The Dual-Purpose Cow.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 129, 8 February 1909, Page 3

The Dual-Purpose Cow.

Experienced stock-brieders in Australia are divided in opinion as to whether it is possible to profitably combine the qualities oi beef production and milk production in the one animal, or whether it :s setter and more profitable to hree'i ;..r one purpose on!v. I)'i ai-purpose is the American phrase lor aiming first at milk, and then fattening off th'- cow for beef aft'.-r her use fulness lor miiK ' production has waned. farmers in . Australia wr.'-.-v holdings adjoin poor or rancv c-untrv ha',a- always fancied •ia- dual- 1 >urt"'.-e cow, h'-cause her male calv.-s can be grown r-n rough pasture and eventua'dv develop into fair-sized st'-ers. wh»-r..-as the calvs from cows of tia: recognised mi;Kmg breeds arcseldom of much value tor the butcher. - English breeder? have long aimed at producing dual-purpose cows, ar.d if ; they have not succ-eded in develoqir.g a whole breeci of any Kin a of m thai line, they have ha-:: many individual successes. Two of the f'Jntisn breeds lend thcmsclv.s particular:;.' '-veil to the purpose, the sha rira rn nr.-: the- rc-c!-po 11. The pedigr-ed shortlyrr. was in the begin:.ing rr—: i«>r a- --i a:one, and has the La-ef bull.i, while the unpedigreed animals v.-» re !-:<-pt lor miiK first and fattened alt'-rwaws ir. the dualpurpose way. Discussir.tr tms subject, j Professor rrimrose McCor.nc-ii, a well--1 kr.own English au-hoi'ity, points out that within th. last :Vw years the yiv-rthorn Sovi'-tv has i prizes f,, r ; i ; • frr- e i anin.als w:*.h good milk- .: rr ;ir y t«j a.- u year v. ar tra- milking powers of the cotr.- ! i'tit"rs l:av«- been increasing and .-I-.-.-nlag tin on th'- records of other • until this year they have toplis-. Th- .-hampion milk cow 1.; tia- I.en'i'.n f)airy Show '.'.'as a pedi-grf-en shorth'-rn, Dorothy, belonging to Lord Rothschild. The point to emphasise. however, is the lact that tnis cow which in effect is the champion of th.- British Isles this year-- is a dual-purpose cow, with perhaps a Centura of beef-breeding behind her, and yield? milk better than dairy breeds like tile Jersey or the Ayrshire. Nov,-, what has been done with one animal can be clone in time with a hundred. and it only needs the principle to be followed long enough, and by a sufficient number, to make tlie dual breed a permanency.