IMPROVING DAIRY HERDS

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 56, 9 April 1929, Page 10

IMPROVING DAIRY HERDS

CERTTFICATE OF RECORD RESULTS. DECREASE IN COWS UNDER TEST. (Speeially Written for the Telegraph) Two' reviews issued each year by the Director of the Dairy Division are of special interest to farmers because they show the position of our dairy lierds, and the iniprovements that are bein^ effected in this. One cf these deals with lierd testing, and the otlier with certificates of record-testing which is confined to pure-breds. The revietv of the certificate of record testing for the 1928 season is now to hand, and the results are of more than ordinary interest, althoup;]i ^no oustanding records have been made this season. Testing for certificates is confined mainly ix> pure-bred dairy breeders wlio prove botli their cows and their bulls by this means. A certificate is the hall-mark of jjroduction, and is universally aecepted as surh, and as a certifieated bull has had to sire four daughters (from different dams) each of which lierself must have secured a certificate, it is clear that he has butterfat producing ability. DECREASE IN C.O.R. TESTING. Altliough ordinary herd-testing as carried out by the group method has increased enormously during the past few seasons, the certificate of record testing appears to have hecome less popular, and there has been a falling off in ■ the numbers tested. No reason is adduced in the report for tho falling off, but it must surely be mainly due to the liigh cost of the system. The fact that group herd testing has been so efficiently organised probably has somctliing to do with it, many breeders being coirtent with records gained in a herd-testing association. Obviously, there should be a considerable increase in pure-bred testing, if only to cope with the increased demand for pure-bred bulls with butter-fat backing, a faet which makes the decrease all the more remarkable. It has always been found that a growth in herd-testing nnder the group system leads to increased interest in better stock, and a very mucli larger percentage of pure-bred bulls is used iu districts where testing is general, than in districts where little or no testing is carried out. In the Waikato and Bay of Plenty for instance herdtesting is almost universal, and more than eighty per cent. of the lierds ai~e headed by a pure-bred bull. In Cnnterbury and Otago the lierds so headed would be very many less than this figure. It has been estimated by one dairying authoritv that closo on 18,000 bulls are needet} for replaccments each season, and it is obvious that haphazard selection must often he praetised wlien so little certificate of record testing is being carried out. JERSEYS stand SUPREME. Altliough no fresli records were made by the Jerseys during the year under leview, they stalid supreme 111 that 367 certificates were issued, this being j more than four times the liumber issued to the next liigliest breed. I Despite investigations which showed L'aat the Jersey milk produccd less cheese per pound of l'at than that of the lower testing breeds, the breed retains its popularity, and there appears to have been no swing-over in iavour of any other breed. W'hilo on the question of liigh testing breeds, it is interesting to record that the first certificate ever issued to a Guernsey, went to a cow belonging to the Iluakura >State Farm. This cow, a tliree-year-old, produced 4871bs. of fat. Mr Singleton apparently has a liking for "the breed, for lio says : "c011sidenng the undoubted merits of the breed, it has always been somewhat surprising to us that the Guernsey has not been more strongiy represented numerically in New Zealand. The merits ot the breed will thus be apparent, and we are of opinion that the Guernsey could be introduced with advantage to many of our established dairying districts." It is diffi^ult to see what advantage v.ould accrue from fresh importations cf Gucrnseys, which after all are similar in many respects to the Jerseys, altliough larger. The Jersey has attained such a strong positj/111 that it seems unwise to weaken, or attempt to veaken, it hy the introdnction of a breed with siinilar characteristics. There is, however, little likelihood of this happening. At present there is only a handful of Guernsay breeders in New Zealand, and it is obviously impossible for them to import animals of ihe type of some of the Jersey bulls .' hicli have recently come to New Zealand. LOW TESTING BREEDS. The Friesians easily lead the remaining breeds, this breed gaining 79 certificates for the year as against 11 for Ihe Milking Shorthorns, five for Ayrsliires and 2 for Red Polls. Apparently Friesian breeders are limiting the numbers sent forward for testing, and as a result the avcrages are rising, the exccllent average of o271bs. of fat being reeorded among tliose tested this season. The mature Friesian class was the strongest of all breeds tested. Ihe eighteen animals averaging Gollbs. of butter-fat. The only cliange in the leadersliip of the various classes in this breecl was in the junior two-year-olds, where Pareora Echo Blossom gained a certificate for 8191bs. of fat, benting the previous record hj' 141bs. Of the eleven Milking Shorthorns tested. only one put up an outstanding performance, gaining a certificate for 7271hs. of fat. The leaders remain the same six out of the seven being bred by Ranstearl Bros., of Matangi. So few of the breed were tested this year that it is impossible to make comparisons with previous seasons insofar as production is concerned. An outstanding record of 8321b. fat was made hy an Ayrshire this year, the cow being owned bv Mr W. Moore, of Masterton. Ylr Moore now holds two of the four class records. the otlier two being helrl hy Mr A. M. IVeir, a Southland lineeder. The records of the fef Avrshires tested were entirely satisfnetory. The only Red Polls tested oame from the Government- farm at Rnakura, and no alterations took place in the class leaderslrips. The principal feature of the certificate of record testing" has been the decvease in the numbers comjng forward, 1 feature which cannot be regarded as satisfactory in a country so largely clenendent on dairying as is the Dominion. It remnins to bo seen whether this decrease is a renl one, or whether breeders are satisfied with records gained under the very much cheaper s7"stem of group herd testing.