FACTS FOR FARMERS. THE FARMERS' COW.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 246, 6 December 1873, Page 2

FACTS FOR FARMERS. THE FARMERS' COW.

At a meeting o'" the l&ucliuca Agricultural Association, held on the sth November, the following paper was read by Mr J. Brisbane, the vice-president :—: — 1 lie Farmers' Cow' is the rubji'Ct I purpo«.> brinjrin x before the members of fie fichuci Agrieiillural Association, and in doing so l may mention that there aru many things to be outsidered, and more points than one to be kept in view to obtain all that is desirable, in the ' Farmers' I'ow.' The great desideratum with fie anzier it an animal of early m tt unity, groit nuti tude to fatten and lav on beef, ami übihtv to eirry that beef to market ; but til • * Firmers 1 O-nv' should hare nil t'lis aui,som t ling more. I should b> able to give t e grea c t amjiuit of |ir.)tit in the dairy, anl then, wlien Iro n eibuer accident or a^e, the be ins to be unsuitable there, that she •'mil, in the shortest time an w ith the least consumption of lood lay on the largest quantity of beef possible, unit He question for our o>n-ideration is, how is sue i an animal to tm obtained ? It would be no u~e pointing to some of tie pure-bred herds and saying, there is the very aninal th&jj mII su t y m ; I might as well i oint. to <<u ne of the fine estate* and palatial residences, and say there is the very farm i hat will suit you ; but as the tine estates of mo.-t of us arc only bare selections and our pun-bred her.ls lew and far .between, we must c'en see what can be dorm wit'i the material nt hand ; and here let me say the 4 Farmers' Cow' it to bo obtaine I in the same way he got his land, viz'", by 'selection.' I do not cay he will obtain his 'cow' nady made by selection any more t an he obtained his farm ; judicious labour will turn the plain or forest he has seleete I into a farm, so will selection of gool milking mollnr-t, cm* in breeding, and kivwle.lge of what is wanted, give, in a short tune, t'tp niii"-iil mo t profitable to stwck that farm. Ii m ght t«oui.d like i le words to cay Jhal b fore a man obia nwhat he wants he must know what he wauls. It maybe buid everybody knows that, nn I yet in br edmg it is u fact t) at nut one man m ten knows what he wait-!, far less ho>« he should obtain it. Tiie farmer wants to have the form and shape of his perfect cow picturei to mis minis eye, »o that he will be able to detect at once I lie presence orabs nee of these iu-'tiynni al that. c>rues belore him. T.ns is tle first step in the knowledge of what he wants, and. this. i>> the knowledge he acqu.ro-' m the Miow yards and at our agricultural exhibitions. Hiving decided that our 'Farmers' Com ' is an animal to co nbine. all the quilities of a grazier with those of a first-rate dairy cow, and that this is to he done principally by selecfion fiom the materials at hand, we are next to consider tiie «ay in which we are to set about it, and when 1 say principally by selection, it will be readily uuderitood that I mean selection of the females that a>v lo form the nucleus of tie future breed. These f«hould be animals as perfect in shii[ie as can. be got, with a fine clean head, nice bet lioriif, rather fine in t lit? neck, a good deep ciest, and nice soft pliable sk.n — n<>t. too thin— covered with soft silky hair, but above all things to have the milku.g points well developed, a fine large roomy udder Mrelching well forward towards the nawd, and n c*l l back between the hind lei-, wi b He ttals set fquare mid wide apart; the texhne of tiie udder should be s>ift and yielding, shrivelling up a goo-l deal when the cow is newly milked. Inesti natmg t'je m lkn q qualities of an i n mal, I am incline I to pi ice a good deal of dependence upor. the esctitohcon. which is a strip <•( f!n", toll, •>lky, short im cried hair, growing upon tlu* back of the uddi'r, between the thighs, and ui> the penneauin, an 1 is divided into the lower or mammeryan I upper 0i pern.eau-n escutcheon. The only d mVulty in ju liinji b\ this mode' is, tat you must handle the benrf ; y>u cann-it judge b* tl e»-\e alone, the finger mn-tbe run dnwn again-t tie hair, both to open the folds of the skin, and to 'loleauy band* or patches of descending hair, every one of w'ne i • tuniniihin^ the extent of the lower esciitolieon and pro rata diminishing the value of tho cow as a milker. Now a good e-iu'.ebeon <o\ers the whole biirk part of the udder, spreads ■ ut lo two charai-terintic j ofnis upon the thighs, and extends u • the perinea im a go>» i wiy, an I w tat rev lers tliis more is, that it is equally* useful in determining the n-ilk.