MORE MILK WANTED.

Otago Witness, Issue 3494, 22 February 1921, Page 8

MORE MILK WANTED.

It is inconceivable that dairy farmers in Ol ago and Southland will rest content with the comparatively low annual output per cow for very long. Dairying at its best savours more of drudgery than any other department of industry 'on the farm, but more especially so when results from the great majority of animals milked are poor Is it not better to milk and teed a dozen cows averaging an annual production of 2501bs of bultcir-fat per OAon tha " tend 15 head averaging but 2lK)!b each. As a matter of fact, our average in New Zealand is considerably under 2001 bs butter-fat per cow per annum. When it is possible to secure argei quantities of -milk and cream from a numerically smaller herd is it not obvious that herd testing is well worth being adopted in all dairying districts? There should be no sentiment in the dairying business, and once the “duffers” have been proved by the scales and tester they should be moved on. We know that milking qualities arc largely hereditary, and there is never any difficulty now ‘in disposing of any surplus heifer calves from herds which have a reputation in milk production. With the very high costs now operating in respect to labour, appliances, etc., it is brought home to us That many cows which are milked throughout the year are not paying their way in spite of the high rates ruling for butter-fat and milk. As time goes on. and prices recede for milk products, it will press hardly on dairymen who do not cull cows lacking the capacity to return something better than the present Dominion average. If we could but raise the annual butter-fat return per cow to say 2501bs per annum—not an impossible feat —it would be a relatively easy matter to meet receding prices and present high costs. One need but glance at the progress made in milk-recording in the Homeland to realise! its possibilities and the great disparity between returns from the Empire’s best cows and our Dominion average In the third volume of the Register of Dairy Cows, with authenticated milk yields for the year October 1. 1919, details are given in respect to 2320 cows. Of this number 266 reached the IO.OOOIbs, or 1000 gallons standard of production, and the work of the various breeds is shown by the following table, giving the percentages of 1000-gallon cows :

Of the 266 thousand-gallon cows, 165 yielded over 1000 and less than 1100 gallons; 63 yielded over 1100 and less than 1200 gallons; 28 yielded over 1200 and less than 1300 gallons ; 13 yielded over 1300 and less than 1400 gallons; three yielded over 1400 and less than 1500 gallons; two yielded over 1700 gallons and less than 1800 gallons ; and one yielded 1958 gallons, the highest production recorded. This great yield of milk was given by the British Friesian cow Hedges Moss Bose in only 265 days. The highest yielders in the respective breeds are as follows:

It is of interest to note that in “other ' breeds,” there appears 20 cows of high milking production, including a 100-gallon Kerry Tow, while two 900 gallon Hereford cows* must also be noted. We have m mind while writing the fact that in Otago and Southland there are owners of cows j which could enter the lists against the 1 best of the foregoing champions, but it j is the general average of cows in the Dominion which we are np against, and the fault lies in a great measure with the dairymen themselves. The Government may not have enough testers at_ the moment, but as we have before pointed out, they could be readily turned out by the Technical Schools, if “dairymen would but be seized of the importance of hei’d testing generally. We imagine that the

Department of Agriculture, Victoria, are more alive to the importance of this work of herd-testing that our Dominion Department, good as the latter are with the equipment they possess. In the Commonwealth State, tne Department of Agriculture furnishes all the necessary advice, gives particulars of costs, etc., a’nd sends amng an officer to launch the society. Some of’ the dairv factories are helping the movement along by testing any milk or cream submitted to them, anti even to pace at the disposal of any properly constituted herd-testing organisation a loom and a qualified man. to undertake the testing on behalf of the members, those who do not seize upon sueli opportunities are surely blind to their own interests. •