274 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



November, 1913 



nine months old. Some farmers 

 vlip their chicks when they are four 

 months in order to form an even 

 crop of feathers later on. The 

 weisjht of a chicks feathers is usu- 

 ally from five to six oimces, and 

 is valued at 45/- per Oi. After six 

 months we clip the wing feathers 

 and the larg^est blacks, and pull 

 the others. The first crop after 

 the chick stage is worth from £6 

 to jCio. Next, in from two to 

 three months we pull the (juills 

 of these same birds, and six 

 months later we have another 

 plucking, and so on. That is to 

 sav, we have on an average three 

 plumages in two years and two 

 months. Ostriches often live 

 twenty years and more. But after 

 their fifth plumage thev seem to 

 deteriorate and the feathers be- 

 come narrower, shorter, and light- 

 er. A mature bird gives eight 

 ounces of wings and about s xteen 

 ounces of tails and blacks or 

 drabs. I have known some birds 

 to cdve twelve ounces of wing 

 feathers. The record price for a 

 pair of ostriches in this coimtrv is 

 £1,000. The largest ostrich far- 

 mers in Africa are the PotEfieter 

 Bros. Thev own over 5,000 birds. 

 Most of our feathers are sold 

 locallv, as we find that we get 

 higher prices from the Oudt.shoorn 

 Inn^ers than anvwhere else in 

 South Africa. These buvers ship 

 direct to London, Paris, and New 

 York. 



— Whv is Oudtshoorn Specially 

 Adapted to Ostrich Farming ? — 



Th'ere are three main reasons. 

 Firstly, the climate. The ostrich 

 thrives be-st in a dry climate. 

 .\riditv IS essential to the produc- 

 tion of the fin»ast feathers. The os- 

 trich can stand a great deal of 

 heat, but he does not like damp- 

 ness nor extremes of heat and 

 cold. Secondly, the Karoo soil 



WHAT TEA C\ 



are 1^ 



YOU I 



Drinking. 

 For Quality YOU can't Beat 



AMLUCKIE TEA. 



H. H. MANSFIELD, 



Unley Boad & Culvert St., Unley CKy 



of the Oudtshoorn vallev is speci- 

 ally suited to the bird, probably 

 due to the fact that it contains a 

 good deal of salt and lime. Last- 

 ly, Oudtshoorn is well watered 

 by two perennial rivers which 

 make possible the growth of lu- 

 cerne, or, in other words, a rich 

 and abundant food supply. The 

 pedigree ostrich, like the thorough- 

 bred horse, needs to be well fed 

 and well cared for if he is to give 

 the best results. Neither ostriches 

 nor horses can be expected to 

 thrive if they are left on poor veld 

 grass. 



The Oudtshoorn valley is rough- 

 ly 70 miles long by 35 miles broad. 

 We utilize the waters of the 

 Grobbelaars and Oliphants River 

 for irrigating our lucerne lands. 

 A large portion of our valley is 

 composed of rich loamy soil. We 

 find that lucerne does best in a 

 sandy loam which has a substra- 

 tum of lime. Our averaofe annual 

 rainfall is lo inches. This is a 

 very important point. Take, for 

 example, the ostrich country 

 aroimd Grahamstown, where the 

 rainfall is '^o inches per annum'. 

 There the farmers cannot produce 

 three crops of feathers in two 

 years — as we can — because there is 

 too much moisture. Suppose rain 

 falls when your feathers are ripe 

 to clip it d scolours them and 

 spoils their lustre. Coming nearer 

 home, the same thing is true of 

 the ostriches in the Districts of 

 Mosse, Bay and G'eorge, where the 

 precipitation is so much heavier 

 than with us. Birds removed'from 

 the sea-coast to the Oudtshoorn 

 valley pick up at once, and their 

 feathers begin to show that ex- 

 traordinary lustre for which ouv- 

 district is so iu.stl'*' renowned. — 

 N. H. O. Gavin in the Agricultural 

 .Tournal of TJ. S. Africa. 



♦ 



Standard Test Cows. 



First report on Victorian Gov- 

 enmient Herd Testinij for Deriod 

 endintr .^.oth .Tune, by W. A. 



N. Robertson, B.V.Sc, Chief Vet- 

 inerary Officer. 



In submitting this, the Fi'rst Re- 

 port of the Herd Testintr Scheme, 

 as carried out by this Depart- 

 ment, it is opportune to briefly 

 trace the steps which led to its 

 successful latmching. 



In nearly all countries in which 

 the dairying industry has been 

 highly developed, associations ' of 

 one form or another are in exi.s- 

 tcncc for the testing of the indi- 

 vidual cow. Some of these associ- 



ations confine themselves to tests 

 covering a short period only. It 

 is, however, becoming more and 

 more e\'ident that, in order to ob- 

 tain reliable data, the recording of 

 weight of milk must be done 

 daily, and the test must cov'er a 

 full milkmg period, and continue 

 from' one season to another ; for 

 it is well known that great vari- 

 ations may occur in the returns 

 at difierent ,stages of lactation and 

 during different cah-ing periods. 

 All progressive dairy farmers are 

 familiar with the conformation 

 which for generations has been re- 

 garded as an indication of milking 

 qualities ; and most are also 

 familiair with the fact that reliance 

 cannot regularly be placed on type 

 and form as indicative of milking 

 capacity, and oftentimes buyers 

 may be landed with a duffer ; 'but 

 just as the external form is hand- 

 ed down from one generation to 

 another, so also is the capacity 

 for milk production, which, on ex- 

 ternal appearance, cannot be truly 

 predicted. It is, therefore, only by 

 means of testmg over a period, 

 and xmder careful observation, thai: 

 the capacity for transmitting milk- 

 ing qualities can be determined. 



The scheme fo-r the Government 

 certification of standard cows, 

 which was inaugurated last year, 

 is confined to the testing of pedi- 

 greed herds of the various dairy 

 breeds under the strictest condi- 

 tions practicable. The obfect de- 

 signed to be attained is that pur- 

 chasers of bulls of any dairy breed 

 may be assured concerning the 

 milk and butter yielding capacity 

 of the dams. Oftentimes in the 

 past srreat disappointment has 

 been experienced by purchasers of 

 bulls from peditrreed herds by rea- 

 son of their failure to improve the 

 milking capacity of the nro<reny of 

 cows upon which thev have been 

 used. Greater reliance has been 

 placed upon show yard points and 

 so-called milkincf tyre than upon 

 actual milkincf records, and, indeed, 

 the practice of recordino- milk 

 yields of nedinfreed herds has not 

 been at all common in this State, 

 so that the owners were not in 

 a po.sition to "-ive anv records to 

 purchasers. It is anticipated that 

 when the schf^in? comes into full 

 operfttion dairymen will pay much 

 greater attention to thp mjilking 

 record of the dams in the pedigree 

 than their show yard honours. 



For the period which this report 

 covers, terminating on •^oth .Tune, 

 IQ'T;^, fifteen herds have been enter- 

 ed. The breeder who was first 

 to recosrni.se in a practical manner 

 the benefits to be derived from the 

 test, and to whom must go the 



