FARM ANE DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 78, 21 August 1914, Page 8

FARM ANE DAIRY

PROFITABLE AND UNPROFITABLE COWS. I At the present time there is from five to ten millions sterling waiting to be claimed by the dairy farmers of New Zealand, and they are deliberately letting this vast sum lie dormant because they are either too careless, too indifferent, or too unbusinesslike to go the right way to work to bring this money into their own pockets. Meanwldle, the Danish daitymen have shown their enterprising spirit and are reaping a large harvest under far lass favorable conditions than those which are enjoyed in the Dominion. The pity, of it is that the Xew Zealand dairymen, for the most part, wilfully labor strenuously for next to nothing by adopting improper methods, while under proper and reliable methods they could obtain from 130 to 150 per cent, more profit on the same feed and treatment. These are not mere sensational figures, but are absolutely indisputable, being tiie result of reliable tests which any dairy farmer can, if he feels'so disposed, verify for himself. It is now five years since the dairy division of the Agricultural Department established the first demonstration cow testing: association in New Zealand, yet but little progress has been made by the dairy farmer to improv< the direct source of his income. It is contrary to all' experience in other branches of industry to fail in grasping methods that will enormously increase profits, and it is a woeful commentary on the hide-bound conservatism of fanners in general that they should reject larger profits merely . because to obtain them would involve new methods with which their fathers were unacquainted. Fortunately, there are a fair number of dairymen who can adapt themselves to improved methods, and this is evident from the fact that during the past season 25,000 cows were tested, the result showing the enormous difference in butter-fat production capacity of cows. In a remarkably able and convincing address given' by Mr W. J. Byrne at the recent meeting of tins National Dairy Association at Hamilton, lie pointed out that in the past season's tests, the best herds averaged 3001bs. butterfat per cow, while the worst gave less than lOOlbs. Butter-fat is worth (say) one shilling per lb., and the cost of feeding and milking each cow is admittedly about £8 per year, this being equal to about 1001b. of butter-fat. H is important that this fact should he thoroughly grasped and kept in view. In oth,»r words, before a cow earns any profit for the owner, it must yieid lOOlbs. ct butter-fat. That being so, it will be seen that the owner of the cows in the best herd was making a profit of £7 per cow on the milk alone, while the owner of the worst herd was losing £3 per cow milked if his labor wsus paid for. In another Association, the best cow produced 5471b5.'0f butter-fat, and the. w-orst gave 321bs. for tie season. .One man was making a profit of nearly £2O, while the other incurred a loss l of over £6. There are thousands of «<iws which fail to produce as much as'lOOlbs. of butter-fat a year, while many thousands do not produce suH'teiont pay for their keep. It is a scathing indictment on the industry that there should be one fourth of the cows in the Dominion which fail to yield suflk-iciit tmtter-fat to pay for the cost of if* production, and it is a greater disgrace for the reason that such a state of ;.l!'airs is easily preventive. There are only two reasons for the existence of unprofitable cows: (a) improper care, and (M unfit, animals. Out of 700.000 cows milk'-d •in Xew Zealand, it is. estimated that over 200,00.1 return no profit. Jn no other business would such a state of aflairs be tolerated, and it is only high price of butter that enables the inferior class of dairymen to exist. Then' is only one right course to pursue, and that is to find out what cows '•an yield under favorable circumstances and weed out the. unprofitable. Wivh the present high price of land, in Taramiki especially, there is a greater need for economy and production and increase in yield. Every 201bs. of butter-f;ii produced per cow over lOOlbs. means ill profit, to the farmer, so that the owner of the highest producers is the la.rgost gainer. The number of cows milked on a farm and tile monthly factory cheques are no proof of profits. It is not the quantiti, of milk sent to the factory that tells, but it is the quality as evidenced in butter-fat, and it must he remembered that any cow giving less t,ii::.» liifllfK of butter-fat entails a less instead of a profit. Take, for example, a man (a) that is milking 101 eo\w. oi'.h giving on the 'average llillbs. of butter IV.r; the profit on er.ch io\v v oiiid be ore shilling; but another man (b) mil'-.s only one cow, yielding the same pro'fii as the whole of its herd. A's mill; cheque would run into over C !('■'.Hi ;i.ud BV, *u under t2U. yet Loth obtain ,t.iie s.ime profit, though A h:is to fe, : <! ;.nd miik 1(11 cows to l!'s one. Cow testing enables farmers to -ave time and mov.e '. The man who keeps a poor herd of cows, is wasting a life time for want of common sense. To raise the ;:vcr;ige yield of butter from lillllbs. to iiMlibs. eve:: on a basis of C 7 Ills, as the com. ;■: work aiid feed fur er.cli'.ov, ini;;r:s a;i addition of three and' a. >ai:' millions sterling, and to attain the Mill, standard, means a live millions increase, and this is quite apart fro]!; the cxiya output obtainable by close e.n'ltivatinn. It is economy to pay a good or even a high price for cows that yieid heav-v percentages of butter-fat. The profit it what the fanners have io consider, and those who have,placed their herds' on a .satisfactory position "ivy \v;.ii',r.:out defaulters are reaping n, 'i ie.h reWard. Tlie lesson requires- i.-.< lie driven home. There is live millions ivaifine to be claimed by the enterprising dairymen. Any of them who have the will to do so can have, their fair share of the amount.