FORCE FEEDING CATTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 July 1918, Page 7

FORCE FEEDING CATTLE.

' DOES IT AFFECT STUCKt I | AX IXTKHESTIXU PAPKK. : Considerable interest was taken in L/.?ons'' paper on the above i subject given at the meeting the ! Stratford branch of the Jersey breed- i ers' Association, on Saturday. ,J(lr !•' i'anford, President, presided. • ,?l r Vysons sa 'd ho desired it understood that lie wag placod iu a dedicate in not beiijg a farmer. There &>me in the room who had been farimng since childhood and therefore had had loiig experience, whereas his own experience Was very limited. However, he'liked the Jersey cow, and where all were out to do their best on behalf of Mistook, he'.believed that all should try tifl'd fiild out how the cow should be used and the be t means of handling her: 'He hoped that those who had experfence on the matter would give personal views. He did not desire it thought that lib was condemning forcefeeding.

'XOTffIXG ' TO' EQUAL XATUBAL POOD. ; In .milk production there was nothing to equal the grasses and .supplementary green crops in their succulent stages, and ensilage was much in iise and deservedly so. Professor Primrose McConnell, a great authority, slated that they should not mind bothering about albuminoid ratios and calories, and those kind of things. The point was, what was the irreducible minimum in food on which the best cow would give the biggest yield of milk? If 'vile got plenty of hay and roots, did she not want any cake as well? It was perfectly certain she would be healthier without any concentrated food at all. With the introduction of scientific testing the spirit of competition liad been stimulated to an extraordinary degree. They knew what was the individual production of the good, bad and indifferent producers, in butter-fat during a lactation period. Butter-fat production took a more prominent position in a cow's qualities than formerly, and in the purebred cattle, type, combined with large fat output', was the combination desired. It was but human to succumb to temptation when a cow under test showed oxoptional that under ordinary farm conditions made -100 to ">OO lbs of fat in the season, to imagine what she would do when forced. The owner tried for a record, the result being that tiltcow was fed heavily on an unaccustomed and unnatural diet. In the Stales some wonderful records bad been made by forced feeding, but in spite of the fact that such feeding was conducted according to-the latest dielater, of science, it was found nesessary to rely largely upon the aid of tile veterinary surgeons to pull the animal through its ordeal.

DAXflKllf! OV IX.TT'DTCTOUS Fl'KDlXd. Injudicious feeding and heavy milk production weve closely attended by two serious diseases, impact where a'mass c-f undigested and indigestible foodstuffs clogged the stomach, and milkfever. Impact was very unlikely to occur under ordinary fann conditions of feeding. The latter was, of course, a danger to which all heavy-milking cows are peculiarly liable, and to which al! super fed high producing cows were specially liable, and the frequent ending in both cases was death.

The President of tin? Association, Mr E. ('. Dermnr, declared "That wo must force-feed the Jersey in order to maintain our place in the sun in competition with other herds." (Put this into other tvords. said the speaker, it means we must damage our cows in order to keep in touch with others who arc willing tilso to run risks. "Mr Lysons said he believed that careful selection and a steady improvement in our methods of farming would do far more to improve any breed of cattle than concentrated food. The "super" cow was intensely Interesting as an individual, but the long-lived plodder of good type and productive powers was the economical but-ter-fat producer and the backbone of the dairying industry.

THE BREEDERS CLASSIFIED. Breeders might be classified under three heading's: (.1) Those who advocate the feeding of . anything—grain, by-products, concentrated artificial foods and stimulants, which will highly augment a cow's actual flow of high grade milk in order to obtain high records in the belief that by selection and feeding a highproducing chain could be established; (2) Those who believe that as the purebred is the mother of all herds she "lionlil be brought up under ordinary farm conditions, in the belief that bv selection and improved farming the pure-bred will steadily increase her output up to the limit of economical production; (3) Tho experimenter pure and simple ■ whose only reward lies in the practical proof of his theories.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. In considering these questions lie was dealing only wit It the milk-producing cow. Those bred for beef did not enter Into the question as soon a$ were fat for (he butcher the breeder's interests ceased; whereas with the ))lutter-fat type he has always interested in her progen;, and for that reason he asked the following questions:— (1) Are my cows going to suffer on account of the extraordinary strain imposed, f on them |>y force-feeding? .(2) Hy drawing so largely on the mother's energy to produce her absolute limit of butter-fat, does the carried calf lose in stamina? (31 Am I imposing upon future purchasers by trading upon the reputation gained by the advertisement of such artificially-produced records ? (4) Should I run the risk of losing the cows for the sake of such records? (f>l Are sensational records of value lo tin* breed or ilie Dominion?

