FARM NOTES.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15887, 27 July 1923, Page 8

FARM NOTES.

THE DAIRY BYRDS

Despite the encouraging signs that dairy farmers are becoming increasingly alive to tiie advantages- of scientifically testing their herds there are numerous laggards whose careless methods reduce the general standard. The president of the Wellington branch ox the I’ armers Union has declared this week that goats in Australia were in respect of butter-fat average almost equal cows in the dominion. The comparison which was thus drawn was more striking, perhaps, than valuable, but it is beyond dispute that although the practice of herd-testing is being more widely adopted than it has been in the dominion much still remains to be done. The remarkable thing about the laxity of a number of dairy farmers in the matter of improving their herds is that the beneficial results which they ignore are so apparant that it should be plain to them that they are incurring a direct and individual loss. It may be that they are waiting for the Government or some -body else to do something which should be done by and for themselves. It was suggested at a conference of representatives of dairy fact -ories in the Palmerston North district that the Government should lend some £3OOO or £4OOO for the next two or three years to enable dairy farmers to obtain the services of good bulls. It surely cannot be successfully contended that the dairy industry is unable itself to adopt the measures which are calculated to increase immensely the profits secured by it. For the past year the exports of butter and cheese from the dominion reached! a value of nearly £16,000,000. An industry which contributes so largely to the export trade of the country should itself be capable of effecting such improvements in methods as are necessary for its future extension and success. The tendency to lean on the Government for everything is to be Strongly .deprecated as destructive of the spirit of self-reliance and as conductive to the best interests of the community., Moreover, the improvement of the dairy herds of the dominion can only be satisfactorily and effectively undertaken by the farmers themselves. When the dairy farmers are convinced that every “boarder” among their cows and every “scrub” bull are costing them money instead of returning them a handsome profit the industry in which they are engaged will prosper amazingly. In the meantime, the wise and progressive dairy farmer is testing his herd getting .rid of his unprofitable cows, and when all his neighbours follow the same plan the butter-fat average of the dominion will show a substantial increase.

Referring to the average return from the cows of the Dominion Mr. W. S-'ngleton, at the annual dinner of the South Ifldand Dairy Association, said that th,e average arrived at from the number of cows in the Dominion, whether they were producing or not. If the noiu productive cows were eliminated the average return would be about 1891 b. of butter-fat from each cow. He had tried to obtain definite information from London as to the output of the Danish cows,. and, as far as he could ascertain, it was a little over ?mlbs a cow. So we are not so far beh'vU utter all, he concluded.