TESTING OF COWS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 78, 12 January 1928, Page 7

TESTING OF COWS.

THE VALUE OF RECORD^. "I will not go back into dairying unless I can obtain cows with milking records." This statement was made by Mr Edgar J. Marsden, of Beaconsfield, in evidence before the Victorian State Parliamentary Select Committee on dairying. Mr Marsden told the committee that poor cows and low prices for milk had been his greatest drawbacks. On a farm of 100 acres, his best return from 2-1 cows in the last five years had been 134 quarts of milk a day. His wife and boy (aged nine) assisted him with the work, and sometimes he did not finish until 10 o'clock at night. From £4 10s to £ls each had been paid for the cows, which had since been sold with the idea, of reorganising the herd. The average price received for milk (Is. a gallon) barely covered the cost of production . Mr Victor J. Mason, of Ferntree Gully, stated that on 80 acres, valued at £SO an acre, he was milking- 30 cows. For eight months of the year, when it was necessary to feed concentrates, his income was £34 a week, and the expenditure £25. Allowing £5 a week for interest, this left a net return of £4 a week. In the other four months' his return was £l9 a week, bringing the total to £432 a year. These figures were based on a butterfat yield of 3671 b a cow, which was about the average for the district.