H.B. HERD TESTING

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 299, 4 December 1935, Page 4

H.B. HERD TESTING

Slight Decrease in Number of Cows REVIEW OF SEASON A slight increase in the percentage of cows tested in the Dominion, but a decrease in the number tested in Hawke’s Bay is shown in a review of dairy herd-testing for the 1934-35 season. The Hawke’s Bay average was also considerably below the North Island and Dominion average, having the smallest percentage of cows tested for any land district in the North Island.

The figures for the tested cows for this district for the past five seasons are as follows:—

It will be noticed that, since 193031, there has been a considerable decrease in the number of cows tested, and also in the percentage. To a decline in values in dairy-produce this falling-off in numbers can be principally attributed, and as Mr W. M. Singleton, the Director of the Dairy Division of the Department of Agriculture has expressed it. a return to better butterfat prices and more normal conditions should make it possible to regain the lost ground. If the average production showed an increase, this decline in numbers might not bo so unfortunate, but, as a glance at the following figures will show, the average for the 1934-35 season in this district was just above the 1931-32 average.

P Cowa Tested. 'ercentage of Total Cowa. 1930-31 8742 16.7 1931-82 ... 4933 9.2 1932-33 ... 5910 10.3 1933-34 5581 8.9 1934-35 ... 5476 9.0

Cows Av. Days in Milk Av. Butterfat 1931-32 4808 253 246.71 1932-33 5595 255 263.61 1933-34 5389 253 258.75 1934-35 5300 250 247.73