PUREBRED MILKING SHORTHORNS.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume VI, Issue 4, 15 April 1913, Page 391

PUREBRED MILKING SHORTHORNS.

A BRITISH RETURN.

In the last issue of the Journal of the British Board of Agriculture, there is an article on ■ the famous • Kelmscott herd of purebred dairy cows, by the well-known writer on agricultural affairs, “ Home Counties.” The owners —Messrs. R. W. Hobbs and Son—send milk to , London daily from more than two hundred cows, and farm an area of 2,144 acres in contiguous holdings in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. The herd is said to be the largest collection of purebred • dairy Shorthorns in Britain. It has been bred for milk since 1878, and cows and heifer calves are rarely purchased. Careful milk-records have been kept . for many years, and every cow’s milk is weighed daily. The owners have won the Oxfordshire and the’ Bath and West Agricultural Societies’ prizes for the best herd of dairy cows.

The average milk-yield per cow per year for the. three years ending 30th September, 1911, was, for 134 cows, 6,015 lb., this being the lowest average for many years owing to the summer drought. . The average yield per cow for 1910 was 6,330 lib.' (10| lb.' to the' gallon), and for 1909 6,500 lb. The average yield of an average farm cow in Great Britain is '. perhaps 4,500 Ib. During the past three years there

have been on an average fifteen cows milking at Keimscott yielding about 1,000 gallons or over. Rose 26th yielded 13,903 lb. from 10th June, 1904, to 10th June, 1905.' At Tring Show she. gave 72| lb. 6 oz. in twenty-four hours. Blossom sth, between 28th December, 1898, and 2nd September, 1908, produced ten calves. Her average annual yield for ten years was 8,049 lb., and her total yield 86,523 lb. Messrs. Hobbs have made an estimate of the cost of a herd of forty dairy cows under their system. It is sufficiently interesting-from a comparative . point of view to justify the pubheation in full. It is as follows :

Estimated Cost of Herd of Forty Dairy Gows. .■ £s d Grazing, 1| acres per cow =SO acres, at £1 10s. ■ • • • ■ • 0 0 Rates at 2s. 6d. in the pound , • ■ • • • • • • ’ 1500 After-feed, 1J acres per cow =SO acres, at 6s. • • ■ • •• inn 0 0 14 tons of hay = 50 tons, at £2 .. • ■ •• ■ • • • „ 56 lb. mangels per day per cow for 210 days-5J tons x4O = 210 tons, at ss. 52 10 0 Feeding-stuffs, 6d. per cow per day, 210 days .. ■ • ' ' n is n Feeding-stuffs, 2|d. per cow per day, 90 days .. • • .. O 9 40 x 6 3 9 = 247 10 0

Attendance. Thirty Weeks’ Winter. £ s. d. Two men to milk and feed, &c., at 16s. per week .. . • 1 12 0 Two men to milk (only), at 7s. per week - .. • • •■0.14 . j. One lad to wash and clean cows (part time) .. •• ' ' n 5 4 One lad to carry in and cool milk (part time) . . •• ••• ora One lad to weigh milk (part time) . . • • ■ ■ ’' n 4 0 One woman to clean buckets and utensils ... . . 30 x 3 6 0= 99 0 0 Fourteen Weeks’ Summer. £ s. d 18 0 Four men to milk, at 7s. . . • • • • • • n 0 One lad to weigh . . • • • • • • • • n 5 0 One lad to carry in and cool ■ • • • • • o 4 0 One woman to clean buckets- and utensils .. •• .14 X 22 0= 29 8 0 Milk-cart, horse, and driver .. ■ •• ■ • • V n •"/ ' ’ 40 0 0 Depreciation in value of cows (bought a heifer at £2O and sold m five years at £l5) =£l per year per cow .. ■ • •• •• ” 40 o 0 Losses in death, abortion, and veterinary expenses ----- £1 per cow. . -• • .w p q Expense of bull, ss. per cow • • • • • • . ■• . ■ ' 10 0 0 ■ Upkeep of dairy utensils, at ss. .. . ••• . •• 40)767 15 6 u .. .. £l9 3 10 Per cow . . ' ' ' £ s. d. Produce per cow : 600 gallons milk, at. Bd. .. •• 20 0 0 Value of calf .. ■ •• •• •• •• 2 10 0 22 10 • 0 19 3 10 Balance •• ■ • £3 6 2 gross profit per cow. To railway company : Carriage of milk, 600 gallons, at Id. per gallon . . .. ■ • • • • • 2 10 0 v-• £0 16 2 net profit per cow.