The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, AUG. 30 1905.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1546, 30 August 1905, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, AUG. 30 1905.

MILKING COMPETITIONS. In New Zealand just now a good deal of interest is being taken in egglaying competitions. That is one subjectgin which we have been gaining ideas from America and Australia. Now we can also do well in taking a lesson from, them in the matter of milking competitions. The Christchurch Press gives the following particulars of what is being done in one State : The New South Wales Department of Agriculture intends to start a competition on November Ist, and to that end are now making arrangements for the representation thereat of the milking breeds in the State. The competition is to be held at the Wollongbar Experimental Farm, in the heart of the dairying industry in the Northern Rivers district, and will extend over six months, during which time not only will the milk-producing qualities of tne. cows be thoroughly tested, but a series of experiments will also be conducted as to the relative feeding values of pastures and forage crops. The competitors will be divided into two sections purebreds and crossbreds or “grade” cows—because, as is pointed out, while the latter will probably yield the better results, the encouragement of the former is desirable, as the best milking strains only come from purebred stock. The breeds represented will bo Shorthorns, Ayrshires, Guernseys, Jerseys, Holsteins, and Kerrys, while the crossbreds will probably also include Red Polled. The dairy farmers in the district are enthusiastic over the scheme, and if it meets with the anticipated success, further competitions will be arranged at the Government experimental farms in other localities. It is hardly necessary to lay stress upon the value of such competitions, but it is interesting to note that in Denmark in the last ten years no fewer than 300 “ Cooperative Testing Associations” have been formed, apparently carrying on much the same experiments as will be practised at Wollongbar. The establishment of these associations has assisted very materially the enormous increase in production that has marked the Danish dairy industry during the last decade. Not only, we are told, has “ the average production of milking cows largely increased, but so much additional skill in feeding has been acquired that the cost of feed necessary.to produce a pound otybutter is now estimated to be less than twothirds what it was ten years ago.” In a previous article (continues the Press) we showed what could be done to im- ' prove the production of a dairy herd by a system of breeding only from the best milk-producers. Milking competitions provide the means - of ascertaining whioh these are. Every dairy farmer and dairyman in the colony is probably giving pasture room to cows which diminish rather than increase the average of his profits, The colony, as a whole, as well as the dairy industry, and those engaged in it, would benefit by increased production, and we therefore trust that the example, of New South Wales may stimulate dairy farmers in New Zealand to set about testing tho quality of their cows in the same manner