INCREASING PRODUCTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 August 1921, Page 8

INCREASING PRODUCTION.

TWO IMPORTANT ESSENTIALS.

FEEDING AND TESTING.

The necessity for increasing production, and some of the ways by which this can be accomplished, formed the subject of advice to suppliers at the annual meeting of the .Toll Dairy Company yesterday.

The chairman said that the past season had not been a good one, as far as dairy production was concerned. It had been rough in the early part, followed by a dry spell in the autumn. A good many had been caught napping at the beginning of the season, not having a sufficient supply of feed to keep the cattle iu good condition for the production, of milk. It was, he said, a small matter if a stack of hay or of root crop went to waste; it was far better to have feed going to waste than have too little. This season opposite conditions prevailed. There was a lot of feed, and the stock wore in good condition. If stock were in good condition at the beginning of the season they were going to bring in much greacer returns than if they were poor. He, therefore, anticipated I’nat this season would be extremely good, as far as the production of nutter-fat per head of cows in the district was concerned. What had been done in the past to improve the herds was shown-by Mr. G. H. Kent (the cow-tester to the company), who reported that during the past season cowtesting had been successfully carried out by an increased number of suppliers. Over 2000 cows were sampled, with some suppliers showing an increased yield, despite a lower producing season. The average of cows under test for the whole season was 254.901bs of fat. The five leading herds produced as under:— Cows. Average. W. Hollis 40 334.751bs H. Sharp 46 304.401bs R. E. Harrison (No. 1) .. 80 301.721bs D. P. Malone 48 294.081bs T. W. Presledge ..;•••• 59 290.601bs The highest cow gave 495.041b5, while

:he lowest cow for a period of over 100 iays’ milking gave 67.411b5. The herd giving the lowest return for the season’s testing averaged* the average being slightly under the previous season’s return, partly due to some of the higher producing herds not being under test. Overstocking and consequent under-feeding had materially reduced the returns per cow in a number of cases. In many instances fewer and better fed cows would be more likely to give the increased production that was being striven for, z and a larger number nf herds would be under test for the coming season. It was to be hoped that, with extra supplementary feed and the culling of unprofitable cows, that a higher average production would result. Inspection of sheds and machines had been carried out whenever there was an opportunity of doing- so. Much more might with advantage be done in this matter, but unfortunately the greatest need for inspection existed during the heaviest months of testing.

The chairman pointed out the great difference between the highest herd (3341b5) and the lowest (1871bs). If every one could rai®.* his average to 3001bs of fat, what a difference it would make. The country wanted more production, and this could be obtained by keeping the best cows, which, he pointed out, lived on the same grass as cows that gave very little butter-fat.