Stud Cattle Breeders’ Page.

Southland Times, Issue 20201, 11 June 1927, Page 15 (Supplement)

Stud Cattle Breeders’ Page.

THE ROSEVALE FRIESIANS. JERSEY BREED DEMONSTRATION.

JERSEY BREED. A DEMONSTRATION. HOROWHENUA BREEDERS FOREGATHER. A demonstration on the Jersey breed attracted a large gathering of farmers and breeders last month on the farm of Mr Harold Lancaster, of Fairfield, Levin. The demonstrator was the well known judge and breeder, Mr H. J. Lancaster, of Glen Oroua, who had two typical cows from Mr Harold Lancaster’s farm to work from. The gathering was held under the auspices of the Horowhenua Jersey Breeders’ Association. Mr Lancaster stated that primarily it was the head that placed the purebred Jersey in a class distinct from the ordinary grade Jersey cow. The first point to look for was constitution, and that asset was to be found in a cow with open nostrils, clean-cut mouth, and strong jaw, a bold, bright eye, well sprung ribs and deep chest. The typical Jersey was expected to have a long head with a nicely-dished forehead and soft mellow horns that curved slightly downwards and inwards. There was an old saying that yellow horns were signs of a prolific butterfat cow r . There was nothing in the story—the tester alone could reveal the butter-producing ability of a cow. Continuing, Mr Lancaster said breeders aimed for a neck of medium length, well set upon the shoulders—U-necks were a defect. They liked to see a deep brisket and width between the front legs. . That showed that there was plenty of room for the heart and lungs to do their work. Without large open ribs a cow was not much good. The top line should also be perfectly level with no drooping at the tail. Some cows were weak in the loins, while others were not wide enough between the hips—two important essentials. However, a cow that showed a certain amount of condition was not to be despised provided she was a heavy producer. That wgs a conspicuous point in respect of such recordbreaking animals as Holly Oak Annie, the Empire champion, and it showed that the beast was preparing for the coming season. The lecturer said he did not Like a cow with a drooping rump, which condition was invariably accompanied by a pendulous udder. The tail should hang straight down and the animal should exhibit fine bones.

The udder, said Mr Lancaster, is the most important part of the cow, and he liked to see the vessel as if it were a continuation of the body, with teats well and squarely placed. It was very hard to get that ideal condition, but occasionally one did. He never went into raptures over a huge udder. Many times they were out of all proportion to the animal. Cows with pendulous udders were invariably those that got sore t§ats, as their udders came in contact with the mud—and sore teats meant bad-tempered cows and milkers. Generally speaking, the typical Jersey should be wedge-shaped when viewed from the head, and the skin should be loose and silky to the touch. AN AUSPICIOUS BEGINNING. The New Zealand Jersey Cattle Breeders’ Association numbers several women in its membership. Prominent among them is Mrs I. W. Spiers, of Ratavale, Levin, who, although a comparatively new breeder, has already met with appreciable success. Indeed, her record takes a lot of beating when it is considered that the Ratavale herd was founded only three years ago, and was exhibited for the first time last season, when it had the distinction of winning six cups, one rose-bowl, and no fewer than 80 prize tickets—the majority in the face of strong competition at leading North Island shows. Heading Mrs Spiers’ show team was Ku Ku Napper, a bull bred by Mr R. L. Horn. Napper was sired by Jersey Meadows Birch (tracing to the imported bulls Silverlock’s Duke and Goddington), out of Ku Ku Spot, a daughter of the justly famous champion butter-fat bull, Owler of Puketapu. Spot put up a record of 6301 b butter-fat as a 3-year-old. On the bottom line of his pedigree, Napper traces through K. See 18th to the imported foundation sire K.C. In all, Ku Ku Napper won last season six championships, three reserves, nine first prizes, one second, and two thirds. What is more, his daughters in Mrs Spiers’ herd also won many high honours, four heifers between them annexing 27 first prizes, besides many minor awards.

