REGISTERED PEDIGREE COWS.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 3, Issue 5, 15 November 1911, Page 364

REGISTERED PEDIGREE COWS.

TESTING THE ANNUAL PRODUCTION.

W. M. Singleton.

One of the greatest accomplishments of modern times is the advancement made in the productive character of dairy stock, as evidenced -in the' cows which are the world’s greatest producers of milk and butter-fat. Whether this success of the breeder has been obtained by means of providing suitable environment for the cow and her ancestry, or whether advantage has been taken of certain mutations which have appeared as suggested by the Mendelian theory, matters not. Certain families possessing special dairy qualities have been built up by taking advantage of the prepotency of an animal possessing such qualities in a marked degree and capable of transmitting them to its offspring. It is now generally known that among all the dairy breeds certain families stand out as possessing the best qualities of the breed in a special degree.

Those dairy cattle known as “ purebreds ” are, as a class, generally considered to possess certain fairly well-fixed and desirable qualities, which the keeping of the breed in a pure state, tends, when accompanied by judicious selection, to propagate and strengthen. The power of transmitting these qualities is thereby intensified, and the breed made more valuable, so long as these qualities transmitted have a monetary value.

As factory dairying extends, as land-values increase, and as more intensive dairying becomes necessary, the monetary value of the dairy cow" has relegated the aesthetic consideration to the background, and now “ handsome is as handsome does,” and the cow prized most highly is the one that

“ delivers the goods ” and has this propensity so fixed in her through inheritance from a long line of ancestors of the one type that, according to the law of chance, she is likely to transmit the same desirable qualities to her offspring.. And while this quality is prized so highly in the dairy cow, even from the view-point of offspring alone, it must be remembered that the cow’s offspring will, each year, number usually not more than one, whereas the male may be parent of many times this number. How much more important is it, therefore, that the dairyman should be positive that the head of his dairy herd has by inheritance received those dairy qualities which the herd-owner is striving to fix in his herd !

These dairy qualities are now very much abbreviated, and may be summed up as “ the ability to get offspring which, if females, will produce a large quantity of milk and butter-fat economically.” At one period of the development of our dairy herds the numbers of breeders who might excel according to the then standards was more or less restricted to those who had a special endowment or natural aptitude along that line. . In these later days, when the productive capacity of the dairy cow is considered of premier importance in successful dairying, the field is enlarged, and a lover of dairy animals who is gifted with fair judgment and energy,, a kindly nature and infinite patience, may, by using the scales and fat-test to provide him with exact data, make a success of dairy-farming. This door has been opened to the greater number very largely through testing and recording of the yields of purebred cows, and by the records of purebred bulls, as seen in the number of their daughters which have distinguished themselves in this record of yields or performance. By consulting this . record for purebred cows, the beginner in the older dairy countries can for himself select dairy stock from those families of which the females are heavy milk and butter-fat producers. The prospective dairyman can ascertain whether the bulls of any particular family are transmitting enhanced milking-qualities to their offspring, for it is only through the good records of his daughters that a bull’s name is admitted. to the registry. With such information at his disposal even the uninitiated may make an intelligent selection of good dairy stock. As the associations of the various breeders of dairy stock admit only purebred males and females to their Record of Performance and Advanced Registry, the security which these records offer the purchaser is certainly valuable.

Records of Performance or Advanced Registry.

Official records were not instituted until some considerable time after the herd-books were established. As the numbers of purebred dairy stock increased and competition became keener, the records of performance came to the fore, and control of these records was taken up by the breeders’ associations for each breed. It then became quite fashionable for breeders with long purses to make a hobby of rearing record-breaking dairy cows and heifers, and the number of records which have been made and broken is surprising. The development in the dairy stock necessary to keep pace with this record-breaking line of work has been equally amazing ; but, while these extremely high records are interesting as showing what the possibilities of some dairy cows are, they are not so necessary from the view-point of. the practical dairyman or practical breeder.

