FARM NOTES.

Taranaki Herald, Issue 13917, 29 May 1909, Page 4

FARM NOTES.

A UTILITY HERD BOOK

A NOVEL SUGGESTION

Everyone engaged in tho dairying UKiußtry is agreed upon ono point, that the detail in which there is the greatest room for improvement now is the average annual yield of milk and butter fat per cow. Supposing, for tho purpose of illustration, that the average yield of butter fat per cow in Taranaki is 150 lb per annum, what a wonderful difference it would make to the industry if the average were raised to 225 Hi. From the same number of cows on tho same area of land we should be obtaining fifty per cent, bettor rehirns. How is it to bo done? There are herds, plenty of them, which are fifty per cent, better than tho average, and not fancy pure-bred herds either ; just well selected carefully culled cows. It is in tho power of every dairyman to build up a good herd in the same way without any very great expense. The bull is said to he half the herd, therefore he should he purebred and of a good milking family. If ho is well selected ho will do his 'share towards improving the herd, but it is just as necessary that care shall bo takon to breed only — that is, for dairying purposes — from cows which can show a good record for butter fat producing. It does not matter much what tho breed is, Jersey, Ayrshire, Holstein, Shorthorn, ar cra6§ar«l, provided the cow is a good butter fat producer. Bre^d from ono of this class by a purebred bull of a good milking family, nnd good milkers are almost certain to be obtained.

Everyone cannot afford to pay high prices for pure-bred' cows, but everyone can, with a little trouble, find out which are his best cows, and then breed from them with the best bull ho can afford. Even if he could afford a pure-bred herd it is doubtful whether m the long run it would prove more profitable than a well selected herd of cross-breds. At any rato the readiest way to improve our herds is by using the best of the material at hand. In order to" encourage effort in this direction the suggestion has been made to us that a kind of Utility Herd Book might be established. There are Herd Books for Jerseys and othor breeds, entry in which places a hall mark upon a beast and a family. The idea is, as we understand it, that instead of a row having a pedigree as a condition of its name 6cing entered in the Herct Book of its particular breed, tho qualification shall be a certain authenticated standard of butter fat production. Fix a fairly high standard, though not ioo high to be unattainable by the ordinary small dairy farmer, and allow every cow reaching that standard to have her namo entered. Tho value of the entry might not be very great at first, but if three or four generations could thus be shown to have reached that standard then it would have a good marketable value.. It might lead also to the evolution of a new type of cow. However, we give the idea and invite discussion.