The Times. Published on Tuesday and Friday Afternoons. Motto: Public service. TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1920. IMPROVING THE BREED.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 554, 3 August 1920, Page 2

The Times. Published on Tuesday and Friday Afternoons. Motto: Public service. TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1920. IMPROVING THE BREED.

The activities displayed in this district during the past few months by those engaged in the breeding o1 high-class dairy stock augurs well for the future of the district, and re fleets credit on those taking part in the crusade having for its object the improvement of various well-known breeds of cattle. Dairymen and rais ers of beef stock have come to a full realisation of the fact that an in ferior animal eats just as much as n pood one does, although the returns from the former are not nearly so great as from the latter. Human judgment being fallible, perfection being unattainable, and there being no accounting for tastes, none can say definitely and absolutely beyond contradiction that this or that breed is the better, and so we have a heal thy, friendly rivalry between the champions of different breeds of stock, the outcome of which is an improvement all round. Like all good movements, the striving to excel in this matter has the defects of its virtues, and there is a tendency to achieve extraordinary results undei conditions that cannot be duplicated in ordinary commercial farming. These hothouse methods should be avoided if utility, and not futility, is the goal aimed at. But these comments are by the way. What we wish particularly to emphasise is the good thai can be achieved by breeders uniting .to forward the interests they have in common. Wise men have admitted that there is no man so foolish but what something might be learned from him; how valuable and instructive, then, must it be to intelligent breeders to meet together in a friendly way and discuss pros and cons! Such organisations as breed crs' associations afford fine opportu nities for mutual enlightenment, con genial discourse and ultimately in creased material benefits. There avc scores of things that might profitably be dealt with by bodies like the Jersey Breeders' Association ami the Milking Shorthorn Breeders Franklin Branch, reports of whose activities appear in this paper i'rem time to time. One important matter, fer instance, is the judging at agricultural and pastoral show.-, where the lack of uniformity in respect to qualifications required is no torious. Some judges appear to valut beauty of form more than probablt butterfat production or breeding points, while others go to the opposite extreme —and neither may have irrefutable proof as to what points or qualifications go to the'make-up of a good animal in any given class. Under such conditions, how is it pos sible for breeders to have an ideal to strive for the materialisation of'. These and other problems might well be threshed out by the kind of or ganisations we refer to. But the attainment of high-grade animals is not the ultimate goal, it is merely a means to an end, namely, to secure the maximum amount o! K s. d. from the sale of the stock or from the produce thereof. This being so, local breeders are arranging to hold annual sales of pedigree stock, official notice of which appears 'ii to-day's "Times." This district is the home of well-bred cattle, and some magnificent animals have been brought here during lecent months; fer the welfare of breeders in the mass, both for the present and for the future in the distance, we would like to see an excellent rang.of entries for the inaugural sale. Dairymen often give high prices for grade bulls and females, whereas v, few pounds more would often secim for them pedigree stock that woulo result in a permanent improvement to their herds. The forthcoming salt ( will provide good openings for recti fying mistakes of the past. Both buy ers and sellers owe it us ;i d'lty to the respective breeds, to their fellow breeders, and to the district to :nak< ;: special effort to ensure success. A good start is half the buttle, nul if the sale is loyally patronised it will be a line augury for a prosperous li ture. This statement will be readily credited when it is borne in mind that, owir.jj to improving the breeding, the average of production from good cows has gone up from i 10 to i'H'Olb butterfat, and llii:- on ord'nan feeding.