THOU SHALT...

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 898, 15 February 1930, Page 29

THOU SHALT...

DAIRYMAN’S TEN COMMANDMENTS Speaking at a recent function in the North of England, Mr. Anthony Lowther, nephew of the Earl of Lonsdale, quoted the following 10 commandments for dairy farmers: 1. Thou shall use a registered bred-for-production sire of thy breed. 2. Thou shall join a milk-recording association, and keep records on the individual cows of thy herd. jS. Thou shalt cull thy herd, for it is written that she that produceth not shall be cast out. 4. Thou shalt replenish thy herd with the heifers raised from the best cows and thy purebred sire. 5. Thou shalt feed the individual members of thy herd according to their producing ability, for to her that giveth shall be given, and to her that giveth not shall be taken away. 6. Thou shalt provide them with an abundance of such grains as are necessary properly to balance thy home-grown foods. 7. Thou shalt at all times provide thy cows with pure water that they may quench their thirst. 8. Thou shalt not condemn thy bull to die unless thou has proven his daughters, for cursed be he who slays the sire of high-producers. 9. Thou shalt not waste food by exposing thy cows to the storms of the winter, but shall house them in clean, comfortable quarters. 10. Thou shalt not caress thy cow with the milking-stool, lest she smite thee with her hind foot, and fail to give thee her full flow. MAORI FARMERS SUCCESS ON EAST COAST Recently returned from the East Coast district. Mr. W. J. McCullock, fields superintendent of the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture, expressed astonishment at what the Maoris in the fertile Waiapu Valley were accomplishing in farming. He explained that under a co-opera-tive. scheme organised by Sir Apirana Ngata four years ago, the Maoris of the valley had started farming in earnest. They had made wonderful progress and secured wonderful results. Picked cattle from Taranaki were driven overland as a nucleus of the herds, and only pedigree bulls had been allowed in. The pakeha farmer would realise what that meant to them alone. A factory was erected and started in a small way, but last season they had turned out no less than 300 tons of butter, such had been the increase in production. Home separation had been adopted and under this system the butter had graded out at 93, which showed that the Maori farmers were handling their cream properly. Their farming operations had now reached a stage when the department could give them advice and help, and they deserved every encouragement, added Mr. McCullock. Their profits so far had been devoted to paying oil’ their stock and milking machines. Today they had reached a stage when they could afford to subdivide and adopt the finer methods of farming. The river flats grew magnificent lucerne, and there were prospects of the district being a gplendid dairying one. The hill lands' - were also beingfarmed by the Maoris with sheep, and quite successfully, too.