15 Nov., 1919.] Improveinent of the Dairij ludiistri/. 671 



eoinparatlvely few farmers undertake. Plain business nietliod applied to 

 dairy farming is all that is required to make the returns therefrom fully 

 satisfactory. More systematic Avorking in the early stages of building up 

 the dairy herd would make the fanner's work much more remunerative; 

 and his income would allow of much more pleasure and comfort than at 

 present falls to his lot. 



It is the business of every one to see that nothing preventable 

 impedes rural production, and also that everything possible is done to 

 assist it. That there is great room for improvement in dairy returns 

 is seen everywhere. Inquiry made last year into the yields of a number 

 of herds in several dairying districts showed that very few indeed of 

 these were bringing in reasonably adequate returns from butter-fat. 

 Frequently the butter-fat returns no more than pay for the cost of 

 grazing the cows, and it is on the sale of pigs and calves raised on the 

 skim milk that the small annual profit is made. Dairying tests con- 

 ducted at Agricultural Shows also demonstrate what poor butter-fat pro- 

 ducers many cows are. In one of these tests eight cows, presumably 

 the pick of as many herds, and selected on appearance, gave less than 

 7 lbs. of butter-fat amongst them for the two milkings, and one of them 

 gave only j lb. of butter-fat in the day. 



The results of herd-testing in the great grass-producing district of 

 Colac has shown that about 25 per cent, of the cows tested are 

 unprofitable as dairy stock ; in other words, nearly every dairyman 

 who is running 'a herd of 20 cows is grazing and milking 

 fully five of these for no profit whatever. The contrary side 

 to this is revealed by the dairy tests at a few shows held in 

 districts where some of the dairy farmers have been breeding from 

 selected dairy stock, and have tested the butter-fat producing qualities 

 of their cows, for in those places the yields of the cows in the dairy tests 

 are all that could be desired. Further, in the Government testing 

 of pure-bred herds some very fine results have been obtained. For 

 instance, out of 1,166 Jerseys tested during the past seven years, only 

 7.5 per cent, were below the required standard ; and out of the 285 tested 

 during last year only 6.5 per cent, were below the standard, while the 

 average yield of the 275 Jersey cows and heifers gaining their certificates 

 last year was 625 gallons of milk and 344 lbs. of butter-fat per head in 

 a 273 days' test. 



Before the introduction of the present system of testing pure-bred 

 dairy cattle, many people held the belief that pure stock were not the 

 best for dairy work; but it is certain that there are no herds of cattle 

 in Australia, either crossbred or pure-bred, which could successfully 

 compete with these Victorian Jerseys in butter-fat production. There 

 are other breeds of pure-bred cattle in these tests which have also made 

 big records, though the quality of these breeds is not so uniformly high, 

 yet high enough to show that amongst all the pure-bred dairy cattle 

 there are many cows far above crossbred stock in butter-producing 

 qualities, and that every farmer desiring to improve his herd can turn to 

 pure-bred stock with the certainty that he will be able to buy stud 

 bulls to bring about the required result. 



Where consistently big returns, such as are obtained from these pure- 

 bred cows under the Government herd-test, are before every farmer who 



