ECONOMICAL DAIRY-FARMING

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2102, 10 June 1907, Page 4

ECONOMICAL DAIRY-FARMING

TESTING HERDS. A MILLION A YEAR LOST. It is common knowledge (says “Denmark,” in the Auckland AVeekly News), that the dairy industry has gone ahead with leaps and bounds in this fair colony of ours during the past decade, and lias become a great source of revenue to the country. It is therefore of interest to all of us connected with the industry, but the individual dairy-farmer in particular, to make a study of economical proelection.

The farmer who goes into tho dairy business to-day must make up His mind to earnest study, and try to master the arts of breeding, selecting, feeding, and managing dairy cattle, in order t'o bo successful in the rapid-ly-increasing competition in this branch of agriculture.

The old way of buying cows indiscriminately simply because they were animals possessed of an udder and four or less teats must cease, as well as the misplaced ambition to milk as many cows as the farm will carry in fact, sometimes more—or the number of milkers on the farm are able to milk.

The ambition of an up-to-date dairy farmer should be to possess such cows only which give him the maximum return at the minimum cost. In other words the farmer must adopt business methods in addition to practical and theoretical dairy knowledge. It does not take a great deal of reading in tiie dairy columns of tho weekly papers published in this colony to ascertain the fact that although the dairy industry has made such strides in New Zealand, tho dairy-farmers as a whole have not boon able to attain the same high standard of dairy knowledge. as have the dairy-fa rmoffl in the countries wo arc competing against. This assertion does not cast any reflection upon the. intelligence or industry of our farmers, the want of knowledge being duo to the lack of the necessary educational factors. Hr. J. It. Cuddic, the acting-Dairy Commissioner, at a lecture delivered at the Palmerston show last year, struck the right note when ho said that many of the dairy cattle in New Zealand are not producing on the average a reasonable amount of butterfat. He had a table compiled showing the average number of pounds of butter-fat produced per cow annually throughout the colony. Tho fignre-, worked out at 130.61 b per head. Taking into consideration that a fair average return should not he less than 2001 b of butter-fat per cow yearly. this would show a loss to the colony of 32,768,1131 b of fat, which at lOd per lb would amount to £1,092,270 8s Bd,or an amount equal to about five-eighths of the total value of the dairy produce exported from the colony during the past season. Mr. C’eddie’s figures bear out my rough estimate submitted in a public report in 1898, in which I calculated the approximate loss of butter-fat value to the Auckland provincial district alone to be some £336,000 short of what it might be from tho same number of cows if judicious breeding, selection, and feeding had been in vogue.

It is such facts we require to keep before us in order that we may be spurred to strain every nerve to prevent such an enormous waste of food and labor, besides loss of revenue to the colony. Surely here is a field ol labor for tlie co-operation of the Government, the agricultural associations, and the individual farmers to take up. Here is a veritable gold mine right in front of us, which no country can afford to have lying idle. The Danes have long ago shown us the way to work this field by various means, but chiefly by tlio establishment throughout the country of ‘‘Cattle-breeding Associations” and “Control Associations.” Other countries have not lost much time in following the lead, especially Gormany and Canada, both of which countries are now in possession of a number oF these associations. This colony was not long in appreciating the lead Denmark and Canada had given it in regard to the co-operative movement in connection with (Jftirying. How long are we going to wait before we take up tho question of co-opera-tion in connection with the economical production of butter-fat?

The value of land lias gone up in price to an enormous extent during the past decade, and if it was not for the extremely favorable prices Ve have been and are still getting for our dairy products it would mean a serious drawback to a great number of dairy-farmers, and a greet brake on the further development of this industry, so important to this colony. We have no guarantee that the present- favorable prices will be maintained in the future. We must not lose sight of the fact that the compe-

tit ion from other dairy countries is increasing;' besidos, our own rapid increase in export of dairy produce may tend to reduce prices. AVo should lose no time in tho organisation of cattle-breeding and control of associations, the two most valuable factors in the education ol the dairy-farmers and tho improvement of the dairy herds. Tho programme is or should he a rational improvement in tho breeding, .selecting, and feeding of tho dairy cow, which necessitates a systematic weighing and testing of oaeli cow’s milk and a careful estimation of the food value consumed, with comploto records of those figuios. Hundreds of examples' of the value if testing each cow’s milk by tlic aid of a sot of scales and a butter-fat tester could bo quoted from Danish, Canadian, Swedish, and other control associations, and from tho progressive I’m mors in this colony, who have adopted this means of protecting their pockets and improving their herds. 1 will hero quote an item which lias como under my notice; it is in Dio Milch-Zoitung of October 6. The figures nro from the annual report of tho Oldenburg Agricultural Experimental Station, “where 161 cows wore under control. The records showed the best cow to givo a not profit of ;C23 10s for the year, while the poorest gave a loss of £1 los Gd during the same period.” This oxample ought, t'o convince any of the readers of this article that lie cannot afford to rest before bo lias made arrangements to ascertain what each of bis cows is doing.