WOMEN TAKE OVER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 135, 10 June 1942, Page 3

WOMEN TAKE OVER

HERD TESTING WORK

GROWTH OF SERVICE

That the six herd improvement associations in the Dominion have almost completely changed over to women labour is mentioned in the annual report of the National Dairy Federation. No fewer than 180 women testers are employed out of a total of 220 testing officers. Increasing support has been given to herd recording work, adds the report. The number of herds under group test in New Zealand was 5562, a record, as was the total of cows under test, approximately 309,000. The herd recording service would again be available to farmers next season. Herd wastage returns were obtained in respect of 4459 herds containing over 231,000 cows, and amounted to 15 per cent, or 34,000 cows. The main causes of wastage were:—Low production, 33 per cent; mastitis, 22 per cent; sterility, 16 per cent. These percentages had been relatively stable over the past four years. Another point of definite interest was that of 7772 sires in use in 4630 herds, 71 per cent were pedigrees and 29 per cent were grades. It was definitely established that mastitis and sterility were by far the most important disease losses in dairy herds, and steps were being taken to make a more detailed investigation to establish the conditions associated with a heavy incidence of these diseases, and also to determine whether low incidence was being achieved by particular methods of management and husbandry.