AYRSHIRE BREEDERS.

Waikato Times, Volume 99, Issue 16653, 19 November 1925, Page 8

AYRSHIRE BREEDERS.

ROYAL SHOW ARRANGEMENTS. DESCRIBED AS VERY BAD. COMMON SENSE TESTING. The half annual meeting of the South Auckland Ayrshire Breeders' Association was held at the Waikato Show, to-day. Mr. W. 11. Worster, president, occupying the chair. Mr. Worster gave some interesting information regarding the half-annual meeting of the Dominion body held at the Boyal Show. He declared that the general arrangements at the Royal Show were very bad. The Ayrshire cattle were not' concentrated in one area, but were distributed over four different locations. The champion bull was, for instance, placed in a loose box with a very high door and completely hidden from the public. The accommodation in the main building consisted only of ring bolts with no division between animals. The excessive charge for green feed made feeding highly expensive. They charged in fact, 6d for a small bundle of lucerne, and it therefore cost about 10/- a day to feed a bull. Mr. Worster stated that the parent body had decided to recommend, in conjunction with other breeders' associations, that before a Royal Show is allotcd in future, to make certain that there is adequate accommodation for stock. • Speaking with regard to testing, Mr. Worster said the feeling in Southland was against the semi-official test, and in favour of a 305 test twice a day on machine milked cows. This was regarded as a common sense test. The semi-official test was accurate enough in its way, but it was not a fair record of usual herd conditions. He quoted Mr. A. Weir, a well-known breeder of Southland, who had availed himself largely in the past of the semiofficial test, as having remarked to Herd Testing Association conditions, which he regards as absolutely satisfactory. Mr. Boyd said this would be alright so long as other breeds adopted the same test. Mr. Worster thought they should try and get other breeders to follow suit. One member said he would not purchase a bull from a cow that had been under semi-official test, which was not a correct one, as where breeders were working for. a higli record, they forced their animals on, and the test was not, therefore, a reflex of the herd under ordinary conditions. Mr. Clements agreed and moved that the 305 days test be adopted, to approach as nearly as possible the Scottish system. >■ Mr. W. Boyd, said the 305 day test was in general vogue in Canada and Europe, and was really the only common sense system for the average farmer. The semi-official test was only a rich man's game, while it tended to harm the cattle, which we forced to an abnormal production by artificial means. The progeny in consequence, suffered. The motion was carried unanimously.