DAIRYING ON LARGE SCALE.

Shannon News, 23 August 1927, Page 1

DAIRYING ON LARGE SCALE.

770 COWS AVERAGE PRODUCTION 303L8. An average butterfat production of 3031bs per cow, exclusive of butterfat used in feeding 107 calves and for household purposes, was obtained by Messrs F. W. Walters and Sons, of Waitoa (for many years of Taranaki, where the}' are well-known) from their nine herds of 770 cows during the seasonjust closed. Messrs Walters and Sons are the largest dairymen in New Zealand, and the performance of their herds is particularly meritorious. They have six farms at Springdale, Waitoa, one on the Tahuna Road and two at Whakatane. The Whakatane herds did not do so well as the Waikato cows, there being an excess of feed due to the moist season and to the fact that most of the land had been top-dressed for the first time. The paddocks should have been mown more frequently. Mr Walters stabed that during the last season the herds were practically free from mammitis, the cows got into calf with little trouble and few cases of abortion were met with. The prospects for the coming year were particularly good and no previous season had opened under more favourable conditions. As Messrs Walters and Sons depend largely on grass pastures and hay for their fodder, and practise topdressing with superphosphate in the autumn, their experience should be of general interest. The following are the details of the production of the nine herds, according to the dairy factory,returns, the herds being distinguished by the names of the share milkers: — C. A. Short's 90 cows, total production 27,310.751 b butterfat, average 303.41 b. H. Robinson's 116 cows, total production 36,5581 b. butterfat, average 315.18 lb. P. G. Denton's 90 cows, total production 29,0111 b. butterfat, average 322.311 b. H. Hayvard's 85 cows, total production 27,295.25 lb. butterfat, average 321.11 b. F. Earle's 80 eows, total production 24 562.751 b butterfat, average 304.421 b. Brandt Bros.' 95 cows, total production 29,962.751 b. butterfat, average 315.391 b. G. Keller's 65 cows, total production 21,410.251 b. butterfat, average 329.381 b. O. Johanson's 92 cows, total production 24,776.251 b. butterfat, average 269.281 b. W. Bailey's 57 two-year-old heifers, total production 12,6811 b. butterfat, average 222.271 b. Production of the nine herds of 770 eows, 233,3651 bof butterfat.— Auck- i land Star. >;