THE AYRSHIRE. TYPE WANTED IN NEW ZEALAND. OUTLOOK FOR THE BREED. In an address at the banquet of the Scottish Ayrshire Cattle Herd Book Society, Mr Morgan Williams of New Zealand gave an excellent outline of the possibilities of using more Ayrshires in his country. According to the Scottish Farmer, “His account of the New Zealand outlook for the breed, and the causes that are likely to operate to its advantage in that most British of overseas dominions, fell on responsive ears. The home breeder who listened could visualise the prospects of the breed under the Southern Cross. The transport of representatives 12,000 miles by sea is a costly undertaking, yet no breed is more likely to capture the New Zealand market if only the hints conveyed by the visitor are kept in view. Mr Williams distinguishes between a milking machine and a cow. He wants both beauty and utility, and he sees no reason why the former should be sacrificed while the latter is kept steadily in view as the breeder's goal. New Zealand is a dairy produce exporting country. The produce most easily handled in export is cheese, and by pre-eminence the Ayrshire is the cheese cow of the dairy breeds. For New Zealand she must be darkcoloured and hornless; her vessel must be level and carried well forward, her teats large, well-planted, not bunched, and hanging plumb. She has to be milked by the mechanical milker, and the formation of vessel and teats must be that which is best adapted to this method of drawing her milk. For New Zealand a big cow is not wanted, but an active, clean-boned cow, with good feet (we should say) is indispensable. A healthy sound cow will keep healthy in New Zealand, where the climate more nearly approaches Scottish conditions than in almost any other British dominion beyond the seas.”

AMERICAN LIVESTOCK. A bright picture is paintAl by the United States Department of Agriculture for the livestock industries. During 1926 the dairy industry is reported to have been most favourable, both in milk and feed prices. On the range the cattlemen appear optimistic. The hog producers have had the most advantageous spread in several years between maize and hog prices, although the cholera epidemic this fall wiped out many opportunities for profit. It is figured that the aggregate returns on the 70,000,000 hogs, sheep and cattle marketed during the past year were several millions of dollars over 1925 because of the better prices received for hogs. Top prices of £3 were paid for lots in June and July of 1926—the best orice since 1920,

EOSEVALE FRIESIANS. SHIPMENT TO TASMANIA. A VALUABLE CONSIGNMENT. A valuable consignment of purebred pedigree Friesian dairy cattle left Dunedin on Saturday, May 28, when Messrs H. North and Sons sent 21 females from their “Rosevale” herd at Omimi. Mr George Richardson of Mt. Pleasant Estate, Kingston, Hobart, Tasmania recently visited this Dominion and was so impressed with the high quality and the great butterfat backing of the junior females in the “Rosevale” herd that he purchased all that North and Soils had for sale. Among the females purchased by Mr Richardson are daughters of the imported bull, Echo Sylvia Sir Griselda (a linebred bull to the world’s champion cow, May Echo Sylvia) and also daughters of direct descendants from the world’s champion long distance cow, Burkeyje Sylvia Posch. The animals sold include : — Rose vale Doreen Sylvia (Echo Sylvia Sir Griselda—Rosevale Amelia Sylvia, 472.85 lb fat as junior 2-year-old). Rosevale Lady Colantha Posch (Rosevale Echo Sylvia Sir Colantha—Rosevale Kaatje Colantha Posch, 585.7 lb fat as junior 2-year-old). Rose vale Beauty Sylvia (Rosevale Inka Sylvia Model—Rosevale Beauty Posch, 806.03 lb fat, junior 4-year-old). Rosevale Alta Posch (Rosevale Korndyke Sylvia Posch—Rosevale Mary). This heifer is a grand-daughter of Burkeyje Sylvia Posch. Rosevale Echo Sylvia Posch (Echo Sylvia Sir Griselda—Model Sylvia). Rosevale Lady Colantha (Echo Sylvia Sir Griselda —Rosevale Colantha, 627.17 lb fat at 4 years). Rosevale Queen Pontiac Inka (Rosevale Inka Sylvia Model —Rosevale Inka Pontaic Queen). This heifer is a grand-daughter of Rosevale Holland Queen, 657.39 lb fat as junior 3-year-old. Rosevale Inka Sylvia Flora (Rosevale Inka Sylvia Model—Rosevale Burkeyje Flora, 793.15 lb fat at 4 years. Second class). Rosevale Echo Daisy Posch (Echo Sylvia Sir Griselda—Rosevale Queen Pietertje Posch). This heifer is a great granddaughter of Burkeyje Sylvia Posch. Rose vale Lady Waldorf Plus (Echo Sylvia Sir Griselda—Rose vale Helena Waldorf Sylvia). This heifer is a great grand-daugh-ter of Burkeyje Sylvia Posch. Rosevale Abbekerk Jewel (Echo Sylvia Sir Griselda—Rosevale Jewel Sylvia, 584.61 lb at 3 years).