For some time the short tests were all that were demanded. Official one-day, two-day, seven-day, or thirty-day tests were considered quite sufficient to indicate the productive capacity of the purebred dairy cow ;

and many breeders affirm that in the interests of the dairy cow’s constitution she should not be kept up to record-breaking pitch throughout an entire lactation period. While many agree with this line of argument, they are hot satisfied to accept the record of a seven-day test as a true indication of a cow’s producing-capacity for a lactation period. Many cows may milk exceptionally well for a time, but may not be possessors of that all important quality known as “ persistency.” The tendency amongst practical dairymen who are breeding for yearly returns, as well as with the object of selling stud stock, seems to be more along the line of discarding the short-period official tests and extending the tests to take into consideration the cow’s full milking-period. This class of testing is likely to popularize itself, for, while the dairy cows are not expected to break records, they are under this system expected to do fairly good work throughout the whole milking-period, and the figures indicating the cow’s production in this manner are much more intelligible to the average dairyman, and at the same time are a more faithful indication to the dairyman of the cow’s comparative worth.

The breeders of Holstein-Friesian cattle claim the credit of being the pioneers in connection with the taking of advanced registry official records, while the breeders of the Guernsey claim to be the first to adopt semiofficial records for the whole lactation period. The various associations of breeders have accepted this style of record, while at the same time many continue the official record for the short period.

Semi-official Records.

In the making of the short-period official records, the supervisor or testing officer (who is usually an appointee of an experimental station or an Agricultural Department) remains at the farm during the time of such test. He weighs and samples for testing each and every milking, and the yield for the period is figured accordingly. While this is necessary for short tests, it is not so necessary for the test of the whole period. In this semi-official test for the full lactation period the owner is required to weigh, or cause to be weighed, the milk of the cow for each and every milking, and to keep a record of the same. A record of these weights must be supplied each month, and at the end of the lactation period the yearly record must be forwarded by the owners, and must be accompanied by an affidavit sworn before a Justice of the Peace or Notary Public declaring the weights to be accurate. The Government officer in charge of the testing is expected to visit the farm once a month for about two days. He is to weigh the milk during his visit and compare it with previous weights, and take samples for testing for fat. The production of fat for the month is figured by taking the weight of milk for the month as found by the farmers and figuring this at the test found by the Government officer. The lacta-

It is suggested that the time is opportune in New Zealand when semiofficial testing might be commenced with profit to the dairying communities of this country and to the breeders of purebred dairy stock. Dairymen about to purchase purebred bulls will pay more for those descended from ancestry of known merit. The extra price will more than repay the cost of taking the weight of milk daily. A semi-official record of a cow for one year may be legitimately quoted by the breeders when selling any progeny of this cow ; and the one season’s testing may influence very materially the price of some seven or eight sons and daughters, not to mention the influence on animals whose relationship is farther removed.

tion period must not extend over 365 days, and each cow must drop a calf within, say, fifteen months from the time her test commenced.

To the dairymen of our Dominion who are endeavouring. to improve their herds, such records would be invaluable. At present many dairyfarmers desire to get purebred sires from known good milking strains, but while many purebred sires are offering, little is known of their capacity to get good milk-producing progeny. For supplying this knowledge, semiofficial records of the bull’s dam and grandams are necessary, and their absence constitutes the “ missing link ” in New Zealand breeding of highproducing dairy stock. The testing of the yield-production of the individual cows which constitute our ordinary. crossbred herds is extending, and is creating a demand for purebred sires; but to an equal extent this herd-testing is creating a demand for the milk and butter-fat records of the sires of such dam and grandams. It is only by the use of sires whose quality is assured by such records that the most intelligent improvement can be made in our dairy herds. The time is not far distant when our most progressive dairymen will, when purchasing a head for their dairy herd, demand not only a pedigree but records such as has been described above.

Dry weather experienced in July is expected to have an appreciable effect on the season’s output of cheese, but the quantity of cream exported to the United States during the present season is' very much less than it was in 1910.— Canadian Census and Statistics Monthly.

— . — Maximum. Maximum. Minimum. Minimum. Pounds Pounds Pounds Pounds Milk. Pat. Milk. Fat. Two-year-olds .. . . 7,500 255 5,500 198 Three-year-olds .. 8,500 289 6,500 234 Four-year-olds .. .. 9,500 323 7,500 270 Mature cows .. 10,500 357 8,500 306

Cows are classed as “two-year-olds,” “three-year-olds,” “four-year-olds,” and “mature cows.” Unless an animal produces up to a certain minimum of milk and butter-fat stated as the standard for her class in. the semi-official test, she is not admitted to the record of merit. These standards vary with different breeds, but are usually within the following limits:-