Will New Zealand Lead?

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 270, 4 February 1928, Page 27

Will New Zealand Lead?

BREEDING BETTER STOCK An Interesting Study NEW ZEALAND may be aptly termed the dairy farm of the Empire. Production of our dairy products has increased rapidly over the past quarter of a century, while during the last decade there has been a growing tendency to improve the return per acre. New Zealand dairymen should go further, however. This country, with its ideal climate and fertile soils, should be a pedigree breeding centre of the Southern Hemisphere.

PEDIGREE breeding with an eye to production as well as type is one of the best investments the man on the land can make. Costly, may be, at the start, it brings worth-white reward's in the end, and does much to place the breeder among the truly successful farmers of the day. Nothing offers more interest to the farmer. Pedigree breeding is farming with a purpose, compared with the haphazard methods of the past. The stock is developed and bred according to the requirements and ideas of the individual, and definite . types are evolved. It is a life work for the true farmer, yet much can be done over a short period by one prepared to make the sacrifices and give the necessary attention to the work. In few avenues of farming does pedigree breeding pay better than in dairying, nor does it entail any great outlay of capital at the start. Take, for instance, the case of the man who decides to build up his herd by the introduction of recognised heavy producing strains. Firstly, he must decide on the breed, and in doing that he has one main factor to consider— -economy. The breed that will give the greatest comparative return an acre is the one which should be given preference every time. It is useless studying individual results without thought as to maintenance.

For the average man the idea of starting with a clean line of pedigree cattle is out of the question, and it is a moot point whether it pays, at any time. Greater results follow the introduction of a few good foundation cows and a bull of a recognised strain of heavy producers. From this, with the natural increase, the owner can

gradually work toward his ideal, improving and culling every year. Better bulls can be introduced from time to time.

No class of farming requires greater patience than breeding, yet, though failures may follow time after time at the start, it must be remembered that the law of averages operates and, for the man working with an ideal in view, the reward will prove worthwhile in the end. Patience and the confidence in his own opinion must win out for the breeder., Great strides have been made in the breeding of better stock in New Zealand over the past quarter of a century. In the Waikato alone production has been almost doubled, mainly as the result of the introduction of better bulls. Yet it is a significant fact that the farmers with the best herds are the mQst dissatisfied and seek continually for even better rewards. To-day several North Island dairymen are reported to have placed orders with North American breeders for bulls, valued, in sevral instances, at over four figures. They realise that only by introducing the best strains into this country can we in the end lead the world, not only in records of production an acre, but also in production per cow. That day should not be far distant. This Dominion has the climate and the soil, and already her leading breeders, are drawing on the world’s best herds to build up there own. If this trend is maintained, it certainly should not be long to the day when dairymen of the Southern Hemisphere will look to New Zealand as the breeding-ground of the highest quality stock. The lead set by the few could well be emulated by the many.