DOMINION HERDS PRAISED

Southland Times, Issue 23380, 11 December 1937, Page 18

DOMINION HERDS PRAISED

IMPROVEMENTS MADE IN PASTURES The excellent quality of New Zealand grade and pedigree dairy herds and the distinct characteristics of type and constitution that had been developed were stressed by Mr R. L. Fitzgerald, vice-president of the Primary Producers’ Union of New South Wales, and a prominent State breeder and judge of Jersey cattle, in an interview. Mr Fitzgerald has completed a tour of the Dominion with a party of Australian farmers.

Commenting upon the specimens of the Jersey breed he had inspected on New Zealand farms, Mr Fitzgerald said the herds appeared to possess a large proportion of, high-producing cows. Pedigree herds, as in Australia, were losing some of the imported island characteristics and a modified type was being developed to suit the Dominion’s particular conditions. Stock was more robust, and, due to the fine conditions under which it was reared, possessed bigger and better constitutions.

It is 31 years since Mr Fitzgerald previously visited New Zealand, and the improvements which have been effected to pastures in the interim he regards as almost unbelievable. “The progress is astonishing,” he said. “Country, which three decades ago I would not have taken as a gift, is now carrying a beast to the acre and there are indications that it is by no means fully stocked. On my earlier visit I do not remember seeing a single beast in the Rotorua district, but now it has been improved to carry excellent pasture.” Mr Fitzgerald said he had been impressed by the successful results which had accrued from top-dressing but it would not be expected that all New South Wales pastures would respond to the same extent. The quality of the land and the rainfall were two major factors which affected the position.