DAIRY HERD TESTING

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12163, 13 June 1925, Page 19

DAIRY HERD TESTING

FACTORS INFLUENCING PRODUCTION W. M. SINGLETONi DIRECTOR OF THE DAIRY DIVISION Article No. I. Dairy farming to-day is increasingly a scientific business. _aiid as shell requires the employment of careful attd accurate methods. The present is a period for close application. Wheii land, labour, and farming requisites were cheap, dairy tapmilig could he carried oil without loss with fat less skill than is the case to-day. Every factor is now of importance, and only those dairy farmers who pay attention to detail and adopt scientific and businesslike practice can hope to succeed. The dairy industry has contributed very largely to New Zealand’s fine standing as an agricultural country, and there is no larger scope for improving the industry than through the herd of the average dairy factory supplier, HERD DEVELOPMENT Our dairy farmers are continually confronted with the problem of herd building. The dairyman acquires a farm and a herd, and plans by llis laboufs to improve both aild to Work them to the maximum of efficiency. The personnel of the herd is ever changing, and even .if a high average production is reached this has to be maintained. In ing up the herd every step is important—culling, buying, breeding. Added to these is the general management Of the herd. Success under each of these liendihgs calls for experience artd skill, and in each and every case the fUilk sea les and the butter-fat tester form a crux of the problem,, the key to the situation. 'Whether tqe farttier buys or cults or breeds, the amount of buttfer-fai which each cow produces is the indicator of the way. Yet, despite th\s, there are still many dairymen who are content to leave their herds untested and to wdrk in the dark. Last year’s statistics showed that New Zealand had 1,312,1589 cows in milk and dry. For tha same season about 151,000 cows were tested twifce or more—Lhis representing only 12 per ce.nt. of the whole. Every dairy factory should have its herd testing association, artd every cow -in every herd should be tested for at least a season. WHAT iNCREASEb PRODUCTION MEANS There is. no need to stress the fact that the testing of the dairy herd for butter-fat yield is the only-way to arrive at that information which enables the owner to distinguish the cows Which lie is supporting from, those cows which are supporting him. At-the same time there are still niatiy Who do hot fully rfecognise What the difference between a low-yielding and a higheryielding cow may fnean. It ban be put very simply and clearly in this way: One cow may be worth —as a butterfat producer—twice as much as ' another, or even more than two coWs, although there may not be a very marked difference between the annual production of the two cOWs. For instance, let it be assumed that 1601 b butter-fat just p&yS for the year's cars and'f&d, etc., of a cow. Then, a cow which produces 1621 b butterfat k's worth twice as much as a cow yielding 1611 b, because, obviously, she, returns twice as much pront over care and feed. Similarly, a 2601 b butter-fat cow make* twice as much above expense* as one which produces 2iolb; or, she .is equal to tWo cbws each producing 210 lb—that is. on the similar basis of 160 lb butterfat returning exactly the cost of keeping and milking the cow. This means that a herd of, say. twenty cows with an average production of 2601 b buttef-fat is as profitable as forty cows showing an average return of 2101 b. Carrying the argument still further, one may 'compare two farms of equal carrying capacity and carrying an equal number of dairy cows, and assume that number to be forty. If the forty cows on one farm yield 2101 b butter-fat each, and those on the other farm. 50 lb more, or 2GOlb, then the producing herd yields 40001 b more but-ter-fat in actual profit for a practically similar outlay in feed and care. With butter-fat at Is 6d per pound this means £3OO per annum in money. Further, one cow producing only 1001 b butter-fat may nullify the . profits on Six coWs each producing 1701 b. Summed up, it means that many dairy farmers are keeping two or even three inferior cows where one better one Wolild yield them as much profit, at one-half or one-third of the expenditure and labour. Dairy farmers will therefore see that evert pound of fat added to the average productions means a considerable increase in their profits. BASIS FOR CULLING The predominant principle in herd testine is that the herd owner may he supplied with more accurate data cn which to form his judgment respecting the individual members of bis herd from the viewpoint of production. The the previous summer’s growth, making them about eighteen inches long. Tamarisk roots and grows readily, and it is worth while to insert the cuttings lit once in their permanent positions. With its nrettv pink blossoms, and light green fedtherv stems, tamarisk. makes a very pretty hedge. WATERING POT PLANTS During the next couple of months the vateringTcnn must he used With vfery great care, more plants being killed eVerv winter bv over-watering Than bv the other extrfenie—t6o dry a soil. The great majority of plants,. When Rt rest, are aeldom harmed, by dr.vness of the toll in which they are growing. SqHIZANTHUS ' These, make a beautiful pot plant, atj4. seedlings can he potted up now. Use -a , light compost, and after potting place the plants on a shelf near/ to the glass or in a window, To induce a bushy habit of growth, pinch out the to]is of tfre plants when they are four - inches high.

minimum production on which the owner will determine his culling will necessarily depend on various . factors, some of which may be stated as follows; (1) Replacement; If he is keeping liis herd up by purchasing he may adopt a more arbitrary standard; whereas if he is breeding heifers for replacement he has to consider the number of them available. . (2) The 1 amount of feed available, which will largely depend on the character of his soil and quality of liis pastures. >3) On land higher in value than the average a higher production per cow is »■ general 1 necessity. IMPORTANCE OF THE HERD SIRE There are two safe methods of building a dairy herd ;'orte i§ to ' buy in cows of suitable type and authenticated yields the other, is to begin With:cbws or heifers and a proVeii sire, or one backed by butter-fat records, and to build gradually by culling out the low producers and breeding ftqfn the higli-fer-yielditig cows of suitable type. To continually buy in new- stock requires hioi-e finance thaii many of our dairyfarmers can afford. Then again, few dairymen will sell their best cows unless they are past Vheir prime, so that the purchaser is continually confront-

ed with difficulties, and may sometimes find he is accumulating a herd of culls. The butter-fat .record'sire method is perhaps a slower one, but is to be iecommended. And., further; for quickest and most satisfactory results the sire Bhduld be a purebred. 'the certifioate-of-record system of testing purebred dairy cows provides for‘.a 965 day milking, period. C.Q.R, testing bee how been conducted in New Zealand for sdirie thirteen yea#, and it is advocated that far' grade and crossbred herds the sire be selected from C.O.R. dams, If it is proved that for several generations-Certain females can give outstanding yields, then it is a reasonable assumption- that by mating a bull from such dams with ordinary herd cowS the resultant offspring should be an improvement on their dams. When selecting the sire the pedigree Should be studied froth the point of view of production of ancestors on both sided of the family, and productions of recent members should •be given more importance than those of several generations back. The length of time that C;O.R. testing has now been in existence in New Zealand enables selectors to obtain full information in many cases • for several generations of pedigree. N ext to production coirtes the question of type', and, althbUgh yield is of major importance, the selected sire should conform, to accepted standards of true dairy type, and should possess the desirable characteristics of a - herd 6ire. - ' There is a tendency among dairymen to use a sire for a season or two andr, -then sell or destroy him. The true test of a site is the quality, of his daughters. If they are an -improvement over their dams from the point of view of production, and do not retrogress in type, then it may be accepted that the sire is a success. Not until the daughters may bear living testimony to the: inefficiency of the. sire- shbuld lie be destroyed. The advantage of'a purebred over a crossbred sire is considerable. Experiment has proved that with a purebred hull a breeder is likely to achieve more ih two generations than in five generations with a grade bull three-quarters pure. . (To be continued.)