OUR GOOD COWS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 1, Issue 34, 11 October 1912, Page 1

OUR GOOD COWS.

Some time ago a modest little paragraph appeared in this paper saying that Mr J. Wright, Putii road, had a return of £l3 14s 3d from six cows for the August month. Best tests were 5.0, 4.7 and 4.6. A little later our Mauku correspondent came to light with " a much better record" and quoted £l7 38 6d as the average butter-fat return per cow for ten months seemed by a Mauku-Pukekohe road farmer. Here is Mr Wright's reply:—l didn't give the figures for August to blow about; didn't even give them for publication. But since they have appeared in print I want to point out that August returns were not an average season's four-weekly-period, although they made a good August month. My ten-month record last year showed a return of £l7 17s 6d per cow for butter-fat, as against £l7 3s 6d quoted from Mauku. Adding the calves it panned out in this way £ S. D. Butter-fat .. 125 2 6 4 heifer calves at £5 Is .. 20 4 0 1 show heifer .. 6 10 0 2 bulls at £5 .. 10 0 0 162 16 6 For seven cows this makes an average of £23 5s 2d per cow, without counting pigs at all. " How's that, umpire ?"

A TEN MONTHS' RECORD. WHO CAN BEAT IT?

Was it Fair? " Shorthorn " writes —" I notice in Tuesday's paper a curious comparison between the Jersey and the Shorthorn, at the tail-end of the article about Mr Brownlee's cows. There is evidently a mistake somewhere but as your article has it (total and comparative result of butter-fat) it appears 13 Grade Jersey Cows ... 4432541b5. 10 Shorthorn Cows 3664J41b5. Showing an advantage of 77libs. in favour of the Jerseys. "jßut there isn't much sense in comparing the fat of 13 Jerseys against the fat of 10 Shorthorns and throwing up the hat in favour of the Jersey. If you divide 44321bs of fat by 13 (Jetseys) the average is 3401bs butterfat; divide 33641bs fat by 10 (Shorthorns) the average is 3361bs fat. Four pounds per cow isn't worth talking about when we remember the beef value of the Shorthorn. Of 'course the question of feeding comes in but I can see nothing in the article to show that in 1906-7 Mr Brownlee could not have carried 13 Shorthorns. Anyway, six years ago we hadn't gone in for tho culling that takes place now and all things being taken into practical account the Shorthorns seem to have done famously. My view is that the ' breed ' doesn't matter tuppence ; it's the ' strain' that fills the bucket and gives the high test."

Our Mauku correspondent:—" I'm pleased to notice that your ' Buttcrfat' correspondent from Otaua has informed us of some more ' good cows.' I hope he is thankful to me for opening up the question or we should never have known about it. This is another proof of the advantageous advertising our districts are getting by having a paper of our own to call attention to those items of interest. Of course our farmers here have seen the wisdom of applying the Babcock and tho scales for some years, and I know there are better records than the one I quoted, which I hope to got hold of shortly."