146 Journal of Agriculture. [9 March, 1908. 



forgotten to use it ; and not five per cent, of these owners can give any 

 reliable statement as to the relative value of each animal from a dairying 

 stand-point. Yet people expect to make dairying pay by such unbusiness- 

 like methods as these. Australia's wool trade was not so built. Such 

 dairvmen say " they have no time " and " it does not pay " to weigh 

 and test their milk so as to closely cull their cows. They have never 

 given a thought to the work that sheep-breeders have done and are still 

 doing in the improving of their flocks. There are many stations and 

 farms where the principal work is the breeding of stud sheep for sale ; and 

 a far larger number where the improvement of the weight and quality of 

 the annual wool clip is the perpetual consideration. On all these the 

 stud animals are marked and numbered, and particulars of their breeding 

 recorded. They are hand-classed as they grow, and the quality and 

 staple of the wool on the various parts of the animal noted, and they are 

 culled out or kept accordingly. At shearing time their fleeces are 

 weighed and classed : and the mating of the ewes and rams is done only 

 after due consideration of the qualitv of each, and its chances of pro- 

 ducing something better than itself. When culls are marketed they are 

 classed into as even looking lots as possible by both breeders and auc- 

 tioneers ; and, in consequence of this general demand for uniformity, 

 sheep-breeding is alwavs on the up grade ; with the satisfactory result 

 that Australia's wool sales attract the world's b'Uyers. Any one who 

 is sufficiently interested to glance at the flocks that are met with on the 

 various farms of the State cannot but be struck bv the evenness of size 

 and type apparent in each and he may thus be assisted towards realizing 

 the work that the sheep-breeders have done ; but let him turn to our 

 dairy herds, and ninetv per cent, of them will prove to be a mixture of 

 every breed in the di.strict, including even those Avhich have no claim to 

 possessing dairy qualities. 



To establish comparative evenness of type in his cattle should be one 

 of the first steps taken by every stock-keeper, and this can only be effected 

 by systematic buying, and the use of ])ure-bred bulls. Unless circum- 

 stances such as are referred to later on should direct otherwise, the 

 choice of a bull bv the dairyman should be made in conformity with 

 whatever milking breed his cows show most relation to, and from a herd 

 where the stock have been carefully bred for dairy work for some years. 

 This choice should be made with great care; for it may mean much loss 

 of time if it should prove necessary to alter it afterwards. After being 

 used for about 2| years, the bull should be replaced with another of 

 the same breeding, so that the line of milking tlood introduced may be 

 continued with uniformity. As the weighing and testing of the milk 

 will have demonstrated which are the worst producers among the old 

 stock, these can be culled out and replaced by the heifers of improved 

 breeding as they come in ; and with a continuation of this method the 

 herd will thus be graded up both in appearance and production at the 

 same time. 



Another matter to be commented on is that very few dairv-farmers 

 treat their business with the same general attention to detail as do those 

 who engage in other industries. On many farms most of the miTkTng 

 and general dairy work is done bv the women-folk or children; and in 

 consequence, if there should be but a small return from that branch less 

 notice is taken of it than if the work were done altogether by the men. 

 But even under these conditions it is equally important that as much as 



