DAIRY COW TESTING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 837, 8 June 1910, Page 8

DAIRY COW TESTING.

-ELTHAM DISCUSSION. At the meetir.g of the Elthaifi. branch of, the Farmers' Union on Saturday the chairmau, Mr. H. G. Sergei brought up tho' question of cow testing, and referred at length to its importance. He favoiired the plan adopted by the Dalefield Cowtesting Association. If members approved, of the scheme he suggested , that a deputation should be appointed to wait on the ?ext meeting of the. directors of the Eltham .Dairy Factory to place the matter* before them. . What was wantoU was co-operative, testing. •In- the course of discussion Mr. Anderson (Mangatoki), speaking- from experi- ' enoe, said it had been proved that testing paid well, 'even if farmers had . to pay tor .doing-the work. Mr. Belcher said there was a tendency amongst New Zealand farmers to lean ou somebody else, • the Government, the Farmers' Union, or somebody. Individual testing did not entail much tune or labour. No one could be forced to s'up'"ply samples. The president said of course it would be voluntary, but he thought tho best result'would be obtained by co-operative testing. Mr; Anderson said the. difficulty had been partly got over in his. district, by" putting in testers at the creameries. Suppliers who had 'taken advantage of the testing were often surprised by the results, which showed that some cows which were thought to be good were' returning -practically no profits and were not worth ,keeping—some testing* as low as' 2.2 and-giving'perhaps only a gallon, • while other cows tested up to Li or 4.5, and gave three or four gallons. After further discussion,' Mr. Mannex moved: "That this meeting approves of the cow-testing scheme placed. before it, and appoints 'Messrs. Sergei,. Dawson, and White a deputation to meet the Eltham Factory directors to confer on the matter." The motion was agreed to.