FARM AND DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, 18 July 1929, Page 19

FARM AND DAIRY

N.Z. FRIESIAN ASSOCIATION. ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of mnnbers was held in Auckland on Thursday, July 4, 1929. Mr. 11. J. Marchant (president) was in the chair, and 33 members were present. The report find balamic-sheet were adopted. Votes of condolence were passed with the relatives of deceased members: Messrs: Jos. Liggins, W. S. Gallon, R. E. Fox and with the relatives of Sir James Wilson and A. J. Barr, also to Mr. 11. R. Green on the death of his father. Major R. A. Wilson, Messrs. T. R. Erdes, E. C. Banks and J. I, Roy s were elected'io the council. Election of officers resulted a ■ follows: —President, Mr. H. J, Marchant; vice-presidents, Major R. A. Wilson and. Mr. E. M. North; auditor, Mr. D. R. Revell, Auckland. It was resolved to make the following addition to the rules: “That, the purchaser of a pedigree Friesian bull for grade breeding purposes shall be eligible for election as an associated member of the New Zealand Friesian Association, such associated member to have the light of transfer at members’ rates, both purchase and sale.” A lengthy discussion took place on the question of regulations governing sale’s of pedigree Friesians in this Dominion, and it was decided to recommend the council to frame a rule on the following .lines: “Any breeder holding a sale of pedigree Friesians may, on application to the council, get his cattle inspected by an-examining committee of two or more. Any animal not passed by the committee shall not be transferred; alternatively, all animals offered for sale shall be approved by the examining commitee/'

It was resolved that the council take into consideration the question of adopting a 305 day semi-official test period in place of the 365 days period.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT. In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet the president said it was pleasing to draw attention to the fact that the Friesian breed still maintained its lead over all other breeds in the matter of butter-fat production. Returns published by the Department of Agriculture show that seven cows produced over BOolb fat under semi-official test during 1926. These cows and their records are as follows: — lbs. butterfat. Rosevale Queen Sylvia Triumph (•2nd class), Friesian 1055.25 Rosevalo Gladys Posch, Friesian 910.43 Rexcourt Lady Magnet (3 years), Jersey . 880.19 Floss of Braeside, Ayrshire ... 832.82 Nepean Isolda Johanna Piet jo, Friesian 828.16 Regina Posch of the South, Friesian 823.68 Pareora Echo Blossom (sen, 2 years), Friesian 819.81 (A record for all breeds.) Five out of the above seven cows are, therefore, seen to be Friesians. In addition to gaining such a large percentage of the outstanding records, the Friesian breed also proved pre-emin-ent in'the matter of average fat per cow during 1928. The Director of the Dairy Division, in his review, gives the following averages for the four chief breeds of dairy cattle; — Average Breed. • fat per cow. Friesians 527.97 Ayrshires 520.02 Milking Shorthorns ... 480.96 Jerseys 456.92 Translating the above figures into cash values with the Hawera cheese investigation as a guide, the average Friesian cow for 1928, would produce 1496.79 lb of cheese, worth at 9d per lb, £56 2s 7d, while the average Jersey would produce 1139.551 b of cheese worth £42 14s 7d, or an advantage of £l3 8s to the Friesian. “Before leaving the matter of butterfat production attention might well be drawn to the remarkable performance of Springbank Snow Countess, a Canadian Friesian, who recently completed, her third consecutive record of more than 11001 b fat in a year. She now holds the world’s record for total production of three, four and five consecutive lactation periods. In her five lactation periods she has produced a total of 117,1471 b of milk and 50981 b fat, thus giving aii average yearly production of 23,4291 b milk and 10191 b of fat. lam sure this association will wish to congratulate heartily her owner and our Canadian fellow-breeders generally on this wonderful achievement.