Rosevale Burkeyje Colantha Posch (Rosevale Inka Sylvia Model—Rosevale Colantha Posch, 583.73 lb fat at 2 years). Failed to qualify. Rosevale Catrina Colantha Posch (Rosevale Echo Sylvia Sir Colantha —Rosevale Catrina Posch, 679.48 lb at 3 years. 683.55 lb 5 years). Rose vale Helena Plus Sylvia (Rosevale Inka King Sylvia —Helena Plus Girl, Imp.) Helena Plus Girl is the dam of Rosevale Helena Posch, 728.06 lb fat at 4 years, and of Rosevale Stella, 743.17 lb fat at 6 years. Rosevale Kathleen Posch (Rosevale Champion Sylvia Keyes—Rosevale Sylvia Model). This heifer is a double granddaughter of Echo Sylvia Sir Griselda. Rosevale Latly Hengerveld Posch (Rosevale Inka King Sylvia—Rosevale Burkeyje Hengerveld). This heifer is line bred to Burkeyje Sylvia Posch. Rosevale Model Sylvia Griselda (Echo Sylvia Sir Griselda—Rosevale Model Sylvia). This heifer is a grand-daughter of Bainfield Model Knight. Rosevale Pietje Colantha Posch (Rosevale Inka King Sylvia—Rosevale Inka Pietje Colantha). A great granddaughter of Burkeyje Sylvia Posch. Rosevale Sylvia Catrina Posch (Rosevale Inka Sylvia Model—Rosevale May Echo Catrina, 506.81 lb fat at 2 years). Failed to qualify. Rosevale Verbelle Pietertje Posch (Echo Sylvia Sir Griselda —Rose vale Sylvia Verbelle Pietertje) a great granddaughter of Burkeyje Sylvia Posch. The breeding of the sires of these heifers is interesting to note: — Rosevale Inka King Sylvia (Rosevale Inka Sylvia Model—Rosevale Queen Queen Daphne). Line bred on both sides to Burkeyje Sylvia Posch. Rosevale Inka Sylvia Model (Bainfield Model Knight—Burkeyje Sylvia Posch). Rosevale Echo Sylvia Sir Colantha (Echo Sylvia Sir Griselda—Rosevale Sylvia Colantha, a daughter of Burkeyje Sylvia Posch). This consignment of pedigree Friesians should do much to improve the dairy herds of Tasmania, for they are not only from high-producing ancestry, but out of a high producing herd. H. North and Sons’ “Rosevale” herd have made ninety-one records averaging 18,193.9 lb milk and 620.65 lb fat. Thirty of these records were made by two-year-olds. This is a wonderfully high average.

DAIRY BULLS.

