FARM STOCK.

Putaruru Press, 5 January 1928, Page 6

FARM STOCK.

POINTS FOR BREEDERS. Profit in Smaller Animals. We have for so long looked upon maximum size in our domesticated farm animals as contributing eonsideraoiy to their perfection, that apart from intentionally dwarfed examples of breeds, such as ponies, bantams, etc., we have elevated maximum size for the breed to an entirely unjustified pedestal. Great size is frequently associated with grossness and coarseness, and the more discriminating consuming public of to-day, having discovered this for themselves it would be' well for the breeder to thoroughly stddy whose natural laws of breeding and feeding whereby he can regulate his product to meet with the public approval. The; preference of the British consumer for small joints of bepf, mutton and lamb, is based on a dislike of a continued diet of one glass gi meat accompanies a big "oldfashioned” joint, and to a greater extent on a determination to have the best meat. This is generally and rightly believed to be found in the smaller and younger animal. This preference costs the consumer at least ten per cent, more than would the same class of meat in a heavier grade, while at the same time it might be so produced as to cost the farmer actually less than the heavyweight.

Laws Governing Size. In asserting that small fat stock might be produced at a less cost per pound than heavyweights, the following facts have to be taken into consideration: A greater number of smaller stock can be depastured on the same area; although for each pound of meat produced they may require an equivalent amount of grass to the larger animal, they can thrive and fatten on pastures where the growth is not suffi-' ciently good for the bigger animals; they require, individually and collectively, less nourishment to provide for bodily warmth and motion; they are less adversely afEectea oy weather conditions which affect the pasture growth, and the offal, at slaughter, is more valuable from the larger number of smaller animals.

Even where the cost of production per pound is equal in both instances, it is surely worth the farmer’s while to secure the added price for prime lightweights, and it is therefore worth while considering what natural laws govern the matter of size in the animal world. In the first instance, it is field that the female is the chief factor m determining the matter of size of the offspring not only at birth, but when it reache’s maturity.,. The big female has treater capacity to allow of develop ment of tire foel is. She also can supply a larger quantity of to her young both before and attcr birth. has be. n proved from close experiment over long terms that an mils as a rule inherit size and constitu tion from the female, and conformation, temperament, etc., from the male whde many other characters are a blend from both sexes.

Results of Tests. All farmers who have done much breeding will have noticed that a Merino ram put to a Lincoln ewe will produce a bigger half-bred than when a Lincoln ram is used on the Merino. Tests with individuals prove very little, but when these two crosses are tried with a large number of sheep on the same country, the difference in size of the offspring is very noticeable, and is a proof that can be accepted. Similarly in crossing Romney and Southdown sheep, the Romney ewe produces a bigger offspring, when it is mature, than does the Southdown ewe. In poultry, the Peking bantam cock mated with the big Peking hen, not of bantam stock, produces stock little smaller than the mother, while in the reverse, mating the progeny are still of dwarf size. In fact, this mating is frequently used when the miniature breed shows signs of losing the true type of the larger stocks from which they were originally dwarfed. Of course, wh'fo both male and male mated are unusually big, the off-. | spring are likely to surpass either of the parents in size. Similarly, small will produce small, but will only produce smaller still when the femalo is smaller than the male. Intensifying Characteristics. Rapid growth* and propensity to fatten are by no means confined to, * even more pronounced in, the biggerframed animals. As a matter of large-framed, loosely-built animals arc usually slower in fattening than small compactly-built stock. It would therefore appear that, so far as the export meat trade in beef, mutton and lamb is concerned, it would pay us much better to keep bigger numbers of * smallerfraraed breeding animals, and thus, when these and their progeny are converted into prime meat, secure the premium which the consumer is pro pared to pay. In actual practice it is not suggested that the farmer should strive to rear midget stock; that would bp a* foolish as the attempt of the past generation to breed tl out-size ” animals. The happy medium is what must be aimed at, and this is indicated by the sizefs, ages and weights most in demand at Home. . Another method of reducing the average size of the animals in a flock or herd is to stint them of the abundance of food necessary for perfect development. Nothing could do more harm than this. To be profitable, animals must have abundant feed to develop them rapidly to their normal Weakness, disease, meat forms+ ■on an(l a hundred other ills await th" stock ot the man who underfeeds or "••"-stoe.is. Regulation of size can only be • T.i 'oa satisfactorily by intelligent. breeciing followed by proper, liberal feeding to maturity. Only tbon will the breeding

be made profitable. A newlv-born boy baby has now an expectation of life of about 55* years, compared with 481 years 21 years agu