COW TESTING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1537, 5 September 1912, Page 8

COW TESTING.

THE EKETAHUNA ASSOCIATION. LOCATING THE UNPROFITABLE COW. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Eketahuna Cow-Testing Association, the chairman, Mr. Thos. Parsons, stated that the year's work had given members an indication, which they could not otherwise have obtained, of the value to them of the cows milked. This knowledge was invaluable to the man dotermined to make • money out of dairying. Ho compared tho herd showing tho greatest return with that showing the lowest. Tho one herd, taking butter-fat at Is. per lb., had retimed the owner .£l3 Is. 4d. per head, and the other £6 2s. 9(1., a difference of £0 18s. sd. per cow. Tho testing had demonstrated that ono man's cows were worth as much again as the other man's. This was an object-lesson which should appeal to all dairymen. It-was impossible to pick out the best average cows in the ordinary way, as members of the, association had ascertained to their loss. The work of the association also demonstrated the fact that two-fifths of tho cows tested were unprofitable to those who milked them. It was generally 'understood that unless a cow produced butter-fat to the value.of £8 10s. for tho Reason; with' butter-fat at Is. per lb., she was not showing a profit'to the owner. The average of all the cows tested showed thoy produced £S 18s. 3d.,, or a total profit of Bs. fJd. per head. At this rate settlers iyere not going to pay. off their mortgages, very..quickly, and it appeared that intense culling was needed and the herd's generally improved if dairying was to prove • a profitable industry to the district. He contended that cows which. did not produce 2001b. >of butter-fat in a season were not worth keeping, _ and dairymen should aim at this maximum and over. He recognised a shortage would be created if everybody culled heavily, but settlers could rear young stock from the best cows in place of grazing duffers, and matters would soon right themselves. Again, instead of sacrificing the culls, they could be speyed and milked- throughout the winter and sold for beef early in the summer at a good figure. He was pleased to see the Government was assisting associations, and he thought they should go further and insist on every cow which did not show a profitable return being branded. This would prevent other • (dairymen being saddled with the culls.