FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 July 1921, Page 8

FARM AND DAIRY.

A report that cheese companies in the Wairarapa have been offered an equivalent to 2s per pound for butterfat for next season’s output has been denied.

“A Cambridge farmer made £-700 in one season, off 15 acres, by raising pigs,"' was a statement made by a representative of the New Zealand Bacon Company when speaking at Paeroa on Saturday night. Recently the Melbourne Leader referred to the absurdity of calling the Dairy Shorthorn a “Milking Shorthorn.” It is now interesting to note that Mr. R. Hobbs, the well-known English breeder, has recently delivered an address on the breed. lie refers to the antiquity of the breed, which date: back to 1839, when .the Bates’ -Shor'horns established their supremacy and their dairying properties became widely known. The blood of the best is found in Coates’ .Herd Book, which never will be a closed register of pedigrees. Mr. Hobbs does not believe in the 1200-gallon cow He does not deny her existence, but the ideal dairy Shorthorn is not an animal of that class which at best is only a milk-producing machine. The Shorthorn is either a dual-purpose cow or she is nothing specific. The number of dairy cows for 100 ■ nersons in America was 26 in 1890, 23 in 19Q0, 22 in 1910 and in 1918. The slight decrease in the number of cows per 100 persons might indicate a decreased consumption of dairy products. It should be remembereu. however, that we have in the past 20 years emphasised the keeping of better cows, better methods of feeding, and better care. We have little data to show how much the average production of milk per cow has increased, but we are certain that the 22 cows of 1918 will produce considerably more milk than the 26 cows in 1899.