FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 212, 28 August 1908, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

The oilier day in Parliament .Air. lioss, Pahiatua, when asking a question of the .Minister of Agriculture, wanted a " comprehensive system introdueed of testing and recording the milk-yield of any eow nominated fur entry in a distriet dairy herd-book." Jle said a lot of the cows now being milked are only wasters, ret thoy are passed on y.ar after year from one district to another, wasting food and time and producing a juvenile waster every year, which .vill in due course enter the fields of wasters and .further propagate the species. Jjy establishing a comprehensive system of recording and testing tire milk yield of any cow or cows nominated by suppliers, the 'waster 5 would in time disappear. Those cows reaching; a certain standard would be entered hi a milking-cattle register, with their records. Owners of registered cows would put them to bulls of milking character, and not only would the heifers be of special value as milkers, but the young bulls would be in demand by dairy farmers desirous of improving the milking propensities of their herds. Owners of cows failing to qualify for registration would not be able to pass them 011 to others, but would have them speyed and fattened iovi slaughter, iTho Minister said tue Department is not prepared to deal with this matter in the method suggested at the present time, but the .Dairy inspectors lately appointed will be instructed to advise and assist dairy* men as far as possible to improve their herds, it would be a step in the right direction, and would enable ' wasters J to be eliminated from the herds, if dairymen were to weigh eaeh cow's milk at every milking.

THE DA IKY HERD. An agricultural writer in a Wellington contemporary points out that one of Uie most gratifying movements in the history of dairying in this country is the common tendency among North Island dairy farmers during the la*t year or two to adopt the special purpose eow—the Jersey. Last spring I'Jwre \ver<« some sensational sales ot' Jersey stock in Taranaki, and at some recent sales of dairy stock Jersey blood, or anything indicating the Channel Island strain, lias invariably commanded a great price, while in several instances good roomy Shorthorns have had to practically sacrificed, even though there are few better dairy crosses in the world than the Jersey-Shorthorn. The milk producer is coming to realise that he must have fixed type of the right dairy temperament if he is to advau-.-e the productive capacity of his herd, and transmit butter fat yielding power to offspring. What is now required is systematic testing of the individual members of (he herd, the only means by which the profitable stock can be determined. Given true dairy blood and exact knowledge of milking power advancement of the herd is a mere matter of time; and the surest means c.f increasing the profits of dairying is only by milking cows giving a profit over their handling and. maintenance. The co-operative testing association which has been instrumental in raising the standard of the very ordinary Danish eow to such a gratifying plane, is transforming tlie Ayrshire, and is doing so much to discover for many communities of dairymen in Canada the scrubs in iheir herds, is urgently required in this country. .Once initiated the system would naturally extend. Initiation, it is to be hoped, will be made by the State, which in this work could, for a comparatively trilling expenditure, render a magnificent service to the small farmers of New Zealand.