A DAIRY HERD AND ITS MANAGEMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 1906, 21 August 1890, Page 6

A DAIRY HERD AND ITS MANAGEMENT.

An unusually dry summer and autumn left stockowners on the advent of winter with scanty pasturage and light crops of roots. Ifc ' is questionable if any district in Otago has suffered more severely from the deficient rainfall than has the much-vaunted Taieri, and the.consequences have been a contraction of winter dairying, and limited supplies of dairy products from the distriot during the winter months. Informed of the fact thab Messrs A. and J. M'Farlane had continued to forward considerable supplies of milk to Dunedin throughout the winter, notwithstanding the requirements needed for valuable purebred calves, it appeared desir1 able to ascertain particulars of the management of so well known a herd of Ayrshire cattle. A recent visit was therefore made to Ayrshire Park—for suoh is the name the property is known by,— and the following is an abstract of the notes taken on the occasion. It may be nesessary, however, to preface the remarks, that even in ordinary seasons dairy breeds of cattle are at a disadvantage in condition and appearance towards tbe end of winter, and most certainly attract moro admiration from casual inspectors when the "summer bloom" is on them. Be that aa ifc may, the [present object is to »ote for tbe information of dairy farmers generally particulars of the economical management of a herd that, while familiar to them as furnishing promiuent winners in New Zealand show rings, have been bred for years with scrupulous regard to everyday utility Ayrshire Park cannot -certainly be regarded as a fancy Taieri property. The soil on the flat is indeed superior, but with the exception of tbe hillside section there is little shelter for stock other than that provided by the proprietors in shed and housing accommodation, most of which has been but recently erected at considerable expense. The byres are excellent, and kept scrupulously clean, as are the houses and sheds for calves and yearlings. The milking cows and most of the youngsters are tended at night time in the buildings near the homestead ; while in calf, cows, heifers, &o. are housed at night in severe weather in a rauge of buildings about a quarter of a mile away and near the paddocks allotted the stock not in immediate profit or coming into profib. Nursery coddling is strictly avoided, as the good coats of hair ontbebeasts show. At the same timeasttong point of the management is the even maintenance of healthy condition and thrif. Of course these remarks apply more particularly to tbe winter care of the stock, as in Bummer tbe pastures only are available. A mistake unquestionably, when catch crops would greatly add to the stock carrying capacity of the farm. The winter food of the cattle has been, in addition to daily pasturage— for the cows in milk, chaff, bruised oats, and bran, night and morning; for tbe dry cows, and heifers " springing," turnips and straw or chaff ; and for youngsters the like rations (the turnips 6liced). It should be mentioned that the bruised oats is a product of the farm. The oat crop is threshed and the grain sent to the mill to be oru^Hed. . , With regard to the herd, entirely comprised as it is of pure Ayrshires, it is needless here in New Zealand to recount the recorded successes for years of animals from it. The Messrs M'Fariane from the foundation of the herd have had in view the breeding of a certain type of Ayrshire*, combining symmetry with characteristic milking indications. The uniformity of type, most remarkable in their cattle, is the result. Some years ago the firm Bent a few animals ov<£ to Melbourne, and these were so much approved of that yearly consignments have been forwarded since. A fourth lot (torwarded eince inspected on the farm) is more uniform and generally of a higher standard, than any provioii'ly 6ont, for nearly all have been repeated winners here, and all are either

descendants from or akin to winners. Aa breeders of Ayrsbires in this colony will take a special interest in the " marks made " in Australia by some of their old showyard favourites, tbe following notes regarding a few of the animals are appended :— The shipment comprised eight bulls, and 30 cows and heifers. The bull Baron,'4yrs, by Young Baron— dam, champion at Blueskin 1888, is a brown and white. Baron was Ist as a yearling at Oamaru ; Ist at Dunedin as a two-year-old ; and _ first and champion at Taieri two years in succession. Baron is one of the most truly made Ayrshire bulls ever stood in a show riog ; standing ou short legs with exceptionally fine bone, grandly sprung ribs and wellribbed back, moving or standing, there is not a break in his outline. His sire Yonng Barron left New Zealand with an unbeaten record, and was sold to a Sydney buyer for 150gs. Two of the yearling bulls are of the same lineage as the Sydney champion cow* Rosina sold in Melbourne where she won two let prizes. The other four young bulls are out of winners in New Zealand. Of the cows, Edith II is sure to find admirers on tbe other side, for her dam is Edith, the Sydney champion cow 1889.' Edith II has also her records in the ring, for in Dunadin she was first as a two-year-old (dryj and first as ft three-year-old. Another noted winner here ia Mayflower, a brown and white. Mayflower is full sister, to the bull sold in Melbourne last year to Messrs M'Nabb, noted breeders of Ayrshires in Victoria. Mayflower won the following prizes here: — First as a year-old at Oamaru (1887); flrst'at Dunedin "(1'888) as a two-year-old, and second as a tbree-yeir-old (1889). The next notable 'of the lot is Victoria 11, a brown and white. She is bylfoung Baron (the Sydney bull) ; her dam, Victoria, a well-known prizetaker. Victoria II was first as a two-year-old at Taieri ' show. ' Denty — next in notebook—was first at Dunedin as a three-year-old. Norma, by Baron Oxhill Yimp), should attract notice because of her lineage, as her dam was a repeated prize-taker at Dunedin and Oamarn. Beatrice, by Master Jack (imp), was first at Dunedin and Oamaru in 1887 as a* two-year-old, and same year champion, at the Taieri ; in 1889 was flreb at Peninsula as cow in milk. Lucy 11, a prize-winner, by Cashmere Jack (imp) and Jessie, by Baron Oxhill (imp)— the dams of both winners— will prove valuable as matrons in any pure stud herd of Aryshirea, and the same can truly be said o£ Beauty 11, a very takiDg cow with wonderfully good points. The cow Snowdrop has special credentials, for she is by Duke, by Cashmere Jack (imp), and her dam Nora won 31 first and champion prizes. A two-year-old heifer, Flower 11, brown-and-white, cannot be passed by, for she inherits all the characteristics of her dam Jenny I, a leading prize-taker at Dunedin, Oamaru, and Palmerston. It^ is unnecessary, even did space permit, to give particulars of all the individual animals comprised in this draft from the Messrs M'Farlane's herd. One thing is certain, no shipment of Ayrshires ever left New Zealand with such records of show ring successes or claims of kinship to winners. Tbe uniformity of type, high standard of quality, and intrinsic merits of tbe animals will be acknowledged by all judges of the breed.