DAIRYING IN THE WAIRARAPA

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4467, 21 September 1901, Page 8 (Supplement)

DAIRYING IN THE WAIRARAPA

A NEW DEPARTURE. Stimulated by the success of similar tests at Home, in Canada and on the Continent, Mr A. R. Perston, Se cretary to tho Wairarapa Pastoral and Agricultural Society, has induced his committee to take a new departure in connection with the prize giving for best dairy cattle. The idea is to test the merit of the cows as milkers. Particulars must be furnished as to breeding, and the result will doubtless be beneficial to dairymen throughout the Wairarapa. According to the conditions announced by the Society, tho prizes offered range from 10s to- £3. Tho competition is to bo open to factory milk suppliers, who are, of course, .members of the Society. The test of superiority will be the greatest milk yield of a given number of cows for a given period, say, a week before the show. The exhibitors are required to state tho number of cows from which milk is supplied, the breed of their cows, and the class of food, if any, that has boon supplied. Tbo particulars as to the weight and quality of tho milk will be obtained from tbo books of factorv managers. We have no doubt that what Mr Perston claims for this competition will result, and it has been suggested by way of adding spirit and interest to the contest that the various dairying companies should supplement tho prizes offered by the Society. This, it is believed, would give a greater stimulus to suppliers to compote, and would add to tho honour of winning. From an educational point of "view the competition may bo mado very practical, and from a dairy factory company’s standpoint the test ought to prove satisfactory apd valuable. The aim, of course, is to discover the breed of cow that will combine quantity and quality of milk; and although that has been determined in other parts of tho world, it has not been brought home to tho dairymen in the Wairarapa in tho way Mr Pcrston’s proposal is designed to do. Besides, there are conditions of climate and pasture which havo to bo taken into consideration, and it may be demonstrated that the breed of cattlo giving the best results in Canada or Great Britain may not be so profitable in the Wairarapa Valley. But whatever the result may be. and it docs not appear that it will be other than valuable, the secretary to the Society is to be congratulated upon having instituted a now departure.