AMERICA’S GREAT COWS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6623, 12 September 1908, Page 3

AMERICA’S GREAT COWS

PERFORMANCE THE ONLY PEDIGREE THAT COUNTS. There wo two countries which stand practically alono for effective work in raising the productive capacity of the dairy cow—Denmark and the -United States. The former is unique in this respect, in that the work is a national one. the small farmer® of the country having cooperated to raise the standard of tho native oow, a work they are carrying on with conspicuous success. The most satisfactory feature of the Danish cow improvement campaign is that it is tho general standard of the cow® which is being raised, not that of exceptional animals or isolated herds. .When co-operative cow-testing association® were established in Denmark the country exported .£3,800,000 worth of butter to Britain, and in eight years the value Increased to -£5,800,000, and this with alxmt the same number of cows. The Government provided tho Bum of ,£6400 per year for ten years, and that expenditure was rcsponfliblo for increasing the annual return® by two million pounds. The cose of America 1® quite different. Even more remarkable work has been done in the States, but It hos boon with special strains of different breeds and largely with the object of popularising these breeds, principally the Jerseys and Hoisted as. Tne Americana, commonsense people like the Dane®, owe their fluoceaa largely in refusing to consider -show point®, rightly reckoning that it is only performance pedigree that matters. On this page is pictured a great ■typo of the American Jdoletein. a cow which is not only a model of her breed but a model of what a dairy cow should be. She has given 4641ba of milk containing 18.451bfl of fat, or a percentage of 8.08, in seven day®, under an official test, her beet days milk weighing 80.-11 be. She has not the performance to her credit which the record-breaking Holstein, Colantha 4th'o Johanna, put up. This marvellous oow has given, under experimental station supervision, 27,432.5 ib® of milk, containing 1)93.2611)6 of fat, or an average of 3.W, in the year. Her Average daily yield of milk was 75.161 be

and of fat 2,73115. Of course these tomarkablo pcrfornianws havft )jf;eji done umlei ideal condition*. Iho cow> moo wrtaiiiily tho capacity, but they been well eared tor ami have been given the food which has enabled them to manufacture their splendid yields. Amtricai. blood, —wloctod on the *pot and not purchased on trust—is what Now Zealand dairy farmers want. True, what tho American has done tho Wow Zealander can do, but there is no necesftity for our milk producer* to gothroujjh the long process tho Americana have experienced to bring their slock to its present high standard. If wo can obtain tho blood of thoir grant milking families we are already on the road to satisfictory cow development. This has been clone in ono or two instances, but unfortunately breeders of purebred dairy stock in this country think more of show points than utility characters, and the Ainorioan blood, i* not appreciated, as it should be. A cow may be highly satisfactory at the bucket, but if she has not tho correct turn of horn, or snap© of bag, she is regarded »us an undesirable. Thoro is a healthy spirit abroad now, however, a.nd when co-operative testing associations are introduced, and farmers thereby become aware of the value of performance, dairy blood, such uf, the can supply, will bo reckoned at ita truo value.