THE CHIEF VETERINARIAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 215, 16 October 1909, Page 6

THE CHIEF VETERINARIAN.

MR. C. J. REAKES INTERVIEWED. Mr. C. J. Iteakes, Chief Government Veterinarian, who \va,s in New Plymouth on Thursday, was interviewed by a Daily News'representative. Upon the question of the re-arrangement of the Departmental stall', Mr. Iteakes was unable to make any aniioiineeiiien,t,lhe reorganisation scheme not having been made public bv the Minister, although it had been departinentally outline!. Questioned as to the new system of Hi* inspection of dairies, Mr. Reakes said this did not come directly under his supervision. He knew, however, that Mr. Cuddie was introducing a system tiie operation of which commenced at the dairy factories. Inspection would not be indiscriminate. Only the farmeis reported by the dairy factory managers as being suppliers of dirty milk would be visited a* ii. general rule, mid the. mission of the inspector would be to endeavor to locate 'the. cause of the trouble and advise as to the best means of rcmedving it. THE DAIRY HERD. In a conversa'tion concerning the forward move among dairy farmers in the matter of the improvement oT their dairy herds, Mr. Reakes «tid lie was conscious of the increasing desire of tiie progressive farmers to work out their own salvation. They were not depending upon spoon-feeding by the Government, but were producing and improving good milking strains. The Government was assisting, of course, in vnrioos ways, one instance being the inauguration of the cow-testing recently in the Wairarapa. This, lie. said, was an excellent practical step, which would be attended with most beneficial results to the industry.

"One think I would like to impress on dairy farmers in this connection," said Mr. Reakes, ''is the necessity for standardising, their herds in point of breed. Let ime explain what 1 mcn.n. You can go on to any amount of dairy farms in Taranaki and you will .find not .only that the dairy herd is made up of all sorts of 'crosses,' but also that n crossbred hull is being used. The farmers, as a general rule, will lie found to be saving the calves from the best butter-fat producers, but they will never he able to build up a good milking herd even from the best milkers if they use a Icrosshrcd bull. It is difficult at any time to guarantee that the progeny of a, crossbred cow will reproduce the good points of the dam, even when the sire Is pure; but you can never depend upon the .-c----sult of mating a crossbred bull with crossbred coWs. But with the purebred sire of <i good milking strain there is always the chance that the calf will'le as good as, or an improvement on, Its dam. Consequently, I think it would pay the farmers of Taranaki to seriously consider the question of standardising I their herds in point of .breed. The best

way to do this is ,to use the best bull obtainable. I don't mean that every farmer should .rush .right off and get a high-priced bull, but let hhn get one purebred.. If he's going in for Shorthorns" and Mr. Keakes confessed a great partiality for the breed—"he will need to be careful lest he gets a bull of the .beef-producing type, which will do him .more harm than good as a dairyman." Unfortunately our milking Shomliorns were not what they might be. If the dairy herd was onositly Holsteiti, then the farmer ehould get a purebred Holstein bull; if Jerseys predominated, a Jersey bull ; and jso on; breeding so as to get closer and closer to the pure stock. .The use of a good sire from a milking strain on the progeny lot the best producers in the yard must- ultimately .produce a good oiiilking herd. Testing associations and their value were again referred to. Mr. lieakcs said he would like to see the farmers forming associations of their own for this purpose. The farmers supplying one factory, or ,u group of factories, could arrange at very little cost to have a man periodically visiting their farms and taking records of the imirk yields. And it was not the high test alone that should be looked for. The eow that filled the bucket was a good cow. He knew a man-lie regretted tie hadn't the record* with ■him—who had carried out his cowtesting very methodically, and had worked out 'the monetary 'value of the product of each cow. Now. one cow pro. dueed £l3 worth of butter-falt in the season, and another only £0 odd. Yot tho average butter-fat' test was the Mime iu each case.

TUBERCULOSIS. Another matter on which Mr, Reakes touched briefly was Unit .of the presence of tuberculosis in dairy cattle. The plain, consnon sense remedy was to start at the business end. 'Pasteurise the swim-milk, and render it clean food for the calves. (live the calves a. chance, year by year, of growing up healthy, at any rate as far as their food is concerned. And then there, will be some chance of keeping this disease under control.

Mr. KfMkes inmlioncd that during his recent visit .to Denmark he, had had a long, conversation with .Professor Ban", a well -.known expert in these (natters! Mint gnitleinan assured him that the compulsory pasteurisation of skim-milk bad .been Hie salvation of (he dairy herds m Denmark, and it was absolutely the .most valuable measure that the Danes had. ever adopted 'for-the eradication of disease.