THE ANSWERS. , Regarding the first question this was (inswered by his quotation by Professor I'rimrose MeCor.nell. In answering Xo. 2 the speaker had great difficulty in I'nding any literature on this very important point, but this was not surprising considering the comparatively recent institution of semi-official testing. Mr Hudson, a well-known States authority. however, says: "Of his own knowledge a number ox animals

have been rui;i:;l, burned out and become now bleeders.' \\ ;w; i(. common* sense .to p.\|ie;>L. any other issue? By forced feedin;,' they yieaUy increased the (low of milk, hut it \v;i■; reasonable to believe in such e;!.-,e.- some of the eon-stitiilion-giviiiK rnerpy wlik-li ongiit to, be implanted in (lie unborn calf was diverted into the miil; bucket. There were Home who believed {hey would evolve by selection a breed of cows capable or withstanding the strain of enormous dual production. Science, backed by money, could do much, but care mu.it be exercised lest in the lust for gain they •li'l not overstep themselves to the lasidamage of the little Jersey.

Touching on Xo. :i question, Mr Lvsons staled it was very doubtful if high records produced by force-feeding were desirable. A Jersey or any other cow could be exploited in milk to an extraordinary degree under certain artificial circumstances of feeding. The dairyman looked to the breeder for stock capable of producing; or transmitting production similar to that shown upon the breeders' records and upon which lie advertised bis herd, always provided that the purchaser had the natural food in abundance for his cattle. To the dairyman forced-feeding was out of the question. Tie must bo able to obtain good milk with a satisfactory profit to himself. Tt was unfortunate that data concerning the feeding of every tested cow was not incorporated in her record. He admitted, also, that breeders also had expended many pounds—experiments were entitled to preserve secrets of detail in feeding, but he thought there should be more confidence between breeder and client. In feeding there should ho a lwlancsd ration of a definite quantity, and should not contain concentrated fowl. Animals dift'ered in their ability to assimilate concentrated food if given free access to it. Taking, for instance, the effect of an overdose'of oats on a horse, an animal v/ith but one stomach into which food was received in a-masticated condition. *Orain oatj was not the natural food of a horse or a cow. The latter was unable by reason of her peculiar and special purpose grinding and digestive organs to assimilate perfectly artificial-foods in quantity. Natiiro could generally be relied upon to rectify small errors, ''impact,'' or else it became chronic—a state which frequently resulted in death. He thought it better to have a cow last under ordinary conditions for ten years producing annually butter-fat from 4flo lbs upwards and producing a series of 'lroug bcaltJhy calves than to continually strive by the unnatural stimulation of a cow to produce an extraordinary record resulting in premature death. Question Xo. 4 was a matter entirely for the industrial farmer to fight as •night seem best tp him. He had a promising cow and was willing to sacrifice her if necessary, and obtain an outstanding record and probably would lose the cow at no great period thereafter. Was lie really much the better off or 'had he done anything which had 111 anyway improved the herd? There was a heavy mortality amongst high-record cows. These eamo forward, shone for one, two, or oven thr»e seasons, and then passed into dblivion either as wrecks or corpses. Untk-r existing conditions the owner of such a cow gained notoriety and ex-

c'jsrvhly made the best of her loss by advertising her performances in order to increase the selling price cf her progeny. Tt was unfortunate that the ruination of our best cows was on the increase. If t!:c owner did not care to run the risk and to best' under normal conditions cf feeding, did he in.se! Barring accidents ivhidi had no bearing on feeding, the cow would put up a big score, throw a good calf and continue yearly to do so until mavha she died of old age eight to twelve years afterwards, leaving behind progeny better or worge than herself according as her owner's selection of sires was good or otherwise. Had the cautious man lost anything by his care? He heliewd the man who wrecked and lost his cow would have to make soma exceptional s ales to call quits.