PROLONGED PERIOD OF SERVICE. Dairy bulls at Beltsville, Maryland, have been put on a daily regime calculated by specialists of the Bureau of Dairy Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, to prolong their life of usefulness in the various breeding projects under way on the experimental farm. Systematic exercise and the feeding of sprouted oats are two of the most important features of the plan. Investigations in the past have proved the beneficial effects of exercise in maintaining the health and fertility of bulls, and the practice has been consistently advocated. The feeding of sprouted oats to bulls is in line with the beneficial results this feed has shown in correcting breeding difficulties in cows and virgin heifers. Sprouted oats supply the so called vitamin E, a shortage of which is often held responsible for abnormal functioning of productive organs in various kinds of animals. The special need for determining the best methods of handling dairy bulls to maintain their potency for many years is a result of the “proved sire” idea recently brought into favour. Proved sires are those whose daughters have been tested in sufficient numbers to indicate a consistent ability on the part of the sire to transmit high production. Such proof obviously can not be obtained until the sires are older than the average dairy bull. Five of the bureau’s herd bulls are over 8 years of age and average 10| years. One is *l5 years old and continues an active breeder. Several young bulls are being fed experimentally to test the effect of rations on fertility, and two older bulls are now being examined to determine the effects on fertility of excessive service, lack of exercise, and close confinement.

COWS AND WATER. It has been computed by an American dairy expert that a cow needs pure, fresh water equal to about three times the amount of milk produced . In one case a cow giving 271 b of milk drank 771 b of water daily. The same cow drank but 151 b daily when giving no milk. A cow giving 1001 b milk daily drank more than 2501 b of water. The amount of water required depends, of course, on the amount of milk the cow is producing, the kind of feed she is receiving, and the weather. However, in all cases it is considered good practice to provide an abundance of good water, fresh and clean, cool in summer, warm in l winter.

HERD LEADERS. MAINTAINING IMPROVEMENT. ABILITY TO SELECT RIGHT. Practically all the improvements of live stock in the world has been made possible through breeding and selection. The ability to select animals that will be an improvement over their ancestors is the one secret of the business of successful breeding. The man who cannot learn this fundamental principle of scientific breeding will never be successful in getting a high-class animal. The mere mating of purebred animals will not produce any noticeable improvement, as a rule, in the herd. It requires a careful study of all the animals and a selection of the type that is most desirable in an effort to secure animals of a more desirable type. Bulls with good mammary' veins are likely to transmit these qualities to their female offspring, and yet no one would expect a male to have the same mammary vein development that a female would have. A good bull, however, will have very well marked veins and milk wells, and they should not be overlooked, for the better they exist in the male the better they can be expected to be found in his daughters. The same may be said of the teats which are rudimentary in the bull. If they are large and well placed forward and wide apart, the female that he sires will be expected to have teats so placed. These things should be noted very carefully in selecting a bull. The bull should be prepotent—that is, have the ability to transmit his characteristics to his offspring. This is a most important qualification. The bull should look masculine, and while this has a tendency to coarseness, it must be present or the bull will not transmit his characteristics to his daughters. The head should show character and masculinity in every feature. The eye should be bright and large and well set. The horns should be large and tape rfrom the poll, and the nostrils should be large and open, and the jaws strong and muscular. The throatlatch should be clean cut, and the crest of the neck should be heavy enough to denote masculinity. The windpipe is large, which indicates that the bull can breathe large quantities of air. The shoulders of the bull are always larger and heavier than they are in the cow, but they should not be too oblique, as this does not permit of enough room for the heart and lungs. They should be fairly well set and straight, and they need not be coarse and thick across the withers. The chest cavity should be very deep, and the ribs should be well sprung. This gives the necessary lung capacity, and with the back ribs allows plenty of room for the abdominal organs. The body should be long from the shoulders to the hips, and should be wide through the pinbones, and the hurls, for the width here will be an indication of the probable width of this region in his daughters, which is desired. Bulls that are narrow in the hips will sire heifers that are of the same type. The spinal column, or the backbone, should be open and free from fat, the same as it is in the cow. The rump should be long and not too deep, for the bull with a short, steep rump will sire cows that have a very poorly set udder, and as a rule will not be high producers. The hide of the bull should be very pliable, elastic, and easily handled. The hair should be fine and silky. The bull will show much better handling qualities of the skin than will the cows.

