02 AcjrlcuUural Gazette of N.S.JF. [Feb. 3, 1908. 



specialised. 'I'hou^h it may not appear so important on the surface as the 

 improvement of the horses, still there seems little doubt but that the amiua^ 

 leveiiue of a i-oiintiv in which a large section is devoted to dairying, would 

 be increased more by the development mid improvement of thr (lair\' cow 

 than of the thoroughbred. WIkmi daiiying was first begun in Xew South 

 Wales, those who undertook to carry it on had»to do so with whatever cattle 

 were available, and as Australia is looked upon as a pastoral country, it i< 

 almost unnecessary to say that the cattle introducefl here were selectetl 

 fiom herds for beef purposes ratluM' than loi' the [iroduction of large (juantities 

 cj!' -riilk. With oidy material of this kind in tlieii- hands the eail\- pioneers 

 of the industrv deseive very great credit for the suc(;ess which thev obtained 

 in producing a cow capable of giving a paying ((uantity of milk. It is, 

 perhaps, a luckv thing foi' the dairving industrv in Xmv South Wales that 

 the modern Shorthoi'u had not been developed fnnn a beef point of view 

 to such a success seventy-five years ago as it is to-dav. becau."e the foundation 

 of our cattle was undoubtedlv of a Shorthoiii t\pe. We know that the 

 cattle from which the modern Shoi'thorn has descendeil wen^ oi'iginalK' of a. 

 heavy milking variety, and as it takes a considerable number of years to 

 cross out milk and cross in beef, there is no doubt that the Shorthorns, which 

 were landed here, say, sixty years ago, were, on the avei'age. more likely to 

 produce milk in quantity than, say, those animals which have been imported 

 for beef purposes within the last thirty years. As the industry developed, 

 however, importations of cattle were made on a small scale, specially for 

 dairy purposes, and thus it is that the Ayrshire and the Jersey were introduced, 

 as well as the Holstein. Bulls, especially of the Ayrshire breed, were mated 

 with Shorthorn cows, and the result was very satisfactory from the daii-yman's 

 point of view, because it produced an animal capable of vielding large rpiantities- 

 of milk. 



Our development in dairying, however, took place so rapidly that it became 

 impossible for farmers to purchase suitable cattle, in numbers sullicienth- 

 large to keep pace with the develo])ment generally. Hence, in most districts, 

 with the exception of a few special animals, farmeis had to take what thev 

 could get, and this meant o])taining animals that were bred almost entirelv 

 with a view to a laying on of Mesh. Thus it is that the average yield of 

 our cows throughout the State was bound to be a low one, and though it is 

 on the increase, it is still capable of great improvement, without the expendi- 

 ture ol any considerable amount of brains or monev. 



It is now a generally understood fact that the i)ull. if puic bred, has a very 

 great effect on the milking properties cif his progeny, no matter what class 

 of cattle they are. For this reason it is evident that the first steps towards 

 improving the milk yields of the cattle of any district .should be to procure 

 bulls of the character best calculated to bring about the desired results. 

 The question of which breed is not of so much moment as the individuality 

 of the animal. Excellent specimens may be gbtained fi(un manv of the 

 recognised dairy breeds, which when crossed on to ordinarv half-bred cattle^ 