“Referring to other matters, members will recollect that the report from Mr. P. O. Veale, dairy scientist, on his cheese-making investigations was published shortly after our last annual meeting. The result of Mr. Veale’s work was decidedly favourable to our breed, and the following points might be emphasised; (1) that the Friesian cow is the outstanding cow for the milk supply to cheese factories, since Friesian milk, will yield up to 13 per cent, more cheese per pound of butter-fat than the hightesting milk as represented by the Jersey breed; (2) in the course of his report Mr. Veale states: ‘New Zealand is losing immense sums annually by exporting over-fat cheese enormous quantities of buter-fat for which there is no financial return,’ ” COUNCIL MEETING. A meeting of the Council of the New Zealand Friesian Association was held on July 4, 1929, in Auckland. Present: Messrs. IL J. Marchant (president), Cardiff, D. J. McGowan (Auckland), T. A. Eades (Edendale South), J. McAnulty (Ashburton), E. M. North (Onrimi, Otago), E. C. Banks (Matamata), T. E. Johnson (Hawera), Major R. A. Wilson (Bulls), Jas. Hart (Tatuanui), Henry Jolly (Waiuku). Mr. H. R. Green was appointed judge lor the Royal show. It was resolved to allocate the North Island championship to the Manawatu A. and P. Association’s show. It was resolved to vote £5O as prize money for the group at the Royal show and £67 10s as contribution towards transport expenses of Friesians so competing. It was resolved to congratulate the Federation on the excellent work accomplished by their research chemist (Mr. P. O. Veale, 8.A., M.Sc., A.1.C.) whose work was proving of special value to tho dairy farmers of the Dominion. One hundred and eleven new members were elected and sixty-three herd names were approved for registration. It was resolved, to reply to the Otago branch that there is a ruling that “a solid black leg” makes an animal ia-

eligible for registration, but that black spots below the knee or on the hoof appear on many Pedigree Frcsians of the highest quality, e.g., in the Grigg strain, j New Zealand Friesians, and in several all-American champions. Mr. H. J. Marchant was appointed to act as the representative of the New Zealand Friesian Association on Council of the Royal Agricultural Society. It was resolved to forward to the New Zealand Ayrshire Association and to the New Zealand Milking Shorthorn Association copies of the following resolution passed at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Friesian Association: — “That the New Zealand Friesian Association considers that immediate steps should be taken by the dairy division and by the dairy factories throughout the Dominion to adopt a system of payment on an equitable basis (as outlined by Mr. P. O. Veale, dairy scientist, Hawera research laboratory) for milk supplied for cheese-making purposes; that the New Zealand Friesian Association consider standardisation is only a palliative, and that to protect the reputation of New Zealand cheese it is essential that only normal whole milk should be used for cheese-making.”

SUCCESS IN FARMING. AN AMATEUR'S EXPERIENCE. CITY MAN’S INDUSTRY. The practical experience of a city man who turned farmer a few years ago should be encouraging to those who are in doubt as to the monetary returns obtainable from labour on the land in the Auckland district (says the Herald). The man in question, owing to health reasons, had to give up sedentary life in a city office, so he purchased a farm with the moderate amount of capital at his disposal and had to bear the burden of a substantial mortgage. When ho started his farm was only able to carry a herd, of 37 cows, which yielded him a sufficient income to jirt about cover all costs, including interest. To-day he is able to show through the official statement of the local Testing Association that lie is now carrying 47 cows, and that- this season the herd has yielded a total of. 15,3591 b of butterfat. Forty-five of the cows have yielded an average of 3321 b of fat per head in 278 days, eight of the cows yielding ■loolb, and one cow yielding 4671 b. These figures go to show that the cityman was shrewd enough to recognise the value of good stock, though he has never had the capital to buy high-priced animals. The improvement has been effected through carefully weeding out all inferior cows, the selection of calves from his best butter-fat vielders; the purchase of young animals of good strain, and the use of artificial fertilisers for top-dress-ing combined with regular attention to draining and such matters. The total return from the farm, which is under a hundred acres, this year is £1350, which would show a gross profit of nearly £5OO over working expenses: but much of income is going back into the farm, and its owner is convinced that he can, by judicious expenditure, still further increase its total production and therefore his yearly income. It is satisfactory to know that this city-bred farmer who is still comparatively’ young, lias largely reduced the mortgages on his property besides improving his stock and pasture and adding substantially to his buildings, plant, and implements. Tho moral to be adduced from this report, the accuracy of which cannot be doubted, is that if men will work their land and stock intelligently, and live thriftly, there is good money to be made from farming, and that the State and our financial institutions should advance the prosperity of New’ Zealand by encouragaing rather than discouragang the settlement of idle country, and tho improvement of existing farms by providing capital on reason-able-terms for steady -and industrious men. . sjf. J 5l ; A- «:•