DAIRY COW TESTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1197, 4 August 1911, Page 8

DAIRY COW TESTS.

BEMABKABLE IMPROVEMENTS RECORDED. . . Now that official testing of dairv cattle is interesting the. farmer, it is of "interest to turn to Canada, where there aro three different forms of test, two official and one private. The first test that was introduced was what is known as the record, of merit, or R.O.M. Tin's test, is used by members of the Holstein-Friesian Association. When , they have an aiiima! that Ihey desire to have tested, arrangements are made with tho Agricultural Oollego or Ontario Department of Agriculture, to have an official sent to their farms. This official remains on tho farm wnilo the test is in progress, and in supposed to weigh and test the milk of each milkmg, even when the animals are milked, as they sometimes are, four times a (lay. Ibis Government official certifies the correctness of the test. Generally these tests last for only seven days. Most ot them are mado shortly after "calving Sometimes the tests are extended over 30 days. In some cases seven-dav tests are conducted eight months after calvin" bueh records give a more accurate idea of a cows value as a persistent miiker. luese aro sometimes called the seven-dav and thirty-day tests. A Few Examples, Canadian Holstein-Friesian cows that nave ot late obtained a reputation throu"h great records made in the record of merit are, Evergreen -March and May Echo VerDelJe. Lvcrgreen March in seven davs produced 29.151b. of butter and 711.21b mi kj in 30 days her record was 97.8Ub. butter ami 289111b. milk. May Echo Vorbelle, although a young cow, in seven davs produced over 211b. of butter. A daughter ot May Echo, Slyva, recentlv completed a seven-day record of over'2llb • Similar tests are conducted bv llolstein l)f c f ,e ™, in the Vnitetl States." In the States tan test is called the advanced registry official or the A.1J.0. In both Canada and the United States « list is kept ot animals that produce over a cer tain amount of in ilk and butter during tic-periods , of the test. Cattle that pass Hie tests arc enrolled in the Record of Canada and in the Advanced Registry Official of tho United States. In the : A.R.p. f are several cows that havu produced over Mh. of . butter in" =even d , n .VS. Ppiitiae Clothilde Do Kol 2nd in q-oM , t f t ,. nia . do tho sreat record of 3, .21b. of butter in seven days and 135.331b. of butter m 30 days. The. former chainpion .butter cow, Grace Fayne'2nd's Homestead, owned by H. ,\. Mover, also of .\ew lork State, produced 35.551b. of butter in A Permanent Record, Another test in Canada that is ra'uidlv Bamiinj.m popularity is what is called uie record oi performance or R.O.P. This is conduced under the auspices of tho Dominion Government. Breeders who desire to secure yearly tests of their pure .M'fci animals, inform the Dominion Department of: Agriculture. They are required to weigh the milk of their animals tor each milking, and to keep a caroIn record ot the same. At periods unceitam to the breeders, officials from the Department of Agriculture visit their farms and spend two or three days there. These officials weigh and test the milk 0 the cows and compare the results with tho records kept by (he owners of the animals. This gives a fairly accurate check, and helps to insure the recorded record being approximately correct. If the official of the Department finds that Uie weighings of the owners of the c-ittlt-are suspiciously high, they call mo." egently at m.cl,, farms. Should they" find tlu any man has■•tain F erod , with his records, such a breeder will be prevented from entering any more anima s in the record ot performance. .Animals of all the loading dairy broods have been en tered in this tet, and as the test e: ends over a year it is felt by many to be a mure valuable record than flic" shorter fi, 5" f -i , ' llnmnls ran qualify in this test they niHjt drop a second" ralf within filtcen months from the beginn ' ot d>o test. Many splendid. record havS -v CU llnU a t • I, \ tll V ecarri of performance I lv llolstein, Ayrshire, ami Jtrsev con* est mated butter. Primrose of TaiHei7 U -ii B, i A F*ire. pr:«l. w d W. 195 1-2lb ot mi k testiuir nearly four p Cr cent and Icontainins G3llb. of butter-Int. A Jcr«ev cow that has .nncle n good record in his !«,r , H Br "i npton , L,,d T Gw " , ? e ' *- 1 "* l ! Tμ tellc Pro'luccd. 11,00011). of milk and 5361b. of estimated butter. For the Owners' Benefit. , Another form of cow tcstiV al<o conl oucted by the .Doiniuion Government, but which is. not official, is that, where any tarmer who desires to find what his cows are doing, makiwt no difference whether 1 her are grade or purebred. ..grjes to enter Ins cews in one.of the low-restiin associations, a considerable number of which have boon formed by the Dominion |jepartmont of Agriculture. Members of ie?e Dssociations simply agree to weigh the milk of their cow. j couple of times during the month, and arrangements are made by .the Uoverauieut to have this milk tested, either by the local maker, or by some Government official, lheso records are not official and thrv rhould not. be confused with the records previously described. This latter test is conducted merely foi the benefit of the owners of tho animals. Tin. record of merit and the record of performance tests are. conducted largely with the object of enabling breeders to provi. Hie records of their cows to bo accurate, and to protect buyers from fraudulent private records. Great Improvements Made. Cow-testing associations by givin" (lie farmer an opportunity l<, d'etr-rmine tho production of the individual animals in his herd enable him .to breed scientifically, and great: improvements. h:ive boon made by many farmers in their dairv herds through following up (lip information obtained by cow-te-.tin;j. Perhaps t; l( . greatest improvement in a dairy herd through cow testing recorded was made in the herd of A. J. Davis, of Woodstock, Out., who in four years increased the ■ average production of his herd from L r i|l(i to nitllb. of milk, or an'increase n f j(n per. cent. Sir. S. A. freeman, of Cul- ' lodcn, in four years increased tlio ■ production of a herd of over 70 cows hv , OT per cent. In three years Jlr. ,T 1C lloore. of -Peterboro. Ont.. intrrnfed' the production if his herd from GTOnlb of millc to S!)7811i., an increase of 3,1 'WT cent. Difficulty in obtaining suitable form labour or a suitable family to m jlk „„ shares is frays the Pahiatua "Herald") the reason a.«isriie<l by one Pahjatua settler, who_ is dispofing of \m herd, and does not intend continuing dairying this I reason.

