HERD TESTING.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XL, Issue 5775, 28 February 1912, Page 3

HERD TESTING.

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Discussing ihe question of what ! progress has lK>en mafic in hor-T-test-ing in Taranaki, tin- Svralfonl corrospoiuient of thy- News iut\s .— "'[ am air-aid there is still a great tirul of prejudice against the adoption of the system h\ the dairy-far-mers, for what reason it is hard to say. At some factories testing was taken up by the directors :at ovhers b\ the dairy division of ihe Agricultural I'epui't nient. Makers seem to have gone along' similarly for a ! time, when first one supplier and | then another would appear lo havej 'aken fright at some imaginary trap and 'stopped supplies." Tins is to !>e regretted for those who have, jrone in lor systematic t«.'stinti", as well as almost every factory niaiuiyer I ha\c conversed with on the subjrrv, are loud in thvir pralsos of the praet ice., and are satisfied thai it alTonls the only safe means of tt>llinjr tlie usfjess from the i>i-olit iiT>le animals in a herd. 1 have heard some remarkable reasons advanced l iy dairy farmers against testing herds, oil'/ ol ill-.- most imitruc iiern"-c tuai the (ioveinmcnt lias instituted Ihe system in order to ascertain the earning' capacity of individual herds, and then up nill go the taxes. This is 100 utterly absurd, but it only goes to show what stumbling blocks the dairyfarmer himself places in the path of progress.