IN AUSTRALIAN EYES.

Waikato Times, Volume 104, Issue 17502, 8 September 1928, Page 22 (Supplement)

IN AUSTRALIAN EYES.

A VIEW OF NEW ZEALAND. DAIRYING METHODS COMPARED. Addressing tile students attending the dairying classes at Camperdown, Mr J. Proud, manager of Camperdown Cheese and Butter Factory, who recently returned from a visit to New Zealand, spoke of the remarkable figures shown by the herds which were group-tested. He said that there were more than 200,000 cows included under the group herd-testins system, which was subsidised by the factories. It was compulsory to have every animal included in the herds shown in the testing records. Inferior and good cows all went in together, and excellent results were being obtained. He referred to the system of calf marketing established, by which calves from approved sires were picked up and carted in by lorries for marketing. In speaking of the herds of New Zealand, Mr Proud said that there was one herd especially interesting. It consisted of 101 cows which gave an average of 3141 bof butter-fat in a milking period of 276 days. The leading 30 cows in this herd yielded 4501 bof fat. This was achieved by efficient feeding and the adoption of herd-testing, in some parts land that had been covered with bracken was now carrying a cow to the acre, the depth of the soil being only 2in or 3in. Much had been achieved in this direction. Farms in New Zealand were subdivided into paddocks of 18 to 20 acres, which were worked on the rotation system. The carrying capacity was estimated by the amount of but-ter-fat to one acre (generally 2001 b), instead of by the number of cows an acre would carry, as’ was the Australian practice. The general farming conditions were superior to the Australian. Towns with populations of 8000 to 10,000 were only a few miles apart, and the roads were good. In New Zealand milk and cream had to be at the factory by noon every day. Farm instructors went from farm to farm assisting in every possible way. Ninety-five per cent, of the milking was done by machines, even in small dairies.- All sharp angles, elbows, and unnecessary tubing were eliminated. The New Zealand Co-operative Dairying Company, which was the largest concern of its kind in the world, with a turnover of £5,000,000 annually, subsidised efforts to bring about improvements in farms and factories. New factories being built were erected on the same design so that conditions would bo similar in all cases. Mr Proud commended the New Zealand system of herd-testing and top-dressing, and advised following these lines in Australia.