FARM AND DAIRY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 202, 19 April 1932, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY

NOTES FOR THE PRODUCER. SALT AhlD MINERAL FOODS. It is generally accepted that salt is an essential to the daily diet of all domestic animals, including the pig. It imparts flavpur and relish to food, incites appetite and promotes digestion. It induces the secretion of the digestive fluids and encourages nutrition by stimulating a greater assimilation of protein. It has been proyed by experiment that a pig weighing 1001b will absorb half an ounce of salt daily. Given regularly in small doses, there can be' no objection to its use — in fact, it is essential — but care should be talcen that over-doses are not given. Sudden cases of illness, often with fatal results, have been traced to pigs eating abnormal quantities of salt, but these are very rara, and should not cause unnecessary alarm. It has been proved by tests that where pigs are deprived of salt, it requires more food to produce 1001b of gain in pork. The most sensible plan is to allow pigs to have a liberal supply of mineral food always in boxes before themOccasionally pigs are observed to develop unnatural cravings, and will eat all sorts of rubbish lying about, This points to a deficiency of some mineral in the food. When it is considered that lime furnishes the bulk of the dry ash of bone it will be seen how important it is to have tbis element available. On poor land or sandy soils there is always a deficiency of lime. On such soils it is essential that the mineral food be always accessible for the pigs. Brood sows should be given a little lime water daily, also sows with litters, as it is such a useful corrective in many forms of indigestion, diarrhoea, or scours in both old and young pigs, Illuminating Testing Returns. " The 'returns just pubbsbed giving the results of semi-official testing work amongst pedigree Jerseys last season cleqrly indicate that the productive ability of the breed, so far from going back, is steadily increasing. Despite a somewhat unfavourable season, when the average production for all the cows in the Dominion dropped from 2181b fat to 2011b fat, the average for the 503 pedigree Jerseys under the 365 day C.O.R. test increased from 466.781b fat to 486.251b fat. An increase of 201b fat in the average when the general tendency was a definite downward one is a striking illustration of the still higher standard tQ which the productive capacity of our stud stock is being raised. Analysing the C.O.R. returns it is found that of the 503 Jerseys no fewer than 191 were junior two-year-olds, which makes the average ' " infinitely more creditable. The lf5 mature cows showed the remarlxable average of 547.491b fat in 350 days. Only one class record was broken during the year, and interesting enough, it was shattered by no fewer than three animals. This was the junior two-year-old leadership of 731.291b fat, held by* R. S. Tuck's (Waharoa) Ivondale Oxford Lass, ( whose yield was exceeded during the ' year by R. Waterhouse's (Papakura) Coniston Goldie, R.L. Parkin's (Bell Block) Ashton Olive's Pet and A. L. Hooper's (Waitara) Bridgeview Jersey Queen. These three great heifers, together with another of the same age in P. J. Hellyer's (Dunedin) Frisky's Favourite who broke the South Island junior twp-year-old recprd by producing 7111b fat, were the features of the year's testing work. The highest return for all ages was 840-411b fat produced by a three-yeav-old, Clthereas' Twylish Cream, the property of E, J. Clough, (Inglewood. j The number of pedgiree Jerseys to | which first-class certificates were granted last season for both the 365 andi 305 days periods was 600. Dam's Influence. In the Journal .of Dairy Science, Mr. Lyon Copeland declares that there is undobuted correlation between the production of a cow and the production of the daughters, and that therefore the selection of females from high record dams should result in a herd that should produce in excess of the breed average. He deprecates the selection of a bull purely on the record of the dam and declares that the record of the dam is almost twice as reliable a measure of the production ' of her own daughters as it is of her , son's daughters. Mr. Copeland stresses the point that j too much information cannot possibly be obtained by anybody selecting an untried young bull. Investigation should be made into the average of the dam's record, the dam's sisters' records and the dam's daughters' records. If the dam has no record, the average of the records of her maternal sisters and of her daughters gives almost equally dependable results. Business-like Farming. Increasingly every day dairy farming is being conducted on a more busi-ness-like basis. The advent of group herd-testing has paved the way for a better system of farm management, making as it does for the elimination of unprofitable animals and the retention of only the profitable ones. Herdtesting is really yet in its infancy in this country but when farmers realise still more its immense potentialities it is 'evident that i,t will becpme the greatest factor in the advaneement of the industry. It is inconceivable that there are still dairy farmers who refuse to take advantage of it and continue to keep cows that are not paying for their keep. It is obvious that the elimination of low producers is the first st^p in developing a really profitable herd. A study of the herd testing sheets opens the eyes of the testing farmer to the possibilities in the right class of cows and the enormous importance of secixring the prepotent sire of good butter-fat backing. Stripping is ImpportantNot long ago, to satisfy my own, euosity, I tested the very first milk of a Jersey cow whose average test was 5.5 per cent, and then tested the very latest strippings, writes a contributor to the Jersey Bulletin (U.S.A.). I found that the first milk contained .8 per cent fat, while the last milk tested 12.4 per cent fat — 15 times more butei't-fat in the last

drgwn milk. Stripping is important not only because this milk contains much more butter-fat, but also may help avoid much udder trouble, *