and similar improvement is possible in. the breeding of dairy cows—the sort which convert the crops of the farm into milk, butter, and cheese at a minimum of expense, and with the pieato-fl profit to their owner.—"Talka,” in the “Australasian/