DAIRY PRODUCTION

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1785, 22 July 1926, Page 5

DAIRY PRODUCTION

IMPORTANCE OF PEDIGREE ANIMALS. WHAT THE INDUSTRY MEANS TO NEW ZEALAND. • An interesting lecturette on the importance of dairy production to New Zealand 'was given to an assmbly of Maryborough farmers under the autepices of the Department of Agriculture afew days ago by Mr B. Roberts, a prominent Wairarapa farmer. Mr Roberts said dairy production was worth £18,000,000 to £20,000,000 annually, and employed some 56,000 dairy farmers and their families. The dairying industry was of great importance to every resident of the Dominion. If the industry were swept away New Zealand would! be bankrupt to-morrow. When the slump hit New Zealand recently the late Mr Massey had remarked that it was the dairy cow that was going to save the situation; and that had proved the ca?e. Mr Roberts 'emphasised the developmlent of the dairying industry that was taking place in Canada, Siberia, Argentina, and other countries, and that this competition must he felt in the future by New Zealand. Those countries* were prepared to pay for the best brains procurable to help along the industry, and offers were constantly being made by them to our experts in the dairying industry to leave New Zealand and take up positions in those other coutries.

“Brains are better than brawn, and knowledge is better than ignorance,” remarked Mr Roberts, and he proceedto show the advantages of scientific dairy farming. The object of a good farmer should be to put as few cows as .possible on the farm, to consume the feed provided on that farm. The man who over-stocked cut his butterfat cheque down considerably. Heredity and environment were the two important points in connection with dairy cows. Good cows made good, farmers; good farming enabled better homes to be bujilt; .good homes produced better citizens; and good citizens made for national stability. (Applause.) Mr Roberts dwelt for some, time on the importance of breeding pedigree animals. The meeting then adjourned to a paddock, where Mr Roberts demonstrated the practical points to be looked for in a good dairy cow. He said that the five essential feature's in a good dairy cow were constitution, capacity, digestive power, dairy temperament, and circulatory blood system. He dealt at length with each of these five features, and at the end, of his very instructive address he answered a number of questions.