FRIESIAN BREEDERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19498, 5 June 1925, Page 6

FRIESIAN BREEDERS.

ANNUAL MEETING OF ASSOCIATION, The fourth annual meeting of the Otago branch of the New Zealand Friesian Association was held in the A. and P. Society’s board room yesterday afternoon. Mr E. North (president) occupied the chair, and there were 15 members present. ‘ The annual report stated that the mom- ■ Kirs’of the committee were to be congratulated on their regular attendance at the several meetings held during the year. Much Useful work had been done. A stand was taken at the Winter Show from which literature was distributed. A great amount of interest was taken in this stand, the success of which was duo to the energy dismayed by Mr M'Donald. Medals were, as usual, presented to several country shows, and a demonstration followed by a .judging competition, was held at the Dunedin Summer Show. Perhaps the most successful event was the demonstration and judging competition held in connection with the Waikouaiti Show, As showing the amounts of interest taken a donation has since been received from the Waikouaiti A. : and. P. Society. This can surely be lakqn as a compliment to Mr Robertson, who acted as demonstrator. The treasurer Reported a credit balance of £lB 15s Id, this being a decided improvement on last gear’s balance. The improvement in the financial position had been brought about by the Friesian Association raising the memwrship fee to £2 2s. 10s 6d of this amount Being refunded to the district branches. A refund was also made for the cost of printing pamphlets. In future all literature was to bo supplied free. In common with other 'breeds of dairy cattle there had been a Blackening off in the demand for Friesian cattle. This had to a groat extent been brought about by the uncertain state of the dairy produce market, and as this uncertainty was likely to continue, a slack demand could be expected for some time 'tO come. The number of members was steadily on the increase. Twelve now members joined up during the year making a total of 63 members in Otago. The department. # hkd reduced-the testing fee to Bgns for the first cow, and as the Friesian Association refunded sgns on tile first cow tested each year it therefore cost 3gns for each cow tested. It was expected that the lower fee would encourage breeders to take up testing, _ but so far the results had been disappointing. Only about 10 per cent, of Friesian breeders in New Zealand were testing their cattle, and the others seem to be quite content to hang on to the good work being done by the few enthusiasts. -In. Otago the position was even worse, only throe breeders doing any testing. It was almost an impossibility to make a suoCess 'of breeding dairy cattle without testing, it was simply working in the dark without any chance of making real progress. •Competition was now very keen among fihe dairy breeders, and bo prove their worth ’breeders of the Black and Whites would ba-ve to test more of their cattle. Selling a, fpw individuals between breeders at a high price was no real sign of progress. What they principally had to depend, on was the, demand for our cattle from the dairy farmers, and the way to increase this demand was to test the cows. There was little doubt that in a very short‘time the Black and Whites would com© into their awn more especially in these parts where hardy cattle were required, i In moving the adoption of the report pud balance sheet the chairman extended p, hearty welcome to the new members. The motion was seconded by Mr Wilkinjon. •' - Mr C. J. Payne said the secretary s action 'ih; giving his honorarium to the association was a very generous act, because Mr Robertson did a lot of work for thorn. There was no doubt about the importance of' herd testing, but it secernd to him that it was .easier said than done. If testing could bei done on two milkings a day he thought it would become more popular. If three milkings a day were required a ,pian would have to go to more" pains than an ordinary farmer could take. He thought they should encourage a small man to test pome of. his cows in order to get a certificate. He thought the report indicated a fairly successful position, but he thought that an effort should be mad© to get more tjnembers. He considered that they were fortunate in getting such an able man as Jlr Aitcheson to give demonstrations. The Chairman said it was optional for a breeder to milk two or three times a day ,pnd he would get credit for that on the certificate. . . x A member expressed the opinion that the cost of registration was too great for the ordinary farmer. He quoted a case of a cow ■which could not be tested officially because irfi'e was registered. . ' .... . ft.-Mr Eades expressed the opinion that the kinly remedy in such a case was to get the oow tested through a herd-testing associaypThe Secretary (Mr W. Robertson) said he thought it was a recognised fact that the effect of milking three times a day would jl- to increase the yield of butter-fat by 401 b "or 501 b for the season. '’The motion was carried. '■ The election of office-bearers resulted as follows.