QUALITY OF BULLS USED IN NEXT FEW MONTHS WILL REFLECT IN FARM INCOMES FIVE YEARS FROM NOW

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 47, 5 October 1949, Page 8

QUALITY OF BULLS USED IN NEXT FEW MONTHS WILL REFLECT IN FARM INCOMES FIVE YEARS FROM NOW

(By W. H. Mandeno, Consulting Officer, Herd Recording Department, N.Z. Dairy Board) The quality of bulls used in the next few months will to a considerable extent determine the profits of New Zealand .farmers in five years time. With recent purchases of young sires the main object of their use will be the proving of their quality at the earliest opportunity.

From this angle purchasers of well grown yearlings will have the advantage of using them on selected young cows as well as heifers. With thirty single matings before mid-November it will usually be possible to test sufficient of his daughters in a bull’s fourth year of age. .If his stock turns out to be good then it will be worth a lot of time and trouble to ensure that any gate crashing or fence breaking habits can be firmly cheqked. It will also be worth a lot of time ensuring that as many replacements are got by him as is possible.

known, in at least 50 per cent of calves it' is important that steps be taken to ensure that individual service can easily be arranged. This is practised in herds up to 200 cows so there can be little excuse for any farmer running' a bull with his herd before December —if at all.

Value of Old Bulls It is too often seldom realised that an old bull becoming a little slow in service may yet be of great value. Of course if his worth is not proven and no heifers of his are in sight it is certainly of no advantage using him, instead of a younger more active bull of equal breeding If, however, it has been shown by testing an unselected line of his heifers, that they produce on the average at a high level as compared with their dams in the same herd, then his slowness may be pardoned. Mated to the same herd it can confidently be expected that his later daughters will equal earlier crops. Thus it is possible to back a winner after the race is run and to collect yearly dividends while others are still gambling on young bulls with the chances three to one against them. As the quality of the herd rises the chances of selecting a bull to improve the herd level become very long. For instance farmers mating bulls to cows averaging between 380 and 4001bs of fat (and such men are usually more fussy and capable than the average dairyman) have found only one bull. in ten able to improve on such dams.

“Calf-Getters” Job A man is fortunate then to be able to buy a bull whose Sire Survey shows him capable of leaving good daughters from average dams. He uses the bull as widely as possible in the first three weeks of the season to get his required number of replacements and then uses a clean “calf-getter” for the remainder of the herd. This calf-getter is sometimes a grade whose stock will not be kept, but often it might be a “high-priced” two of three-year-old awaiting the fate determined for him by his first crop. Some people like to back their judgment and keep stock by a bull year after year until his value is finally known. Confidence of brave men is to be admired when they face difficulties knowing that there is no alternative. When correct judgment of quality in individual cattle on pedigree and type is an art given to few—if any—the reliance on one unproven bull is a little foolhardy. Thus a bull’s worth in most herds after a sufficient number of daughters is saved, until those daughters have been tested, should only be that of his masculine fertility or else his exchange value amongst farmers progressive enough to arrange a “bull circle.” Early Calving Advantages

Just what is the value of getting cows in calf? In the early days of experimenting with A.l the authorities were pestered with requests for service by particular bulls—during the first three weeks. After October, however, there was a more clamant request—not for particular bulls—but for cows in calf. Apart from the cost of producing extra early spring feed the production of early calved cows is all profit. It is safe to say that the working costs of a farm are paid for between November and March when about 60 per cent of yearly production is obtained in the Bay of Plenty. It is the early and late production that is harder to obtain and as the farmer takes what is left after working expenses are paid he must strive for that extra amount mainly in the early spring. Again the Dairy Board has shown that cows calving after September 15 average 20 per cent less production than those “coming into profit” earlier. This represents £5 per cow in the average herd, so considerable effort can safely go into care with mating records. For this purpose Shed Sheets are issued by the Dairy Board and careful recording (and use of the records) is necessary unless delay in requesting veterinary aid is to be experienced. As Successive Testing Discount—mainly an encouragement for farmers to adopt sound practices—requires the identification of all calves reared with ' both parents