November. 1913 



THE CAKUKN AND KIKLD. 



Red Polls for Dairyit\£^. 



Hv Dr. S. S. C.iiiuroii, Di-n-clor of Ai^riculliirc, Viclorin. 



As milkers, tlio .Red Toll herd 

 > stahlishcd by the Department of 

 Vj^rieulUirc four years aj^o is ulaiu- 

 t.iiiiinjr the early promise of be- 

 lomiiig a factor in the improve- 

 ment of the dairy herds of the 

 State. It will be recalled that in 

 i<-Hi-i2, with an avera<;e milkin«> 

 I)eriod of thirty-seven and a half 

 weeks was 5,750 lbs., and in 

 1911-12, with an a^"era<^e inilkincr 

 period of forty weeks, 6,353 lbs. 

 For the vear just closed, 1912-13, 

 the records are still verv (rood, al- 

 thouo^h the averajje (5,I2« ttis.) is 

 somewhat lower, on account of the 

 inclusion in the herd of a number 

 of heifers milking- for the first 

 time, and also because of the un- 

 toward conditions under which the 

 herd was milked for the greater 

 part of the vear, the summer 

 droujjht at Boisale and the drv, 

 scant pastures at Eutherorlen be- 

 ing- markedly detsdmental to re- 

 cord raising. A feature of the 

 hcl-d, however, which is even 

 more satisfactory than the com- 

 parativelv hicfh . m'lk vield under 

 the adverse conditions, is that 

 the butter fat tests have been as 

 uniformlv high this season as dur- 

 ing previous seasons. 



— High Testing. — 



In 1911-12, the average test 

 rang-ed from 4.31 to 5,45, the three 

 highest cows g'oing 5.1 to 8.2 

 rVuelta), 4.4 to 8.4 (Cuba'), and 

 -I,. 5 to 7.0 (Muria). Three other 

 cows regularlv tested over 6 per 

 • cent, towards the close of their 

 milking period, viz. : Connecticut, 

 4.6 to 6.4 ; Beulah, 4.9 to 6.4 ; 

 and Bullion, 4.8 to 6.2. This sea- 

 son (1912-13) the high-testing ca- 

 pacity of the herd has again been 

 demonstrated, and two heifers, 

 India and Birdseye, have run the 

 best of the older cows very close 

 for the record of the herd. India's 

 test has ranged from 4.1 to 6.2, 

 and Birdseye's from , 3.9 to 8.0, 

 the latter on three .successive even- 

 ing milkings giving the extraordin- 

 ary tests of 9-4, 9-5, 9-7- AH the 

 tests referred to above, are com- 

 posite tests of the morning's and 

 evening's milk taken under Gov- 

 ernment standard conditions. Some 

 of the heifers, too, appear likely 

 to carry on the fame of their dams 

 as regards milk vield, Goldleaf, a 

 daughter of Bullion f7,7'33 lbs. re- 

 cord), having yielded 6,437 ^s. 

 during the Standard Test period 

 of nine months, with a butter fat 

 test ranging from 4.1 to 5.3. ^he 



calved at two years and two months* 

 old, and is due to calve again 

 at three years and one month. 

 ITcr yield of butter fat, viz., 

 308.5 lbs., is so far the best of 

 all the heifers that have complet- 

 ed the nine months' milking under 

 Standard Test conditions. 



— Sale of Bull Calves. — 



vSatisfaction appears ' to have 

 been pven by system that has 

 been adopted for fixing the price 

 of the bull calves, viz., the value 

 of the annual butter fat yield of 

 the dam at i/- per lb. Thus Bul- 

 lion -snelded 357 lbs. of butter fat, 

 and her calf was sold at Cvj 17/-; 

 Havana yielded 230 !tis. of butter 

 fat, and her calf was sold for £it 

 Ti/. Bull calves ex cows on their 

 first milking, and in respect of 

 which there is therefore no record 

 available other than that of the 

 grand dam, are sold for a uniform 

 price of five guineas ; and this last 

 season the purchasers under these 

 conditions of the Goldleaf and 

 Birdseye calves can be considered 

 fortunate. ' Three guineas addition- 

 al if the calves a-re ket)t till 

 o-v^r twelve months old ; but this 

 has occutrred in only one case, 

 each season's drop having been 

 disposed of as calves. Details of 

 the different bull calves available 

 are advertised in the Journal as 

 the drop proceeds, and those which 

 a're bespoken are reared for deliv- 

 ery at six months. If a calf does 

 not rear w^ell, a second choice is 

 allowed, biit so far no purchaser 

 has had occasion to take advan- 

 tage of this. 



— Hornlessuess. — 



Reports from breeders who 'pur- 

 chased the earlier calves show that 

 upwards of 90 per cent, of the 

 calves got by the Red Poll bulls, 

 ex crossbred cows, or cows of 

 other breeds, are hornless, and 75 

 per cent, are whole red in colour. 



The characteristic feature of the 

 breed, viz., hornlessuess, is des- 

 tined, in the opinion of the writer, 

 to play an important pairt in the 

 economics of dairying in Austra- 

 lia. With the gradual increase in 

 the expensiveness of hi'^fd \ iV.our, 

 the cost of stall feeding dairy 

 cows is becoming almost prohibi- 

 tive, and yet hand feeding or "arti- 

 ficial feeding in some form must 

 be carried on if the butter vield 

 is to be maintained or increased. 

 For this country must adopt the 



practice of growing and conserving 



fodder in tin- spring fm Unliu;^' m 

 tile antiiinn aiul winter if it is to 

 continue to tompote s<uicssfully in 

 the butter ex|)ort trade. The 

 period of lactation of cows must 

 be lengthened to increase jirofits 

 to a degree commensurate with 

 high land values and costly la- 

 bour ; winter dairying must be 

 be carried on to avoid the present 

 baneful break in our sujjplies to 

 the I/Ondon market ; and neither 

 of these thintrs can be done if de- 

 I)endence is placed on Pasture alone 

 and without hand feeding-. 



— Its Advantages in Hand 

 Feeding-. — 



With hornedl cattle, for hand 

 feeding to be .successful, they must 

 be stalled and fed separately. If 

 dehorned, or hornlcs^s, they may 

 be fed with half or less labour 

 from troughs or racks in open 

 sheds oi- yards, or paddocks. When 

 deprived of their horns, cattle 

 cease the disastrous butting and 

 ripping of one another which is so 

 common a sight in cow yards, and 



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64 HINDLRY STRKET, ADELAIDE. 



" Where the Good Harness is made." 



Engineer, General Machinist, &ic. 

 Com«r of 



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