FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 3 August 1907, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY.

111K DAIRY BULL. Apart fpim the neglrct to draw and hold milk under sanitary conditions, due ir; very nuiiiy cases to the exigencies ot bind settlement, the great weakness in ill- conduct of dairying in this country u tin- !<.»• estimation uiilk producers have of a dairy sire, says the N'ew Zealand Times. They may fully appreciate the cow of a dairy type—though performance is the only'sure indication ot value—bat the worth of the bull is too often calculated at merely its calfproducing value. The fait that the bull it more than half the herd, and that it ii the chief means of |ierpetuatiug and creating luilk-producing jiowct is ignored. In this matter the farmer is largely the victim of circumstances. He may "ow the value of a .milking pedigree t the bull, but where is he to obtain tcli an animal—even if he be prepared J give a fortune to sreure it r And l the ahsritce of milking pedigree, how tell lias a fair herd been depreciated v the use of a bull of a supposed rnilklg strain ? Especially is this the case t regard to Shorthorns. The Ayrshire •all should produce milkers, but too ften he propagates button-teated and .jrd-milkiug progeny. The Jersey bull i the only one in the country which may i* u«ed with any degree of confidence, but unless pure Jerseys are kept the £r*t cross is generally the only satisfied j ion- type, and a better dairy cow than :he Jerxy-Shorthorn or Jersey-Holstein, •' ndjn tome cases, the Jersey-Ayrshire the latter of the robust roomy" sort), - would be hard to find, but the Jersey unt is the worst of cows. A great •utter-fat machine, the most highly-de-eloped dairy cow extant, the Jersey reuirea suitable environment and carejl management to give the best re- - Jilts. Therefore, we must mainly look > ! ronger types of cattle to raise the rerage standard of our herds. The ne thing blacking progress is the difficulty, as we have said, of making farmtw realise the value of the dairy bull, in this connection, however, it is a source of extreme gratificatioa to be able to record that our dairy farmers are awakening to a true appreciation of a ire's value. And here 'the Government J undertaking a great work in educating farmers in this direction, by literature and initiation of the principle at tkuakura and Weraro* experimental ■arms of developing dairy herds on actual milking records. The gospel of dairy perforanmce, in the ancestry of the sire as wall as of the dam, is spreading fast, and the rate of development of the movement will largely depend on the progress and success of tl* State's mission. The eyes of dairy farmers are becoming focussed on Weraroa and Kua■cura farms since the initiation of the [regressive policy which is converting these centres ito objetf-lessou« of great value to the dairy farmer. Stock which vas once sneered at is now eniied. Only recently a dairy farmer visaing Rwikura offered fifty guineas f«r a teu-months-old Shorthorn bull, tlough the Department could not provide'any performance pedigree, but the but was not for sale. Later on when ajparty of dairy farmers were at the station three of them offered £BO for the youngster, but even this handsome offer lad to be refused—the young sire (Be 4 Light) is •nsidereil such a desirable type, coming " it does from the best dairy blond. / iL. " Ills ' stained for tnt of the ioumtatioii pillars of the dairy herd to , 5? ** at this station. It-is hoped ™ the future that the Government will Zi Shorthorn buk to the "jury farmers of the eountrv With an !» , , "f perftrmance on both the . sire's and i dam's effect readU? ** iaagi t ed th ' Uk average returns frfc the ronntn-s herds of such a posales at the stations —we tiETTt-that the valuable stockwill be iwld in thifcganner-will j. this f°Si-time"to WIB4 the most important eventa of the year in tbe dairying world. Nut only will farmers know that they are securing stock vhieh raise the producing value -tTtheir herds, hut they will know that «d ami mauuged well irum their birth, and only sold in their prime, the hulls will be raising the constitutional standard of their stock at the same tin - i'he uairy farmers of the colony in*, fell laise their hats to the Hon. K. AitXab.

IS NEW ZEALAND BUTTEK I>EI'EEIOHATIXU I In a letter to the Feilding Star Alt AY. ». Corpe, butteruwkci late of ilakittu, iius expresses himself on .New Zealand utter as be found it at Home:— "The first I sampled was anything but .ean in flavor, and a long way 100 iuch moisture showed vu the iron. Ibis as, the merchant informed me, a lot f. butter they had purchased, being laised by the Government grader a* rat grade, without sampling and they ad been badly taken in. 1 sampled ircc different dates of this make, and jund it all the same, and 1 have no esiution in saying this should have -ei. graded secoud-claa*. This bare a ell known brand, which I am not gog to name unless requested' to do so. believe the etuse ot its had llavor is je to dirty milking or home separation ad excess of moisture. "Another brand 1 sampled wa« belter v. llavor and texture, but not fir=t-class. id the merchant informed me this and lud been very fine until this year, it now had an excess of moisture, hich, to my inind, was the cause of its lerior flavor. 1 have sampled a good at of butter in retail shops. One ~t I sampled at Ealing, narked lfa «era,' was excellent, and giving great a-tisfaction, being dry and «i good tex--urc.

"1 am much afraid, sir, that a Xew Zealand batter had such a good lame ill previous years for its dryness, showing an average of about 10 per cent of q«oiatnre, the managers both of co-opera-tive and private factories, thinking a Mrger overrun could do the 6uttcr no &rm, have 4wt worked out the butter tbe graders are getH more easy in this respect. For, soma of the factories are t>till a targe number are on the grade. I desire to *iuud a note ruing In time. It would be refor the dairy people to lire in paradise; for Siberian butter is enormously both in quantity some fir-t grade Siberian London. It was very line both texture. This butter casks, a practice which no doubt this will soon afraid that unless Xew careful as to moisture, and home reparation our wiped out of existence, cheese well holding the most part good, quite better liked. am Zealand the factories *>ld is the has fusafer the compiled Co., t in the ending which till' due that head- the thfJX'2