GROUP HERD-TESTING

Taranaki Daily News, 19 July 1933, Page 4

GROUP HERD-TESTING

ADVANTAGES OF THE SYSTEM NEED TO INCREASE PRODUCTION. ONLY WAY TO. MEET COMPETITION. Emphasising that greater production per cow. and per acre must be the aim of every dairy farmer, Mr. C. M. Hume, secretary-organiser of the Dominion Group Herd-Testing Federation, said during an illustrated lecture at Toko last night that it was essential to increase production if New Zealand were successfully to compete on the British markets., . Only by this means could any real economy in production costs be effected. , . Mr. Hume said improved methods of grass-land management, such as topdressing and rotational grazing, meant increased carrying, capacity, while herd testing would .result in increased .production . per cow. It was only by increasing production per acre and per cow that, they could reduce their costs and thus'meet the growing competition they had to encounter in the world’s markets. Mr. A. H. Cockayne, assist-ant-Director-General of Agriculture, addressing the students at a recent farm school at Hamilton, referred to the adequate feeding of grass and the adequate feeding of stock, and stated that only by the adoption of modem grassland practice would efficiency in production be secured. Mr. Cockayne emphasised the need for more thorough knowledge of the efficient production of grass and said the need for translation of that knowledge into practice was never greater than to-day. Any idea that the per acre production should be reduced by the deliberate non-adoption of practices leading to higher production was, in Mr. Cockayne’s opinion, quite unsound. Mr. Cockayne went on to refer to the three variables—grass, stock and the fanner. Bad. grasses and bad stock, he pointed out, could not be changed into good grasses and good stock; whenever opportunity offered they must be elimin:ated and replaced by good grasses • and good stock. VALUE OF CERTIFIED SEED. Mr. Huge stressed the advantage of using duly certified grass and clover seed when laying down a pasture, and said it was only by consistent .herd-test-ing that poor cows could, be, recognised and .eliminated. Consistent herd-testing also enabled the fanner correctly to appreciate his good cows and the success or otherwise of his programme for replacements. Mr. Cockayne was convinced, Mr.Rume said, that it paid a fanner to test year by' year. The herd under test would average 251 b. of fat per cow .more than if that herd were not under 'test, because testing meant better management and better feeding than otherwise. . v ' i ' ' ' .' Mr. Hume’s first lantern slide was of Mr; R. A. Candy’s cow Violet, which he said had made history in New Zealand. Mr. Candy gave £5B for the cow and his friends did not hesitate to say he had made a bad bargain, but in four years under group test she produced 24891 b. of fat, with a cash return of £123. She was the . highest cow in the New Zealand Association’s returns, and for eight consecutive seasons had averaged 6221 b. of fat. Mr. Hume gave.details of another cow which -for nine years produced an average of 5621 b. of fat, and he said it was only by testing that they ; could get down to real facts. Figures shown by Mr. Hume related to the world’s production of dairy produce. They indicated that the United States made' over one-third of the ■world’s butter, but that was hot sufficient for its own needs. New Zealand produced' only about 3 per cent. ■of the world’s butter and was ninth on the list, but was third on the list of exporting countries.' New Zealand was-seventh on the list of cheese-producing countries and was the greatest exporter of that article. OBSTACLE OF TARIFFS. ' To-day, Mr. Hume continued, they heard a great deal of talk about quotas, but he considered that the greatest obstacle to the world’s progress was tariff barriers, and that no real progress would be made .until they had been scaled down. > While butter, was selling at 9d a lb. in England it was retailing in France at 2s 6d per lb., and in other Contin.ental countries the price rose to ■more than 3s a lb., all as the result of tariff walls. If these barriers were removed there was ample room for increased production. New Zealand was in a favoured position, inasmuch as while most other countries had . to house 'their dairy stock for a considerable portion of the year, in New Zealand they were running out all the year. This meant, therefore, that' it was possible to produce butter-fat at lower cost in New Zealand and should enable them to compete successfully with any other dairy country. Mr. Hume traced the growth of herdtesting in the Dominion. It started, he said, with the association system in ■1909, when 815 cows were tested, and in 1921-22 .the total had increased to 45,564 cows. In 1922-23 the group system came into being. For that season 77,325 cows were tested under the association system and 7500 under the group system. Since then there had been a decline to 25,330 under the association, while under the group system the number of cows had increased to 234,527. The average production of cows under test in 1931-32 was 236.87, while the average per cow population for the Dominion was 199.71 b. No man, he contended, could afford to do without herd-testing and yet only 16 per cent, of the cows were tested.'

