THE COW OF THE FUTURE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1626, 29 April 1903, Page 62

THE COW OF THE FUTURE

(From the “Breeders’ Gazette,” Chicago.) The work of .the American breeder is seriously .handicapped by fashion, and bovine fashions change almost as radically as those from Pans' or Loudon. Tne breeder who has tfie acumen to foresee a coming fashion and maite his plans accordingly is the man who wins the plaudits of ilia fellows. A change is apparent in the Galloway camp, where an effort is being made to chop off six inches cf the Galloway’s length and add a bit to breadth and. bulk. It is a. good reform. Let it go on. A change is also at hand in the Hereford camp. For years the tide has run strongly towards sires of the meal-tub type. The esteem in which the Hereford breed is held on the American continent is due to :t s grazing qualities. If it is to bo made over into the popular meal-tub then what becomes of tne world’s best breed of grazing cattle? If the breed is to be made over, let it be made over into what it was when we first had these cattle of the British husbandman —the best breed of grazing cattle on earth. In the Shorthorn camp the demand for ten years has set steadily towards the roan bull of Scotch extraction. Of good size and thick-fleshed, he has improved the fleshing qualities of his breed, but it has also lost in its milking qualities. This is so apparent that he wno runs may. read, and breeders will soon be ready once more to welcome the coming speed; the parting type. Shorbhorn cows deficient in milking qualities are not suited' to the farmer’s need, even though they are champions. Cows deficient as milkers, particularly Shorthorns, are also deficient as breeders. They are an engine without a safety valve.

Professor Henry has gone on record with the statement that “When population grows dense the ox will be the first to disappear from our agriculture, because it is not an economical producer of food, while the dairy cow will remain.” Long before this comes to pass, however, man will have cultivated) the milking propensities of his beef cattle until the dairy oow will be crowded foT standing room; else he will cultivate the flesh or his dairy cow until she may stand on the common ground of all dual-purpose breeds. The man who seeks a type oi beast to breed, no matter what breed he may select, will do well to see that he buys only gooff milkers- Also that his bull is from a gooff milking darn. See that the oows are all good because it is always easy K selling calf from a cow that gives five or six gallons of milk daily* • « find it best to breed from deep, milking dams. The creamery and th® milk waggon have come to stay, and thers £ an aslured market for dairy products While the breeder may not care to sell

iii 9 milk, yet his patrons will. Then see that the bull is from a deep milking dam, because we may safely accept the rule that a heifer carries the milking qualities of her sire's dam rather than her own dam. Make your herd •uniform. Make them all good in the same respect, so if a buyer finds one that suits him lie knows he can find more like it in the same herd. At present there is a demand forocotch bulls for herd headers, but the demand is always changing. Once it was for Bates bulls, again it was for bulls of refinement, and no breeder would bead his herd with a bull that was not a gentleman. Change is ever the order of the day. Tor years the cry has been, for flesh at the expense of milk, and it is nearly time to ring out the old. ring in the new. The bull of the future will get heifers that do not require the help of nurse cows to raise calves and not only will they raise calves, but they will also have some milk for the family. And :he herd of the breeder of the future will not only be uniform, but will be of this particular type. They will be better milkers tlian our present beef cattle, and being better milkers they will also be better feeders, more regular breeders, and as good or even betterr flesh producers. The breeder wants to sell his calf crop at or near weaning time. It is known of all men that the best calf is usually found sucking the cow that gives the most milk. The entire body of American farmers are seeking for more milk from their Meer-producing cows. So if you are breeding for the range man, breed what the iange man wants, but if you seek a market on the farms, then select your breeding matrons from good milkers only. After seeing that the milking quality is oil right, then get them as low down and blcckv and beefy as possible, but see that they are good milkers. Much credit is due to the lowa Agricultural College for its missionary work in proclaiming the gospe] of beef and milk. It has taught not only beef, but beef and milk a» well, both precept and example. Not since the days of Bates has any breeder of renown made an earnest effort to cultivate it.