DAIRYING OF TO-DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1780, 19 June 1913, Page 8

DAIRYING OF TO-DAY.

AN EXACTING PROFESSION. SOME OF THE NECESSARIES. (liy Tcletrraph— Special Iteporter.) Palmerston N., .Tunc 18. "Tho Hairy Farmer," said Mr. Primrose -M't'onnell, manager of tin; uakura Experiment Form, in a. paper read before the National Dairy Association this morning, "is often described as a. specialist, but no profession under tlio sun is so far removed from specialising. indeed, no farmer can ever become a true specialist in the correct, tense of the word, and although lie may direct his attention more to one line of his profession than to another, lie must always be n man of very many parts. The man does not deserve th« description of dairy farmer who. merely keeps a certain number of cows with n male animal at their head, and who is satisfied if ho draws a limited quantity of milk from his herd meriting ami evening, and trusts that I'rovidence will provide a fair quantity of food on his pasture. Such n system is delightfully simple, but it can havo no place in up-to-dato dairy farming. Just let us look for a moment at the necessary (nullifications of a successful dairy farmer, lie must understand tlio cultivation and manuring of his soil in order that ho may produce tho greatest amount of suitable food 011 tho smallest possible area; 110 must have a knowledge of how to roar his stock in the most efficient and economical manner, and 110 must make a study of the laws of hereditary in order to breed 011 the right lines; he must be something of an engineer, something of a chemist, something of a botanist, something of a veterinarian, something of aygrcat manV other tilings, and, if ho manufactures his own dairy produce, ho must be well up in tho science of the dairy. If he means to keep abreast with the times he must, be 11 reader, and in reading he must be «blo to discriminate to some extent between the useful and useless, and he must have business habits, the most important; of which is punctuality (perhaps few of us realise how much is due to the latter qualification in successful dairy farming). He must bo 1110 very essence of perseverance, and realiso that for him an eight hours' day or six days in the week can bo indulged in only 011 very rare occasions. To bo completely successful .with his stock ho must know them all thoroughly and havo an affection for them second only to that for his family. If ho looks upon them merely as tools for money-making lie will defeat his own ends and the money he makes will be of small account." .