FRIESIAN ASSOCIATION

Otago Witness, Issue 4030, 9 June 1931, Page 15

FRIESIAN ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL MEETING OF OTAGO BRANCH. The annual meeting of the Otago branch of the New Zealand Friesian Association was held on Wednesday’ afternoon. The president (Mr W. Bryant, of Otokia) occupied the chair. The annual i eport stated that the balance sheet showed a credit balance of £l9 0s lid, which was slightly lower than last year. During the year the com mittee had held three meetings. The sum of £29 5s had been given to the various shows, and the usual medal had been given to the country shows besides the medal presented to the Taieri Show. A special feature had been made this year of giving the sum of £3 for the best Friesian junior heifer born after November 1. 1929 Besides the usual prize to the Oamaru Show. £6 had been sent in prizes for a breeder’s group, while £9 10s had been spent in prizes at the Dunedin Show. The committee had given a good deal of thought to the arranging of a purebred Friesian sale, and an endeavour had been made to hold such a sale in May of this year. The breeders’ response to a circular sent had been indeed poor, and it had been decided by the committee appointed to deal with this matter to hold it over. The aim of the individual breeders who made up this branch of the Friesian Association was the improvement of the dairy stock of the Dominion by the use of purebred Friesian cattle. To succeed in this the farmer had to render efficiency. Breeders would only’ go forward if they rendered this service as well or better than any other .dairy’ breed society. To do this—and there was only one way’ of doing it —farmers must- breed bulls of proved producing quality for the use of the ordinary dairy farmers of the country. If the dairy farmers obtained good results by the use of Friesian bulls then the breed would advance. Otherwise it would not. The question might be asked, and rightly so, “ How is a breeder of Friesians to produce stock with high dairying qualities? ” The only _§afe method was by testing and selection There were many dairy cows in the Dominion of high dairying quality which hafl their faults. There was the cow with the pendulous and fleshly udder. Bad feet was another fault, and also the droopy rump. These faults must be eliminated. Then' to succeed a breeder must feed well and test consistently. The chairman, in moving the adoption of the annual report and balance sheet, said that although the credit balance had shrunk this year the branch had distributed more in prize money. He stressed the importance of testing, adding that only 19 or 20 per cent, of the herds in the Dominion were tested under the group system Testing had helped considerably to raise the standard of dairycattle in' the Dominion 'he wr-ise in crease being 501 b per cow How much

better would the result be if, say. 50 pei cent, of the cows were tested? He had noticed that Jersey cattle had been pain ing favour in both islands. They gave milk of good colour and high tests, but their milk was unsuitable for the making of cheese. It seemed that New Zea land had gone “ butter-fat mad.” The preference for Jersey cows had had a serious effect on the Home market, and the superior qualities of the Friesian for the production of cheese should be an incentive to breeders to raise the standard of theii cattle by testing and selection. During the discussion which followed the North Island was blamed for the drop in the quality of New Zealand cheese. It was pointed out that though South Island cheese was superior in quality to the North Island product the public at Home did not know that there was any difference. They merely knew the product of both islands as New Zealand cheese. A member stated that at a meeting of suppliers to a North Island factory recently it had been decided to discard Jersey bulls. This was regarded as an opportunity for Friesian breeders. The election of office-bearers resulted as follows:—President, Mr T. Hewitt (Goodwood); vice-president, Mr E. M. North (Omimi) ; committee —Messrs F. M'Hattie (Momona), W. Robertson (Middlemarch), A. Wilkinson (Green Island), A. A. Jensen (Stirling). E. C. Reynolds (Dunedin), F. J. M'Donald (Waitati), W. Garrett (Sutton), J. Solomon (Port Chalmers), W. Bryant (Otokia), and A. H. Copeland (Weston); secretary and treasurer, Mr S. Bowman. Some discussion took place on the action of a judge in excluding a cow with a defective quarter in the udder from competition. This question had been discussed at the previous annual meeting, when it had been decided that it should be referred to the head office.—lt was reported that no definite information had been received.—A member stated that at a meeting of judges held in the North Island it had been decided that a faulty udder should not exclude a cow, but, nevertheless. they had been excluded subsequently. —lt was decided that the question should again be referred to the head office. . After lengthy consideration it was decid'ed to hold a sale of purebred Friesian stock at Dunedin in the last week in October if sufficient inducement offered.