Question 5 resolved itself into two factors: Were the recrrds produced at an economical figure and produced without injury to tho cow? These conditions would never be obtained because the more they got the more they wanted.

OTHER POINTS. In conclusion, he desired: it understood that his remarks did not condemn the national life of any useful feed. His definition of force feeding was the feeding of concentrated unnatural food greatly in excess of the normal requirements of au animal for the purpose of stimulating production to abnormal limits. There were two other pjoinits he desired to touch upon: (1) Semi-official testing. gome of his remarks might have created the impression that in his opinion SO. testing was more or less directly responsible for the d'amage which had been dono in connection with injudicious feeding. It was because it supplies the official record of production. Be imputed no Maine to to the system, nor to anyone conducting the system. Ho believed whole-heartedly in tesiting not only in pedigree fait also in grade carttle. "Without a standard oif comparison they could not hope to maike progress, Tho fault lay with the breeders.. Anxiety to excel sometimes over-rode common-sense, and the fa,H was often a hard one. Experience, combined witlh science, might in time give a super-Jer-sey strain, and it must not ibe forgotten that a.man who lost but learned was' not of necessity a failure. He might try again another time and 'win. Nieithcr did he question tile methods of thbse who were hard-feeding in- a careful l and moderate manner. Has definition made that clear. They were endeavoring to evolve tilie typical dairy cow, and trying to get her ut> to the standard where she could produce tho maximum williout killing herself. (Applause.)

THE DISCUSSION. ! Mr.. Belcher (Cardiff)' said ttiey were indebted to Mr. Lysons for his very thoughtful anil interesting address. In hi 8 oqiinion, however, the greatest dan- ; g«- was in injudicious feeding rather ■than forced feeding; Air. KendViek (Tariki) agreed' with* Mr Lysons. He was a young farmer as .far as Jerseys were concerned "When buying a cow lie naturally wanted to know what this animal could <lo as much as the mother. '• There was unfortunately a. good deal of jealously in show competitions. To obtain results owners did not tell their opponents wha-t they; did re force-feeding, but he. realised this was a damper if persisted in. I •Mr. W. 11. Tippens sa.id he was comparatively a young breeder. He gave figures of cows that, had been rationed on bran, etc.. through the present cold weather. He showed he had made a good profit on rows treated in this manner against others attended under ordinal' v farm conditions.. The question at.

-rvtteni.iori, U'i'tiiisi,ig ( X'<d l-i) to be taken Into consideration. With tin: bran his tcsU bad .been better, mamhtifiing Kgbcr susufls, only one !c'tin under C.l'.

Al. K 11. Linnell (Midhlrst) said lie W." n.ytf' a few pedigrees ill his herd, ® )U '" iia'<T experimented in bran on the whoje of Ms herd, giving this fcod night and nyivn-ing. After six weeks supplies ran out at the store, and the factory test 101 l away, and in herd-testing every individual cow dropped. Mr Tippens said he had watched the eftoet of feeding bran on t>vo cows, one .1 "brunnny.' The hist had not shown a great deal of improvement in milking, but the good cow bad responded well to the feeding.

Mr. Lysons desired information as to what effect this feeding had on the progeny, Mr.' Tippens replying it was too early to answer that question The president congratulated Mr. Lysens 011 bis address. 'He -admitted there was a temptation to over-feed. The averajro now for the Jersey was 403 lbs, ■hut this was reallv abnormal. To a large extent, it had developed abnormal tests in the :.cow. Mr. Lysons had asknd, ''How many record-Walters bad Ueeii produced from record-breakers? Well, lie could not remeirtber any in New Zenlaud. He then referred to Soph io 10th, an American, tow, that gave 1000 lbs 'butter for several seasons and each year h<id a calf. This animal rimst evidently liave been force-fed. hut the American buyers were evidently not disturbed bv this, as a daughter sold for 10,000 dollars, and' a son made 1500 guineas. Mr. hyson's paper had goven (them something to think over, and ho was deserving of the hearty thanks of the Association. Carried by acclamation. Mr. Lysons, in acknowledging the vote, stated hj? was pleased at the dehate, and hoped others would take it up, so tlvey could got the benefit of each member's (flxpeniencei : He was interested in Mr. Tippens' experiments and wished him every success, and trusted they would liear from others treating their stock on similar lines.