\ Referring to the growth of herd-testing in Victoria, Mr. Hume said 10 years’ experience had resulted in raising the production of all cows by 51.21 b. of fat per cow. During that time the cow population of Victoria had decreased by 50,341 cows, but butter production had increased by 18,350 tons. In 1921-22, when testing was first introduced in Victoria, the average production of all cows was 136.31 b., while by 1930-31 it had increased to 187.51 b. of fat per cow. Mr. Hume referred to the steps taken in Victoria to eliminate the scrub bull and said that two years ago 72 per cent, of the sires were pedigree animals. The return per cow in Victoria in 1921-22 was £lO 4s sd, while in 1930-31, despite the big fall in prices for dairy produce, it was £9 7s 6d. DOMINION NOT PROGRESSING. The average production per cow in New Zealand was no better than it was six years ago, but the farmers went along to their union meetings and passed all sorts of resolutions calling on the Government to do this, that and the other, and yet only a small percentage were far-seeing enough to take up herdtesting and thus do something themselves to increase production and counter the lower level of prices. Why not do as Victoria had done? He quoted the case of a farmer who as a result of testing, followed by better farm management, had increased his herd from 33 to 43 cows and his average production per cow from 2021 b. of fat to 3291 b. of fat. When he started testing the total production from that farm was 66661 b. of fat, while last year it was 14,1481 b. That man was not talking about the slump.

He was getting more money from the dairy company than in 1928-29 despite the lower prices. Thousands of farmers could have done as this man had done, commented Mr. Hume. Denmark had felt the slump more than New Zealand, but the Danes tested more than 40 per cent, of their dairy cattle and had built up their dairy industry by testing. Mr. Hume quoted figures to show that at Is per lb. fat it was necessary for a cow on the. average farm to produce 2201 b. of fat to pay something above maintenance cost. He estimated that a cow giving 2201 b. of fat returned a profit of £1 and, proceeding on these lines, stressed the point that if they could raise the average to 3001 b., the aim of the federation, that profit would be increased to £5 per cow. On the other hand, cows giving 2001 b. of fat or less were not paying for their board.

There was all the difference between a herd and a collection of cattle, a fact recognised by too few. A herd led to success and a collection nowhere. The large herds in Taranaki, Waikato and Manawatu particularly were keeping the average butter-fat returns of New Zealand down,' simply because they were not properly handled. They were just treated as a collection of cows. Farming was a business, and instead of the farmer talking of the number of cows he milked he should talk of the average production of his herd. Taranaki was one of the oldest and best dairying districts of New Zealand, and yet only about 20 per cent, of the cows of the province were under test, while in Southland 50 per cent, of the cows weretested. The most successful farmers were the farmers who consistently tested their cows. HIGH PRODUCING COWS. Mr. Hume showed a slide of five cows belonging to Mr. ,H. Bull, of the East Coast. One of these cows purchased in Taranaki had averaged 6001 b. of fat for six years. Her first calf ■ had produced just on the 6001 b. and the next generation over 6001 b. Mr. Bull’s objective was 'to have- his whole herd of 40 cows comprised of descendants of that ■ Taranaki cow. Mr. Hume said’many farmers did not realise what a good herd sire could do for them, and in this connection he stressed the importance of a pedigree bull, and particularly the importance of seeing -that there were a succession of butter-fat records behind his claim. A succession of records indicated not only high producing ability, but also a guarantee of constitution and regular breeding, the three essentials that made up a high quality dairy herd? - The bull was the most important animal the farmer had on the farm.

Mr. Hume referred to the certified bull Kcheme, under which a bull ‘born since June, 1931, would have to have butterfat backing, otherwise his daughters would not be eligible for marking. In other words, his dam must have qualified under one of the systems of testing. The standards were not too high, starting at. 2501 b. in the case of two-year-olds. The calf-marking scheme introduced by the federation had been of great value, and he -urged farmers, in the event of their buying marked calves, to see that the certificate was produced, otherwise the. fact that the calf was tattooed was of .no real value. There was an. increasing demand for marked calves. At Hawera last year marked calves averaged £3 Bs, whereas any number of unmarked calves could have been bought for 15s to £l. A similar sale at Invercargill resulted in the same satisfactory prices being obtained, while recently a line of marked springers had sold in Waikato at £B, when unmarked heifers could be bought for £3 to £6. Mr. Hume said he would advise a farmer who had not tested his herd to dispose of his calves as bobby calves and buy and rear calves from a consistent tester that were eligible for -marking as a nucleus of a new herd. Years would be saved in this way because it took a long time to build up production averages to the level of those of men who were regularly testing. This practice was now being followed in some districts, the dairy companies financing the deal and deducting the cost of the calves from the milk cheques spread over several months, so .that it would not seriously affect the farmer taking advantage of the scheme.