THE FARM.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4392, 20 March 1922, Page 4

THE FARM.

SIRES OF NEXT GENERATION. PROPER MATING HELPS IN GETTING BEST RESULTS.' BEEF AND DAIRY TYPES OF CATTLE QUITE DISTINCT. “If you want to get the most out of a cow,” said Professor Leitch, of the 0.A.C., Guelph, Ont., “you must breed it in. Feeding will raise the output of an animal about sixteen per cent?, breeding will raise - it as high as 300 per cent.” In other words, valuable as good feeding undoubtedly is, yet that the animal shall be well bred is just about eighteen times more important. Every day at this time of year, sees the ancestry decided for -several thousands of our next generation of live stock. Are we giving that stock a hundred per cent, opportunity to make good? The son of the gambler blames his inclination for that pursuit upon hi s father, and the son of the thief lays his desire for the property of others to the same source—can be blame the poor old cow for not giving milk, if her sire was a scrub and her dam a boarder? Any farmer knows that doubling a Hackney’s feed won’t give him the power and strength of the Clydesdale. Yet the dairyman who crowds feed into a cow bred along beef lines with the hope of getting a profit from the cow in the shape of milk is undertaking the same impossibility. The success which man has attained in breeding live stock, is one of the outstanding achievements of civilisation. For generations the man who sought to make a profit from th‘e the production of milk has selected his cows with an eye to their ability to produce that commodity,J and to give that ability for produc- , tion to their sons and daughters. He has accomplished some marvellous increases in the productive power of his animals and “the end is not yet.” Similarly the producer of beef has moulded his his animals with the one aim in view; that they shall produce large quantities of meat with a a small consumption of valuable food, and here again—that they shall possess the ability to pass these improved qualities on tot their progeny in even greater perfection than they themselves possessed. It is an J art and requires ability and judgment of the highest order to achieve an advancement beyond the best; yet it lies within the reach of any man who keeps a few cows, to raise the production of the average. He has only to select his breeding stock from a heard that is better than his own. IMPROVEMENT BOUND TO COME. If each succeeding sire is better than the one that went before, a herd is bound to improve, slowly, perhaps, depending much upon the care the owner gives it, yet by all the laws of averages and rules of genetics improvement will be his. And what satisfaction and enjoyment will come with it. Who is there that can care for his animals daily, throughout the year without experiencing a thrill of pleasure when the calf shows signs of developing into a cow, superior to the dam that gave it birth. Then, financially—can anyone refuse to believe that a cow giving an extra 1000

pounds of milke per year, particularly if it yields a higher test, will not bring in greater returns to her owner than the dam from which she came, or that the beef animal that finish at two years of age will not | fattens with a smooth, firm, even yield greater profits than the coarse, lumpy, three-year-old which a poorer sire might have given him. What does it matter if the better sire was two miles further down the road, or if the neighbour across the way would not put up a”, of his half for the purchase of a good sire instead of a poor one. Overcoming these difficulties are but tests of a man’s ambition, simply obstacles to determine the strength of his belief in his own intelligence. What are they in comparison with the satisfaction that is his in noting the steady improvement ■in his live stock, and the increasing returns he has from them. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. It is an interesting fact that after every period of depression such as we are now passing through, there follows an unusual interest in dairying. Men .not regularly engaged in this type of farming; attracted by the good prices of dairy products and the steady income, buy dairy cows or start milking such cows as they may already have. From the number who start dairying at such times, many will become permament dairy farmers while many ore will drop out at the end of a few months, because their cows do not produce profitably and their efforts end in disappointment. This is unfortunate, because of the bad impression such men will get out of the dairy business. Right now is 3, good time to make a start in dairy farming and particularly with purebred dairy cattle. There are, however, certain things the beginner of the man already in must consider. Many cows are brought into milking herds at puch times as these whose qualifications as dairy cows evtend no farther than the ability to raise their own calves. Two weeks after calving they may show large udders and have many of the indications of a good milker, but at the end of three months they start to dry off. Such cows cannot be profitable. The man who buys now must make sure that the cow he buys is not in this class. He must make sure of the health of the animal and her age; then he can buy and be reasonably sure of getting something worth while.