< ' ing qualities ol the bull as of the cow, and >peak.ng as lam to farmers, it vill not be in cessary to remind them that it is of uione consequence to ha\e a bull of good milking strain that even tiie cjws, for it is a fact that I have aseertaine I from actua l eve'iemv, that t'iree-fourtlis of all the lihil'dm born in a herd will inherit tho milking quilites of the s re's famih, rather than »he dam's The youn^ bull I have now, a pine shot iorn, inl-eriting the blood of the Duke of Brunswick and the Butterfly's tiie sue m.d dans side, and tie bloti \ of Ol 1 D-i'i I is t'ir mi» i t'ld grin I dm, Ii ii t te in >-t perfec lv developed c c iteheon I ever saw on a bast, extending out in a curwd line to tio point < on I he thighs, obsei ved only on- cow*}to£ first-class milkini; qualities; but (hen he counts descent from bulls of first-c'as" mi'kina qualities. It will be l»y thi> tyme apparent, I sti])p<t-e, fiat aithou 'h the fanner is to get his cow fom nick. ml females from our ordinary herds, he mi st go somewhere e'.-e for a hull. The Herefordsflo mod mix well While Ayrshire for cheese, and tlwt Alderney for butter, stiud p issibly umiv.ille 1, still, fur all qii'liti"* combined, there is n -thing approaches the aim thorn : bu I cannot t>o s'rougly impress upon the farmer the neceiM-tx of- care in selecting from a right family, for there are f unities of ■ torthorns as dine • ent and distinct in their qualities as if they were totally different breeds. For iu-tajice, it has beun aaphoti-m mnong b eedera for in. my a day — ' Ba es for milk and Booth for hoofs ' I do not mean to imply that every shorthorn is eih j r a Booth or a Uates. but only that there are some families of 8 orthorus whose, milkiu qualities have been wholly saciitiued to beef, and these I s'.nul I a I vise the farmer by all ukuiis to. keep, clear of. Much disappointment has r suited from, faimeis ttung to imP' ove their h. rls with bulls of this latter kind. Mmva farmer have I known, \\h». after giving a I rj^e price for a bull, and r aiin^ a crop of heife s from him, only to find them perfectly useless for the piil. deelaie he would not have ash irthoru in his place if he got it for, nothing. He di 1 nof know there were shorthorns that wo .Id mak** his hei'dfSh'l shorthorns that f^nild m-ir it. There whs a lot more that I ha I note I to put in this pipe , but I th till this is enough to he taken up by the m •mbjrs of the association ab one time. Among s >me of my hrtther selec ora in this district it will ho aske I. ' Wli it is the use of going to a'l this trmhlo and e<cpense,' indee ', 1 hire lie t<ly he>rl Uie remark, 'A cilf ia a calf. 1 Trinj , bur all calves ar not the sajpie, nn 1 if eery c.if in a selector's piddo"k were of a liisKclass milking str.nn, with g,r at aptitude 'o fatten when it was wanted to do so, we should nob have the district infected with pleiuo-p eumonia as it is at present. 'Nor uoull a man turn out a herl of badly diseased cat'le ■ poll the roals and reserves to the destructi >n »f his neighbouring catble, as ie is at this very mo vent being done up m the My ill an I other reserves And the roads to Torrembarry. Every day for s -me time past I hive been watc ling and hunting a m»h of diseased cattle hnlnn -ing to a man named Hendra, from, off the threechain road in fiont of my place. Some of these cattle are tor gone with pleuro-pnuumoni >, an I although he owns aWit 1000 acres of lau-l nil fenced in, he turns these cattle oufc u mil his neisjhb wrs, to live or die a? Miev may ; nnmben of them have already diel -in I been skinned, and some of the car -neses burned, and some left to rot wheie they lav. This is one of the renults of t»>e sentiment tWat s* calf i-5 a calf ; the other is th.it the skin is nearly the value of the cow." A vote of thanks was uninimous'y carriel ii fivorof the essayist;, but on the nio'im of Mr Shack ill. seconded by Mr Nolan, the discussion was deferred until tho uext meeting.

