FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 August 1915, Page 2

FARM AND DAIRY.

CV\V TJ'iSTIXO. I.NUiiiAsi;v;; woou'ru* OF JUT'i'iaM'AT. Mr. James of Warca, writer to tin: editor us follow*; — Sir,—hi \o;ir i.-..*,ue of Wednesday last i noticed iiiiiL -Mr. l-'tilLon, while addnssiny a JiH'rii oi funnels at liii'iitioMrd that 1 i-ontimit'd . anil testing year aftur year. That rstutenieiit i» <{ it tc lorrcci, us tin- li#ilk from each cow lias been weighed, and a .-ample taken for esliug on duo day in ,-ji'li week J'ur the last nine jturs, and I have not the slightest intention of discontinuing Die practice, which was i proved In be of the greatest value in building up m.v <!»Sr,v herd. 31 r. Fulton (according to ,\i>ur report) does not appear to have urged the .importance of continuing weighing ami testing, ami I should like to give „oinc of my reasons for practising it. The first year the practice is .started probably stilliccs to place most of tile tows ill their proper 'pla cs as producers ui butter-fat. The next year, having culled the utterly useless, their places have to be filled with other*, which need testing. The third year the same thins occurs. If, as Air. Fulton very properly advised, heifer calves are saved from the best cows, they will, if brought in at two years old, be calving tile fourth year, and need testing, for it by no moans follows that a'l good cows, if crossbred, like the majority, w-ill produce good heifers. The lil't'h year they will need testing again, as it often happens that a -heifer doing well the first season improves very little afterwards, wmlst, some not doing quite so well the lirst season wiil improve very much afterwards. Now;, comes in another, and, very big, factor. A bu'l can hardly Im! used with safety fur the same herd more than four seasons, ami consequently the heifers prodti.ed by the best cows will now be by a. dill'erent sire, which may place the hei.'ers dropped by the cows in quite a dill'erent older of merit from ' hose dropped when the previous bull was used. Ami so the process goes oil. There is 110 linalitv to tlus time that weighing and testing k profitable, and it the practice is stopped the result will usually be that, the herd will gradually revert to the very medium one from which we started. Notwithstanding the fact (hat if Cine wants fo gradually and ceriainly build up a herd far above the average, continuous weighing anil lestiug is necessary, it by no means follow, that one or two 'years of it is u-cless. On the contrary, the biggest results will be obtained during that lime, as almo-t. every herd not jested .•or.ta.ns. more or less, cows that are not v,orlli the troiible of milking, and bv saving heifers from the be»t the chance's of getting something worth having are greatly increased. Still, it is a'most impossible to keep a herd at exa tlv the same level of merit. If we stop testing mo.-d likely it gradually goes back. If we continue it the chalices are a steady improvement. An important point touched on by Mr. Fulton is the use of purebred bulls, ]int here a warning is needed. llVil'gree is useful, because "the annual possessing it is far more likely to fran-mil his own qualities than (lie one without it. Hut if the animal has no qualities to lran.,mit. then, in--tead of being likely to improve the belli, he will ruin it. it is essential that something should be known about the ■dviiin from which the bull is des.-ended before placing him at I lie head of (he herd. Saving heifers fioni the best cows, using only bulls descended from good mi 1: ng strains, and growing fodder crops for those seasons when'grass is short, would cause such an increase in the output of butter-fat that would hardly lie credited by the fanners of Taranaki. It is worth doing, and is easily within our power to do. Spasmodic rushes will not do it, but coilylant attention will.