The hindquarters of the bull need special attention. The thighs should be set well apart, and should be thin and free from all beefiness. They should form an arch that extends well up behind, otherwise the daughters that he sires will not have good udders and well placed ones. The bull that has heavy, thick thighs is not a desirable type, and should not be used. The size of the bull should not be lost sight of, for this is very important. The size will vary according to the breed, the stage of maturity, and the family or line of breeding. Size should not be taken, though, as a qualification that would indicate greatness as a sire. Dreed type should not be lost sight of in selecting a bull, neither should beauty of form, for they are all very desirable qualifications when they are not secured at the expense of quality.

JEKYLL AND HYDE MR McLEOD’S TASK. UNITES INDUSTRY AND GRASS INTERESTS. CONFLICTING VOICES FROM AUSTRALIA. “I personally cannot object to the Australian farmer pressing for higher duties on outside products which are in competition with his own, but .... 1” This extract from the Hon. A. D. McLeod’s farewell message to Australia, on the subject of tariff reciprocity, implies a good deal more than it expresses. The situation is one full of human as well as economic interest, and it concerns every New Zealander, states the Evening Post. The main reciprocal agreement between Australia and New Zealand covers 129 items subjected to special treatment. Apart from these 129 items, “all other goods which are produced or manufactured in either Australia or New Zealand are admitted to the other country concerned at British preferential rates of duty.” What the Australian manufacturers now want is that New Zealand should give them the advantage of British preferential duty not only on those goods already enjoying it, but also on those goods of Australian manufacture which are listed among the 129 especial treatment items, and which, as special treatment items, do not enjoy the advantage of British preferential duty. From the very nature of the reciprocal agreement now existing, it may be taken for granted that those items among the 129 that are loaded with more than the British rate of duty are loaded in that way for a particular reason, such reason being the desire of the country levying the duty to protect its own manufacture of the article concerned. Therefore, the desire of Australian manufacturers touches at once on a delicate point in New Zealand’s policy. GRIEVANCE OF AUSTRALIAN FARMER.

The reason why such a gesture should come from manufacturers in Australia is that they have, to a much greater extent than New Zealand manufacturers, reached the export stage. Even so, the Australians are only in the infancy of the export business, and are as far behind America or Britain in this respect as New Zealand manufacturers are behind them. Australian manufacturers have a fair hold of the Australian market, but during the nine years ended June 30, 1925, they exported only 5.79 per cent, of their manufacturing output, while the Australian primary producers exported 46.21 per cent, of theirs. So long as the Australian primary producer sells largely abroad under unprotected conditions, while the Australian manufacturer sells almost entirely in his own sheltered home market, the latter will find his position hard to defend against the anti-tariff ( attacks of the farmer. For that reason, i and also for the ordinary economic need of selling the surplus abroad, the Australian manufacturer is looking for oversea markets, and one of the nearest of these is New Zealand. But unfortunately for him, the Australian farmer—or, at any rate, the

dairy farmer—has torn several leaves out of the high tariff book, and is seeking against New Zealand butter, bacon and hams duties that, as Mr McLeod says, amount to embargoes. Thus the Australian manufacturer and the Australian dairy farmer, looking across the Tasman Sea, observe New Zealand through different spectacles. One sees a market to be opened, the other sees a rival producer to be shut out. And politically the two plans do not coincide. In fact, they clash. Mr McLeod might be able to smile at this Australian conflict of secondary and primary interests, were it not that the same position is developing in New Zealand, and the cross-tides in this country hit each other just at the very spot where Mr McLeod himself is trying to combine the positions of Minister of Lands and Minister of Industries and Commerce. How he will succeed in blending the Jekyll and the Hyde of his dual official personality is one of the most piquant problems of the politics of the day. AN OBJECT LESSON.