In the latter part of July, tie learn from a liomp journal, sevpral members of tlit» MainMone Farmers' Club paid a visit to Major HulettV fin'tn at Brgh on in re«p<>n<e to nn imitation from Major Hullett, ro wtnpss the result of his ap i]iC')tion of t lir> nedigrpegji stein to tin 1 growth and propagation of cereal 3. Tif party, pioneered by Major Huile't, iinnpcted the farm adjoining the home, and then proceeded fo the- down, vhere the Major's system of raising crops tin 1 open anplicd upon an extensive scale. The fields 1 c up>>n euc'i side of the race-course, fivnn w Inch a splendid rewof flip surrounding property is obtainable ; uud, as there are no hedge* or trees to intercept the vipw. it was an easy niaUer to contrast the different crops m the neighborhood. A fall explaii'ition wis mvcn of th« mode of Rowing which h-id been adopted in order to secure the results, mid of the care'ul selection of ■"•eds from crops which had prowd particularly fruitful. Tlnn and eaHy so^itig are points whie'i M-ijor Hallott strongly urges, and the field of Chevalier birley, sown in Ann], at a proportion of 7£ al. to the acre, which tho club inspected, servid to indicate the grwil advantage ofi'fHS'nystpin. T.p crop bore a very even and regular n.|>i>ranm •<*, nml loi>ke I like nrern inp fulH Bqr. to tlic arro. The portions of •he farm sown with llunter'.H wlute uheut, >!iil raised from nboiit 7gd. of seed to the acre, which were 3O'vn in StMtteinher last after a fallow, also presented most iMiroiuaginj* features, t'-e ears being of extraordinary s'ze, and completely eclipsed in tin* and Either res,>ects an ( \ thing wliic'i had been seen on the journpy. Thp land upon'wh eh ilua is raised is upon thp blupe of a chalk hill, and by no means favorable to the urower, but the careful manuring of the '•oil and t lie addition of 1\ wt of nitrate of soda t« the ace at the end of April or the begiun ng of May, coupled with thin sowing mid a < arefiil m-lection ot" seed, WTu"ld,"it was estimated, otisare a crou of over6qr. to t.'io ''ere. Aiajoj , II licit ju fact usiorf.tjd, not in any spirit of egotitin, that "what they had ceen coiild be ccen n •wherc'else. H did not think that in tho whole of Europe 50 acres of barley could be met with which were superior to fiat growing on tho Manor farm.

William l|fMl|^latt' o^^^fl^ili ilusiara, writes at ™ follows :—>*'F\wtKkbgr}flfl^wl^w^) c a *& an^ midden dentil «f BiilißKWal W rfGlw: must be mj apology for t roubl ing * ■too uftli thisMeltjer, having wen. it i»tatsd that the accident \xm pw>Wblvsluttto tho| fact of ttoHioMO not being »ufH«sie:it j^fj nanß. 4 fThis, in my opinion,!*, although a general, jet n very mistaken id<a| for it has only been those horse* rid 'on up 'to the hand that I have seoii (all. If you tio»™ >mnr'g urme to his side and givo only a alig'it push, he wi 1 tumble Jo mi to a certainty, and as surely will any hone (nil if when ho stumbles. Ilia bead is hell v,> tisiht, by tho r ler atlemjtin^ to keep the animal up. Just as am in fin la t ni-cos-a'v when he stumbles to throw out hit arms to keep hiin*e f from falling, n horso in the same ininner, when •iinila'lv circumstanced, neeiU his hfiul Iree to. keep on hi* f.^ef. fiTii qniti* a uiTstaken lor an; ri.lcr to imagine that by pullint! the reins he can ei|bber l«(D)iiThofi l > over a leap or upon his ]t'Kt4Maia~»ftcr ttuniblin^i- ■A.fiuli at thebit in a, hones mouth wjll cejtaiul^c.^o him to thro>v his head u i, but tliat \ery action causes the shouldi r« and kn 01 of the annual to sink. We har«* only to watch an unmounted h >rw stuniblf, to notice how casilyjnitd ljjf)'uit»lly Ilfc r.. cover* his fo >tin!i by precisely opposite aids to w lat rid lu-imuters, us ft rule, fetch. A horse so circumstanced drops his heal ami m-ck in or ler to relieve the a lOiilileiy of' thvlf" weiu'-it, and when thmeise.l the animal can recover joslfool hoi 1 upon the cround ; but ))ut up m him a dumb j 'ck ; anrl fasten lv» lie.td to it w.tii a pa r ot rein-, and I'll guarantee, if ever he stumbles, do*n he must come. During an eipeience extending how. over 30 years, I never knew a horse to fill from a mere stumble thai wis ridden with a looperein, ulnle^^k on the other han I, I have seldom seen a horse ridden, as it is^ termed, ' un to thf bit,' who, if he tripped, forgot lo'lumble a< well. Tiu) on y use of the bit and reins i* to guide, 'halt/ or make a horse k-iii bick, and, when we pretend we cm do more than t >nt with ttiese articles, we are simply attempting the impossible. If the rider's feet rested upon, t! 0 fir >un I, th 'ii bv using them as a pow<-r the horse might be raided a little, but not otherwise. A baker can lift hUbnaket, but he could not do so with, himself in it." , ,"t ,' i "