—President,. Mr G. Aitcheson; vice--president, Mr F. J. M‘Donald; secretary, -Mr W. Robertson; treasurer, Mr b. Rowman ; committee —Messrs L. Colbourne, A. H. Copland, S> R. Howie, A. -Tepen, C. J, Payne, A. ’Wilkinson, and E. North A committee consisting of Messrs Aitche'Bon North, and Robertson was set up to get’ into touch with the breeders in the ‘province with a view to selecting the best representatives of the breed for showmg at -the Royal Agricultural Show in Chnst.ehurdh. , , ~ A vote of thanks was passed to Mr North for bis services as president during the .past year. , . THE DAIRY CALF. A paper dealing with the rearing and deof dairy calves was road by Mr ■ G. Aitcheson. In the course of his remarks Mr Aitcheson stated that the fact that the dairy cow was the dominion s .‘greatest asset at the present time could not be disputed. After providing for the •wants of the people of this land, the ex* part's of products produced from milk of the ’dairy cow totalled some thing like £3O 000,000 sterling annually. This might teem a fairly large amount for such a small country," but he would be safe m .saying, fjvithoat of contradiction, that n dairy farmers would wake up just a little more the amount could be raised to 40 or 50 million pounds steading. The average pouunds of butter-fat for dairy cov.-s throughout the " dominion at the presontime was something like 1701 b annually. If this amount could produce an export bf 30 million pouuds, then a third more would produce 40 millions sterling, and another quarter of that amount would give ■6O million sterling. In other words the average yield per cow could be raised to 2241 b fat or 40 million sterling annually. ■Baring attained this objective, no doubt •access would spur them on to the 50 mil-, fion mark, which would be attained by increasing the average to 2801 b annually nor cow. This might seem somewhat -high, but he saw no difficulty, ahead, as last year, under semi-offioial tost, 82 two-year-old heifers averaged 4641 b fat. If n Bum bad a herd of crossbred cows tiic first step was to orocuro a purebred sire of one of the dairy breeds and mate him with the best cows. Naturallv, the result ©no. would expect would be some clinking calves, especially the heifers, as they were to bo the future 280-odd lb butter-fat cows ©f the dominion. The feeding and raising 'of the dairy calf opened up a very wide question. If on© studied Nature there xvte only one way to feed a calf, and that was on hew milk; but rearing calves in this manner had been a lost art on a majority of dairy farms for many years. Generally tho poor calf was put into a small sunless oen .. without bedding, which became fitTny in a very short time. Perhaps next day tho owner paid it a visit, with seine half-cold milk in a dirty old bucket tut it would not suck. Finally it got a few kicks and was told to go somewhere until it was hungry, and so on. There were roads to success in calf-feeding as in ether things. When the newly-born calf arrived and weather conditions wore favourable, it was advisable to leave the cow and calf ’ alone for a few hours until the calf was on its feet and able to walk. It was absolutely essential that tho calf be loft until it was licked clean and dry. It was also necessary that the calf should get non e of the first milk. It was uumatorial whether the calf got this milk by sucking its dam or by milking the cow and handfeeding it to the calf, but probably the more satisfactory wav was to lot it suck tho cow When tho calf was removed from tho cow it should bo placed hi a nice drv pen with plenty of nodding, r or tho fi,-b few davs it should be ’ fed sparingly with its own'mother’s milk. It was better £6 "feed a little three times daily loan to jrive a larger amount morning and evening. Overfeeding the voting calf would ho just as injurious, or more so, than under-feeding ft White K-our in calves was probably by giving the milk too rich and jr, too large the undeveloped digestive organs not being able to cope ’it. He found that the best and ©hsieSt cure for this trouble war. I© fake Some of the first milking, which was weak ,jh bntter-faf, adding to it a-fair amount ©f hot 'water. This should he given to the Ctilf ns hot as it could drink it. As the qolf got older a little skim milk could be i%ddcd. although he never did it himself.

the dancer being that the milk was often not at the right temperature. It was also e;sential that the feeding bucket should be scrupulously clean. A littl©_ green clover daily would also help materially in the development of the calf. To his mind calves should have very little dry food, such as crushed oats and chaff, until they were at least six months old, although a handful of hay to nibble at would do them no harm. As they got older plenty of grass during summer and a good supply of turnips, cabbage, or other succulent food during the winter tended to develop capacity—a most essential point in a dairy cow. Ho found that calves did better if kept, inside until at least three months old, provided that had a decent-sized pen where they could skip about at leisure. After feeding it was advisable to tie them up for a short time at feeding time. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr Aitohoson for his address.