HIGH PRODUCTION AND CONSTITUTION

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8365, 27 February 1913, Page 2

HIGH PRODUCTION AND CONSTITUTION

A SAFE LIMIT RECOMMENDED. A question of great importance to dairy farmers lias been raised: namely, “Does the abnormal development of the milking function from generation to generation tend to deterioration in other qualities and to early impairment of vitality, and consequently greater susceptibility to disease, such as tuberculosis and abortion Those who have studied the subject say that a careful observation of re-cord-producing cows would lead to the conclusion that it does, and that while there are exceptional cases of dairy cows of great production that breed regularly, produce thrifty calves, and live to a normal age, many do not. To put it briefly, phenomenaal cows cannot bo relied upon to reproduce phenomenons with any degree of certainty. This naturally raises the point of where the lino is to bo drawn. Generally speaking, the bottom line between the unprofitable cows and the profitable ones is a production of from IGO to 200 lb of butter-fat per annum, while some of the best cows are producing well over COOlb of butter-fat per annum. In some of the States of America the average production of the officially reported high producers of the various dairy breeds is a little under 20,0001 h of milk, and a little under 9001 b of butter-fat, individual records having reached as high as 27,0001 b of milk and 1000 pounds of butter-fat. The average annual but-ter-fat production per cow for New Zealand is somewhere about 1801 b, and without doubt this can and will be greatly improved in the course of a very few years, and there is no reason why it should not eventually reach 3001 b. Apparently, however, the thing for the average fanner to do is, consistently with common sense, to aim at a high, standard, to test and cull with care, but to see. that the cows continue to live all the time under the conditions that are natural to a farm. It is no doubt a fine thing to have cows that produce exceptional results, hut side by side with the results there should be a statement of what those results would cost to produce. Experience in some of the big dairy herds in the United States has shown that from cows giving up to 10,0001 b of milk, the calves are nearly as numerous as the seasons, and run into a considerable profit. Beyond this point, however, the proportion of living calves is less, and the danger and risk greater. It is true that 1000 lb of increase in the milk yield of a cow adds substantially to the profits of her owner, but as the production gains the danger multiplies, and at a certain poiiit the dangers become so numerous that the profit practically vanishes. The cow is coddled and pampered, and so much money is spent in taking care of her that the profits disappear; if she goes dry she is still kept on in the hope that eventually she may bear a calf that will reproduce the milking qualities of her mother. In this way, too, bulls that are practically useless in getting milk producers are kept because they have descended from a phenomenal cow, and the hope is entertained that sooner or later they may get a phenomenal calf. But while a rich man might stand this kind of thing, it would spell ruin to the average farmer, whose aim should be to have a herd of steady, consistent milkers, in which there are io “wasters,” but of which every cow, though not a phenomenon, gives a good account of herself at the end of .he year. There is a wide difference between a production of 4001 b of but-ter-fat and 9001 b, but 3501 b to 4001 b will be found an exceedingly ilseful standard to aim for,' and the farmer whose herd consistently averages that will have a herd that, with proper management, will return him a very handsome profit. This is the lesson which experience has taught, and is still teaching, farmers in other parts of the world, and no doubt New Zealand farmers will profit by it.