PALMERSTON DAY BY DAY. (By Telccraph.—Snccial Correspondent.) Palmcrsion, August 2. ■ Latest news ro.sanlinj Mr. H. Palmer, a, well-known resident of Palmorstoii, who has been laid up with typhoid fpvor i>r Laiitiecaton, Tasmania for tlio ywft tlwro month?, is that ho is on a fair way to recovrr.v, and will probably arrive home in I'almoriton ab-jut tho Inst, week of this monthThe Mayor (Mr. .T. A. Nn.-h) pre?id?d i,it a concert and "social" ot t|«>. lot.il I Salvation Army barracks last night, tho ontertninirieni I'tiii";' hrid in aid of iho corps band fund. There wai a larco attendance. A special mcciint; the Terrare End Bowlius Club was h»M ja.*t nisht. to confirm rules. Mr. C. F. Spooner presidiuj. Tweuty-onr, new members wore elcclrd. Members of St. Peter's Church' are (o held a baziar next \Vrdn.p?day. The opening ceremony will be performed ,bv tho Mayor. Tho Youns Men's Bible Class in connection with Andrew's Church h.is arranged to hold weekly gymrinsium practice and fortnightly debates in the new gymnasium hall at the rear of (he church. The bachelors nf Knirans-i lipid their annual ball in tho Kairanga H.ill la.-t niglit, and it proved very onjnyabb. The Un.U was decorated. .. anil, with n sond flour, capital music, and an excellent supper, it is almost needless tci f.iy that tho whole of the two hundred people prcsoni thoroughly enjoyed themselves Mr. Gordon Bonnett was chairman of the committee, and Mr. L. Thompson secretary, nnd, to their united efl'urts. much of the success of the bnll was riucv Anions t:boK> piv-spiii wcro vi.-litors from tho whole of the siirrour.tlin.-? districts. Some large iiifiivanrer. woro offered to the companies and members of Lloyds' on jewels w'cru by Indian I'rincos attending the Coronation. One insurance was for .££o,OOI), and in another case the value nf tho property is between .£200,000 and .00,000.' ' ■ I