GROUP HERD TESTING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 25 July 1928, Page 8

GROUP HERD TESTING.

.SOUTH TARANAKI ASSN. FORMED REPRESENTATIVE MEETING OF FARMERS. * A representative meeting ef delegates from -all districts of South Taranaki was held, in Ilawera last Saturday. It was unanimously decided to form the South Taranaki Herd Testing Association, incorporated for the purpqse of carrying on the work, of group) herd testing commenced last season. The movement in South 'Taranaki last season was sponsored by an outside association. The district has been widely canvassed for the coming season and the response has been extremely gratifying especially from districts in which the movement last season was represented hv only one or two herds, which would indicate that the work of the association is considered of value. On the question of cost being raised the secretary stated that last season’s | charge whs 5s per cow. The meeting considered this reasonable and the charge for the oncoming season was fixed at ss, it being reasoned that !as Inc association was co-operative any surplus at the end of the season would be in the hands of the executive to deal with. As some dairymen have the opiinion that 5s is unnecessarily costly it was mentioned that this is the standard charge throughout the Dominion, the secretary adding that the the large Waikato Association had found that 5s 3d per cow barely Covered expenses during the seasons that a subsidy of 3d per cow had been received from the dairy eompjany.

An extract from the chairman’s annual report of this association for the past season, when 71,500 cows were under test, is as follows: — ‘‘Your directors have not disguised the fact that- the service the association is giving cannot be done, on a flat rate, for less than 5s a cow, in fact the 5s barely covers costs. All herds under 45 cows in the herd are, at 5s per cow, a burden on the finances of the association. ” This association is the largest.in the Dominion and its experience in relation to finance is ■similar to all other associations if not even a little better on account of the greater number of cows tested. The secretary reported that the testing would commence as near to August 20 as possible.