PRACTICAL DAIRYING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 20, 22 January 1913, Page 5

PRACTICAL DAIRYING.

WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH A HERD OF TWENTY.

ON A FIFTY-ACRE FARM

hen one farmer is getting from his herd almost double the revenue that his neighbour is extracting, basing the calculations on the average yield per cow, there should be something in the experiences of the former that is worth recording. With this thought in mind, a representative of. the “Stratford Evening Post” made enquiries as to the name of the owner of the herd of twenty cows which are taking top place in the records of the Stratford and Midhirst Herd-testing Associations, the result being an interview with Mr William Barlow, who a fifty-acre farm at the junction of the Pembroke and Monmouth roads, and is a supplier to the Midhirst creamery, situated close by. Making It Pay.

“Yes,” said Mr Barlow, “Pm only too willing to tell you anything you may care to know about my farm, what I have done, and what I’m going to do. I spent three years on a 171acre farm at Eltlpun, but it didn’t pay, and it was that farm which put me out as much as anything. The labour question was a serious one to me; it was impossible to get men. At times the wife and I had to milk fifty-live cows between us. EJtham land, too, is said to he much better than Stratford country, but that has not been my experience. Four years ago 1 purchased ray present property at £27 per acre. Only a small farm, you may but I resolved never again to be dependent on hired labour. I brought the best of my cows with me, and now I have a mixed herd of grade Jerseys and grade Shorthorns, with only one purebred animal. I’ra making the farm pay, and every year my income increases steadily.” ! The Monthly Cheque,

Though Mr Barlow’s cows have no pedigrees, their records compel attention. The average cow for the thirty-day period ending December 14th, 1912, gave IHSIbs of milk, which at a test of 4.0, produced 44.711bs of butter fat. Other farmers in Taranaki have beaten this record, but the fact remains that this herd is giving better results than those attained by many farmers who are paying high prices for cows Avith big reputations. When this herd was first given, a chance to slioav what it could do, the tAA-enty coavs a Averaged £l3 12s for the season. The folloAving year the herd averaged £l4 7s, and noAV, Avhen the present season is over, the animals wi 11 be averaging about £ls. Mr BarloAv’s highest monthly cheque Avas £46, and in one month Ins revenue, assisted by the sale of a few pigs, Avas £54 2s. Casein and Pigs. The mention of pigs naturally brought up the subject of casein. Midhirst is uoav manufacturing caisein, and the farmers are squabbling for the liquid that is left (after all is over) in just the same manner as they do for skim milk at Stratford, and Avhey at Ngaire. Mr Barlow remarked that it looked very much as if the farmers might just as well feed their pigs on Avater. In consideration of giving up his skim milk, the farmer is to got l£d per lb. on his butter fat. “I made £42 in on,e year out of my pigs,” said Mr BarloAV,” and casein Avould not pay me half as f much as my pigs do.”. ' Improving the Herd, Mr Barlow is a firm believer in herd-testing, and Avhat farmer, Avho means to build up a good herd, is not. illustrating the point that no farmer can tell, AA'ithout testing, the relative value of his coavs, Mr BarloAV mentioned that he sold Avhat he thought aa'es his poorest coav to a neighbour. He Avas not testing at that time; if he had been he Avould not have sold his neighbour a coav that makes 381bs. butter fat per month, Avhile he kept in his herd a cow that was producing less than thirty. To use Mr BarJo aa-’s own words: “I reckon this testing is a grand thing. I don’t think it’s much trouble. I can $l- - manage it, and if it’s not too much trouble for me, I don’t consider it will be too much trouble for anybody else.” Running o.n the farm, Mr BarloAV has eleven fine young calves by a Guernsey bull, which he purchased from O’Donnell’s estate, Inaha. As a four-months-old calf, “Radiant Morn” Avas bought for fourteen guineas. The bull comes from a splendid milking strain, one of his immediate ancestors having had an 8.4 test. The' Guernsey breed is not largely patronised in Taranaki, and consequently one sees them not at the shows Still they are in some respects superior to the Jersey, and no doubt will have to be reckoned Avith in the future. It is of this breed that Mr George Gould, of Christchurch, who is now importing a number of Guernseys, said:—“There is little to choose either in colour, quality, or quantity betAveen the produce of Jerseys and Guernseys, but I think the latter were the most generally useful breed, being larger and not quite so refined. Their colour, varying from light yelloav and Avhite to red and Ayhite, is most attractive to me,- and they cross most excellently Avith Shorthorns.” Consequently,Mr BarloAV- is hopeful that the youngsters will prove valuable additions to his herd some day, and from a cursory glance at them, scampering round the paddocks, they should delight the eye of any farmer. Improving the Farm, Probably the secret of Mr Barlow’s ■suefeess with his coavs lies in the fact that he knows that for everything he puts into his land, and for everything that he puts into his coaa’s, he will get in increased butter fat production—a -satisfactory .reward. At present he has six acres doivn in turnips, and three acres in oats. With the exception of three' acres of shelter bush, the farm has been stumped and the paddocks have all -been ploughed. Every year he top-dresses a portion of the farm, generally about nine acres. He uses basic slag and kainit, in the proportion of three to one re-spectiA’-ely, and it costs on an average 17s per acre. The result of all this is that Mr BarloAv’s farm looks as Avell as any in the district. It cost him £27 an acre four years ago, and be could very likely, get a figure in the neighbourhood of £4O for it noAv. But he’s not selling.