Some Aspects Of Farming That Affect Herd Improvement

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 13, 16 January 1948, Page 5

Some Aspects Of Farming That Affect Herd Improvement

Mr Burgess, of the Department of Agriculture stationed at New Plymouth, gave a short talk to members of the Thornton Young Farmers’ Club at their meeting on January 5 about one aspect of Herd Improvement. These are the maijn points extracted from Mr Burgess’ talk:—

The aim of every farmer is to obtain the maximum returns of butterfat from his cows. The question is how to obtain this maximum. A farm that was well-kept and its fences and buildings were in good condition while the next was not so well-kept with masses of weeds, poor fences and a lower standard in conditions generally showed a marked difference in production. In recent years herd testing has been very prominent, and the value has been stressed to dairy farmers of individual cow returns fOr breeding purposes. It is also necessary to buy stock from high-producing herds and to buy good bulls from good proven sires. It must also be remembered that it is useless to buy a good bull and then take him home

and feed him on a standard not in keeping with his quality. Herd improvement comes from much more than just buying in good stock. The food supply must be good. The following example is taken flom memory from Taranaki where the average acreage cut for hay and silage is approximately 20 acres per 100.

On four farms totalling 540 acres, 180 acres were cut for hay and silage. This represented l/3rd of the total. The production per cow was 3701 b of fat. On four other farms also totalling 540 acres, which collectively cut only 60 acres for hay and silage or l/9th the total acreage, the production per cow was 2401 b of fat. Much is realised of the importance of good feeding by good farmers. Sixty per cent of the change in butterfat production from year to year is due to the amount of hay and silage cut. It is also a fact that 2871bs of butterfat has been attributed to pastures sown with highest-production strains of clovers and grasses and not to high-producing cows. Highproducing cows will not give high production unless fed on correspondingly high quality feed. The answer to the question of herd improvement is one that every farmer should give thought, remembering that although he introduces cows of a high-producing quality, there is little chance of improving returns unless he feeds his stock and feeds them well.