TOPICS AMONG FARMERS

Taranaki Daily News, 15 September 1934, Page 24 (Supplement)

TOPICS AMONG FARMERS

CURRENT NEWS AND NOTES HERD TESTING IN DOMINION. ILLUMINATING STATISTICS. The total number of cows in the Dominion in the season just closed was estimatted at 1,960,000, the average production being 2201 b of fat. Of these 301,000 or 15.3 per cent, were under test, giving an average production of 2601 b of fat. Twenty-five years ago there were 583,163 cows in the Dominion, averaging 148.451 b fat per cow and at that time only 815 or .14 per cent were under test. In North Taranaki at that time probably only the late Mr. Jas. Burgess, Warea, had any cows under 1 test, he being the pioneer of the herd testing movement in the district. In 25 years the number of cows in New Zealand has more than trebled, whilst the average production has increased by 50 per cent. In 1929-30 283,731 cows or nearly 20 per cent, of the total of 1,440,321 cows were under test. Four years later though the total number of cows had increased by 36 per cent, the number under test had increased by only 6 per cent., with the result that the percentage under test had dropped from 19.69 to 15.3 per cent. Probably the hard times and the low prices ruling for butterfat have been the reason why testing has not made the strides it should. They, however, are reasons why farmers should go' in more than ever for testing, as it is a much less payable proposition to keep a low producing cow when butterfat is low than when butterfat is high. Butter and Margarine. ' The consumption of butter per head of population in the United Kingdom has increased from 14.761 b in 1924 to 23.161 b in 1933. In the same period the consumption of margarine has decreased from 12.351 b to 8.51 b. The total consumption of butter and margarine in the same period has increased from 27.111 b to 31.661 b. There has thus been an increase of 57 per cent, of butter, a decrease of 33 per cent, of margarine and an increase of 17 per cent in the consumption of the two. The low price piling for butter has no doubt been the contributing cause of the increased consumption of butter.

Herd Testing Record. Lottie, the five-year-old cow owned by Mr. ivf. Hyde, Springdale, Waitoa, which headed the N.Z. Co-op Herd Testing Association’s list for the season just ended, put up the great record of 8841 b of butterfat in 261 days, which tinder the conditions must establish a world’s record. She had no special treatment, being one of a herd of 147 cows and receiving nothing but hay in addition to pasture. She also suffered severely from footrot in April and May, in which months her total fat was only 121 b over that of March. Her best month was December—3,9oolb milk, 3.5 test and 1371 b butterfat. She produced 22,0021 b milk in 261 days, giving 1301 b milk in one day—7llb in the morning and 591 b in the evening. , Starting in October with a test of 3.2, her test gradually increased, until it reached 5.5 in April. Even at 9d per pound butterfat farming could be made to pay with a few such cows, as 8841 b fat would represent £33 3s per annum. The highest herd in the Waitoa group produced an average of 3901 b fat. Taranaki is directly interested in Lottie. She is a Friesian grade, her sire being a particularly well-bred Friesian bull, Coldstream Model Pieteitje (Coldstream Paul Pietje—Juno), bred' by Messrs G. A. Marchant and Sons, Cardiff- Her dam was also by a pedigree Friesian, with Jersey on the grand-dam’s side. Lottie was bred by Mr. Edwin Ward, Manawaru, a neighbouring district, and was sold as a calf. Twin Calves Twice in One Day.

All the years that Mr. Guy. H. Bell, of Pinewoods stud, has been interested in Jersey cattle he has experienced until this season only one case of a pedigree cow on his farm giving birth to twin calves. This season, however, on the day two of his cows dropped twin calves. Pinewoods’ Fem’s Fancy, champion at the last Taranaki show, dropped a bull and a heifer calf to his latest imported bull, Brampton Standard Compte, and Pinewoods’ Fem’s Nancy also dropped two bull calves to his wellknown herd sire Pinewoods’ Sybils You’ll Do. All the calves are doing well.

Good Lambing Season.

Reports indicate that there should be some good percentages tallied when docking of this season’s crop of lambs is completed. In the Kohuratahi district one farmer tallied about 140 per cent, from one paddock. Plural births seem very numerous. One farmer in the Urenui district in one paddock counted 40 lots of twins and one of triplets. The weather on the whole has been fairly favourable, though there were one or two severe frosts that did considerable damage. A farmer in the Okoke district the morning after a heavy frost found 12 lambs and four ewes dead. Production Increasing. The strides that have been made in production over the last quarter of a century in the districts on the slopes of Mt. Egmont, where the country has been gradually undergoing a breakingin process, is illustrated by the experience of an upper Kahui Road farmer, which may be taken as typical. Twentyfive years ago when he went’ on his property of 355 acres he was able to milk only 35 cows, which returned him under 7,0001 b of butterfat. Though there is still 80 acres not broken in, he last year milked 100 cows, which produced 26,0001 b of fat, or nearly four times as much. The farm is now sub-divided into 20 paddocks, and with the exception of growing eight acres of swedes, he relies entirely on his pastures to feed his stock, turning the surplus spring and early summer grass into ensilage and hay. He is also adopting a policy of re-afforestation, planting pines and macrocarpas along the fence-lines and in broken country to cut off the wind and provide the stock with shelter, and later provide the farm with fencing posts, timber and firewood. From now on by continuing the judicious use of fertiliser he hopes to steadily increase his annual production.