INTEREST SHOWN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27254, 3 December 1949, Page 2

INTEREST SHOWN

THE FARM

BRITISH DAIRY SHOW COUNTRY COMES TO LONDON Resident Correspondent LONDON, Nov. 22. For the New Zealander, whether former or not, the annual British Dairy Farmers’ Association show, which r6cently concluded at Olympia after a record breaking week, was a most interesting experience. This is the big occasion during the year when the country comes to town to proudly exhibit its best. In return, the Londoners, en masse, swarm along to greet the country.

To many of these city bred folk, a cow is a strange beast. Up and down the rows of stalls they wandered exclaiming at the “loyely fur,” the “ sweet faces,” and the “ wicked horns.” I heard one wide-eyed child say to her mother: “ Mummy, do these funny looking horses pull carts?” It was amusing, too, to see the profound interest the spectators took in the simple action of milking. No debutante was more carefully groomed than these prize animals from all parts of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. All day long the cowhands (called dairymen and dairymaids here) hover about their charges flicking specks of straw and dirt from their coats and keeping a suspicous eye on the patting activities of the “townees.”

Among the 335 cows exhibited, the majority were Friesians, Ayrshires and Jerseys, but there were many breeds little known in New Zealand, such as the small black Kerrys from Ireland, the Guernseys, Red Polls, Welsh Blacks, Dairy Shorthorns, Lincoln Red Shorthorns and South Devons. Although the Friesians beat the Ayrshires, their greatest rivals for the supreme honours of the sho v—the Bledisloe Cup, awarded for milk yields and inspection of six cows of any one breed —there were many competent judges who considered the Ayrshires should have won. Among the latter was Dr C. S. M. Hopkirk, the New Zealand Government Veterinary officer in London. , , Dr. Hopkirk said he had been most impressed with the Ayrshires, not only at the show, but during his extensive travels round Great Britain. Apart from their yield, the butterfat content of their milk is steadily increasing with better breeding. Another feature of the show, said Dr. Hopkirk, was the small size of the Jersey prizewinners. They were definitely much .smaller than New Zealand Jerseys. A surprise for visitors was the number of goats on display. The breeds included such little known names in the Dominion as Toggenburg, British Alpine, Saamen and Anglo Nubian. One exhibitor told me her beast gave two gallons per day but others said their average yield would be only a gallon. On account of its richness, goat milk is in demand in Britain for cheese and for human consumption and fetches 7s 6d a gallon compared with the average price of 2s 7d for cow’s milk. The 28 breeds of pigeons also attracted much attention. The most spectacular of these were undoubtedly the pouter pigeons whose huge puffed out breasts almost hid their heads.