COW-TESTING IN AMERICA.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1062, 27 February 1911, Page 8

COW-TESTING IN AMERICA.

YEAR'S TRIAL FOR BIG TRICE. Last year Mr: W.-YC;'Marsh, of Waterloo, lowa, U.S.A., gnvo lOOOdols. to bo used as prizes to detennino what cow in lowa would give tho - greatest amount .of,buttcr-f.it in a year's tesf.'"Mr. Marsh has offered to duplicate-his .first • year's prizo money, and a year's contest is now being conducted under tbd"direction of the lowa Cow Culturo Club, .tho lowa State College, and tho'lowa State Dairy Association. A Holstciu-Frcsinn breeder has offered a tronhy, to cost lOOdbls., to the man who .'has tho bighest'huttcr-fat average on six cows in tho test, and other prizes aro expected. This, contest is to determino the amount of butter-fat given in one.year (3C5 days) by uhi? caw, of any breed—purebred, grade, or otherwise— owned'in the State of 10wa.„,, . There aro twenty.fivo rules. Somo of interesting aro hcrc'given. All butter-fat tests shall.cover.' at/period of ono day each month .for,.twel>;p.consecutive'months, tho tests to be "as nearly thirty.: days .apart- as practicable.. The test period need not; bo confined to ono period of .lactation, but: may extend over into [ tho 'following period of lactation, provided that it-is confined to twelve consccutiyo months. Tho tester must see the oow,milked.Tcleari.at. tho preliminary milking preceding each monthly test, and the last milking of each test must tako place just twenty-four hoUr^'after the preliminary Fat determinations for, each" milking must bomadcin duplicate, and tho average of the two determinations entered on tho record sheet. The sample taken of any ono milking .must-.not'Jjo th^or£ii',awayvunti)! .«i perfoct•ljfl "satisfactory -tost* of-the-milking has been obtained. The average of tho fat tho day shall bo the basis for determining the butteivfat" for," the"'day~n:itd _ lB"onth". "On -tho-completion of tho test the tester shall enter nt once, in ink or indeliblo pencil, the results on tho proper blanks. ...-■;.;., „ '/• In-order to admit*heifers"and immature" cows in comnetition with maturo cows' (a five-year-old cow being considered armature cow) in the. following system of allotfaiico .ior-ago will be used. To the monthly butter-fat record of heifers nnd immnturo cows add tho.following percentage, of ;in;crease:— Age of Cow. "Age of Cow. ,!--,. , ■ .. r- cr rer Years, llths. cent. Years." Hths. cent.. 2 . '0 «■■...... 3 G 18 2 3 37 ...... 3 9 15 . 2 G 31 ...... 4 0 U 2 0 30, ...... 13 8 •V" J-".;0' 25 4-6 5 _'3... 3 21 ...... 4 9 3 'To illustrate: If a heifer two years old gives, say, 20 pounds of butter-fat in any ono'month, she is to havo credit for 28 pounds. *If a' heifer three year and .three . moujKs old gives, id pounds, of ■butter-fat in a- mbnth,-'6ho -is to havo credit for 18.4 pounds.