HERD TESTING

Hokitika Guardian, 24 August 1932, Page 2

HERD TESTING

A MODERN NECESSITY

ADDRESS TO FARMERS,

CHRISTCHURCH, August 23

“I think the dairy farmer is justified in approaching the new season with a considerable amount of optimism. Things are certainly better than they were twelve months ago.” 'That was the cheerful opinion , expressed by Mr C. M. Hume, of the Dominion Herd Testing Federation, when he lectured at Tai Tapu on herd te v ting, calf marking, the certified bull scheme and pig husbandry. ;Mr J. Gi' mour presided. .expressed the view that the outlook for the farmer had been improved by the success of the jßritish conversion loan and by the arrangements come to at Ottawa. The Ottawa. Conference, he said, had done a lot of good. It had shown that the different parts of. the Empire ware anxious to \\vork in absolute iharmony. If only they could secure that same harmony throughout the world the slump would coon disappear.

•He thought they could look forward to an improvement during the coming season. He had noticed that five#, of the principal Manawatu companies had paid out an advance of ltd per lb on butter-fat, the biggest pay-Out since September last. The dairy farmers in the North Island, particularly in the northern portion of the island, felt that the corner had. been turned. The farmers in. the south had not been hit as hard as bad the dairymen in the North Island. There seemed to have been ■a much greater slip in the north than in the south. .

THE KEY TO SUCCESS

There were three fundamentals if they wanted good results from a dairy farm, he isaid. The .first was herd testing. That was the key to success. The only way to tel! what a cow was doing was by testing. The good cows, under test, received the ’treatment they deserved. The second fundamental -• was fertilising,, and’ the third management. He advocated smaller . paddocks, and better .management of the cows.

Oil- Hume said that trade revival always followed .a period of slump, and the ' farmers should be prepared to take advantage of that revival. The big changes that had taken place in transport and manufacture must be accompanied by improvements- on the farm. He predicted that during the. next ten years the exports of dairy produce from the Dominion, would more than double. The majority of people did not realise the great expansion that was going on in the dairy industry. The day had come when dairying must be specialised, and the man who did not specialise must go out. In the purchasing of young stock it was the successive record of the dam and s're that should be the guiding principle. Farmers in the South Island had not been support; ing calf' .marking .in the way they should.

By a scries of excellent lantern slides Mr Hume showed the processes and results of cow testing and explained also the' other aspects covered by his address. He was accorded a vote of thanks. 1

the fresh-air home, and- £550 for the dispensary. / It- could ho seen from this,., said Mr Otley, that Dr. MacLeau’s charge concerning the need for care beyond the walls of the santoria could not he applied to Canterbury. MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT’S OPINION.

Dr. Macintyre said he could not agree to Dr. M-ac Lean’s claim, that not much was being done for continuity of treatment, as far as that claim was meant to apply, to- the work being done in Christchurch. The North Canterbury Hospital Board and the Boards associated with it were doing a great deal, and doing it very well. That did not mean, of course, that the system was perfect, but almost the only aspect needed attention was;,that of after-care. . Dr. Maclean’s suggestion concerning a camp or settlement as the final stage of the treatment 'was admirable, hut the obstacle was the cost. England, with 40,000,000 peox pie, and a consequently greater unmber of tuberculosis case® to care for, had only two or three such places, and the cost per patient in New Zealand, with its smaller hospital population, would be prohibitive. MEAN®- OF PROGRESS.

Possibly also more could be done in the Segregation of advanced cases, for sometimes people would not go into a sanatorium when they really should, not only for their own good, but also for that of their fellows. A legislative move would be necessary to do all that was wanted, for though the medioal officers of health had the power to send such cases to a sanatorium, it was often difficult for them to use that power. Public, .education was necessary and in tbis ’rdspect Dr. Mac Lean’s proposal for a lav organisa*tion, on the lines of the Plunket Society, to co-operate with the medical profession in attempting to bring about an adequate- svstem of treatment, was a good one. Shell a society could, by devoting its energies and its funds to publicity, achieve a great deal to spread more widely the right sort- of knowledge about tuberculosis. The organisation could he quite simple, and it would not r.eed to lia-ve anything like the scope of the Plunket 'Society, with its own nurses.