His Australian tour has provided the Minister with an object-lesson in the rival development of primary and secondary industries, and the tendency of primary producers to be either militant anti-tariffites, or else hard-bargaining sharers of the soil. Mr McLeod has been studying (so has Mr Polson) the “Paterson Plan,” under which the Australian dairy farmer receives from the Australian consumer an export bonus on butter as some small but quite insufficient redress for the wrong done to the farmer by high-priced tariffed imports and by minimum wages. Mr McLeod is also concerned (and no doubt Mr Polson is) in the Australian farmer’s vigorous efforts to exclude the New Zealand dairy products, which constitute one avenue towards New Zealand’s only economic means of doing something to pay for the goods which the Australian manufacturer wishes to sell in New Zealand. Already the Dominion’s purchases are so much larger than her sales, so far as Australia is concerned, that the position seems to be economically abnormal, even without the intervention of new butter, bacon and ham duties. While Britain buys from this country much more than she sells, and while Australia sells much more than she buys, how can New Zealand take more of the manufactures that Australian secondary industries, working with payment-for-results methods, are said to be prepared to export in substitution for British manufactures? A KICK COMING IN BOOTS. The idea of offering in New Zealand better treatment for Australian manufactures is not new. It figured in the last tariff rearrangement of 1921-22, when the reciprocity arrangement included New Zealand’s reduction of duty on Australian boots and shoes from 45 per cent, to 35 per cent, ad valorem. It is fairly easy to guess what New Zealand boot manufacturers have been telling our in camera Tariff Commission abodt this concession on Australian boots. It is said that on the Rimutaka divide there is a point where three winds meet. If so, every Wairarapa man should know it. Some similar concourse of air-currents must be whistling over the head of the farmer Parliamentarian who is now committed to guide the political destinies of both primary and secondary industries in a country which presents potentially the same points of economic conflict revealed in Australia. Perhaps it is fortunate that one Minister unites two such divergent purposes. The language used by the Minister of Industries to the Minister of Lands need never be made public.

BREEDERS’ PARS. ! The Guernsey breed of cattle is making steady headway in Australia, principally in New South Wales. A position of healthy progress was reported to the annual meeting of the Guernsey Cattle Society, which was held at the Sydney show under the presidency of Mr Kinross. The membership, the annual report showed, had increased to 69, which was 16 more than last year. Efforts are being made to induce the State departments in Victoria and South Australia to breed Guernsey cattle on an experimental and educational basis, as in New 7 South Wales. The society has issued its 26th certificate of merit to cows w'hich have, over a period of 273 days, produced 4501 b but-ter-fat. The disadvantage of continuous milking without drying off is that when freshening has occurred the cow will start off on a lower level than would otherwise be the case. Her body does not get a chance to flesh up, and the lack of rest does not give her a chance to get into condition for heavy milking again. The result is that she does the best she can in the circumstances.

As a rule, where cows are all purchased and none bred the average production is low and it never gets much better as long as this course is pursued. In addition to the certain results of finding that many of the purchased cows are unprofitable, there is a great and constant danger of bringing disease into the herd with purchased cows. Tuberculosis and contagious abortion are often brought into the herd in this manner. A man who has had no experience with cows, or whose experience has been limited to beef cattle or ordinary cattle of low dairy quality, is almost certain to make a failure, if placed at once in charge of a herd of dairy cows of highproducing capacity. A combination of the two plaqs is also very good. That is, to buy most of the herd of such common cows as have indications of milking qualities and to include a few choice cows and save their offspring most carefully. If the herd must be started with the minimum outlay of capital, the best plan is to begin with the best cows that can be purchased in the locality; the herd bull should be selected with great care and the poorer cows disposed of as soon as discovered and replaced with heifers from the best cows. Within a few years a good herd is on hand with a small investment, and the owner has gained experience as the herd develops that will enable him to handle a high-pro-ducing herd when he has one.