A Progressive Club

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 846, 14 December 1929, Page 33

A Progressive Club

Auckland Jersey Breeders BECAUSE a movement is not always in the limelight of public favour, receiving the plaudits of the section of the community whose interests it supports, it by no means justifies the contention that it is working without result. The Auckland Metropolitan Jersey Club is a case to the point. Comparatively little is heard of the operations of this club in its work to boost the Jersey breed in the Auckland Province, yet, quietly and systematically, it has spread its influence over a wide range during the past winter.

As its title suggests, the Auckland Metropolitan Jersey Club draws its membership from breeders within easy range of the City of Auckland. Its chief aim is to interest breeders, generally, >n the finer points of the Jersey breed, from the dual points of view of production and utility. During the winter the club has arranged public demonstrations on the farms of the better known Jersey breeders where good types of Jerseys have been placed at the disposal of offlclals, who have been able to stage very interesting demonstrations for the benefit of wide rings of farmers. The idea is that the demonstrators •hould go over the cattle, point for point, explaining to the ring the points which indicate production, constitution, etc. Questions are then Invited. By such demonstrations it is rightly hoped that farmers who may not have troubled about the finer points in the past will be educated to the stage where they will be able to use discrimination in the sale ring, and, generally, be better fitted to select with a view to improving the quality and standard of their individual herds. It is also hoped to interest fanciers of other breeds in the Jersey. Undoubtedly, the little Jersey has much to commend it to the average farmer, particularly the smaller man. It is a breed which has been fully tried in New Zealand, and will stand comparison with any. It is a heavy producer, is favoured with a good constitution where the climate is not too severe or the soil too damp in winter, and above all, it is economical. As some breeds of beef cattle are desired above others for grazing on rough country, so the Jersey is to be commended for its ability to fossick; it will live and grow fat on pastures which would bring some other breeds down to skin and bone. Although the Jersey has long been a popular breed in this Dominion, it has received an additional boost dur-

ing the last year or two, when some particularly fine blood has been brought in from overseas. Already this is being reflected in the show-rings where, in the bigger centres, there has been a tendency for the quality to show a big improvement. The entry of Jerseys at the Waikato Show this year was sufficient to indicate the big hold the breed has in this province; it was an object lesson for those farmers, fortunately getting

into smaller compass, who are prepared to go from year to year without making any definite attempt to breed to one particular type. There still are many dairymen who are satisfied so long as their annual returns are not going back. Their choice of bulls is erratic, aDd they do not do all that could be desired to get the best

out of the breeding possibilities of their herd. If the Auckland Metropolitan Jersey Club does nothing else but keep the selling points of the Jersey before the farmer, generally, it will be doing good work; if it can maintain its present programme of educating the young farmer and advocating always the inclusion of better and still better bulls in the herd, it will do much to increase production within the province, and build up the returns of its members. The Auckland Club in its restricted sphere is an object lesson to the New Zealand Association, which is generally far too slow in boosting a breed which has so much in its favour.