STATE DAIRY HERDS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6871, 15 July 1909, Page 3

STATE DAIRY HERDS.

THE SPECIAL PURPOSE COW. The moot gratifying sign °1 tho‘'two L farraf at b Sieh “mam attention of specialisation, and the dairyman of the future cannot afford to bother -with. th. cenoral purpose cow 01 the uouo c decker, as the Yankee expresses it. ihe State demonstration farm should, n htIv show the way in. suck ti desirable policy. The curse of dairying in this immtrv is the too common uso or the dual purpose bull and cow. It is that the cross-say the Jersey-Hokteiu. the Jersey-Shorthorn, or the J shire—is generally the better Uj fnr how many generations, wo would ask? If tho standard of bnttor-fat proauction is to bo, rumod, obviously it must bo through animals which mil per ■petuate tho desirable milk-producing &n?acters in their offspring, eo that, given the necessary quality in the bleed fug stock, tho milk giving power may be increased with each successive generation It is only through the pure-bred that this will be done with any con ■snicuous degree of permanent success. Of course the whole problem is hedged around with difficulties. Tho live stock breeder is engaged on work of almost complex character. He is endeavouring to improve upon nature—evolving an artificial animal and developing special characters demanded by his particular phase of rural endeavour, 100 often he is working not.according to the most recent teaching of science, such as the Uiws of Mendelism, but by rule-ox-thumb methods, which give at times erratic and puzzling results. In developing tho dairy cow the advance is slow and very uncertain. It is one thing to improve form, whore tho eye can aid tho selection of tho parents, but it is (mite (mother matter to select progenitors to strengthen, tho milk-forming junctions. In. this connection the rule is generally ■ subscribed, to that the sire must bo descended from femaJes of high milk-giving stamp, but there are arising investigators who declare that there is much less in this principle than is generally credited to it. We incline to the common opinion. That it should be challenged, however, shows the difficulty facing tho ordinary unscientific, farmer and emphasises the importance of looking only to special-purpose pedigree stock for steady progression towards increasing milk production. Tho Department is to be heartily commended on its new policy.. It is setting a much needed example and is facing the milk-produc-ing problem in a manner which should greatly assist in bringing about rapid and permanent advancement of the industry.