DANISH CATTLE SHOWS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 568, 17 May 1913, Page 7

DANISH CATTLE SHOWS.

The Danes have learned much from us in the last fifty years in the general principles of improving the breeds of cattle, says the London "Farm and Home," but, in practice, the methods they have adopted in the details of their show arrangements point to a considerable divergence in the ultimate aims kept in view by the two countries. The British idea se*m« always to have been perfection in form and quality of individual pedigree herds, while in Denmark they strive to use the show system as a means of improving the general common stock of the country. Ct may be said that there is no real lifference, and that both countries are working to the same end by different means. If so, several features )f the Danish shows seem to me the setter calculated for getting there juickly. One change which they adopted about 40 years ago was to »ive prizes, not to single cows, but for collections of cows bred by the ixhibitor, thereby giving intending buyers a better knowledge of the nerits of the various herds. Then it vas seen that breeders did not suficiently recognise the value of a jood sire wben they got one, and they gave prizes for old bulls, to encourage the keeping of such as ong as possible, wishing to impress the fact that a really prepotent sire ■is as good as a little gold mine. Dairying this idea * step further, prizes are now no longer given for )ulls over five years old without ocllar demonstration that their offipring are satisfactory. In these ind other ways the Danes, while entouraging the breeders, do their best to disseminate knowledge among the ilass who keep cattle for ordinary iiarket purposes.