COW-TESTING.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 2 August 1913, Page 8

COW-TESTING.

LECTURE BY MR STEVENSON

fROH OUK o\v_" COEB-SPOfIDEN...

On Monday-Mr Stevenson, Government dairying expert, delivered a lecture at Mokoia on the subject of cowtesting. The farmers present gave the lecturer an attentive hearing and fully appreciated his interesting and instiuctive remarks. In the course of his lecture Mr Stevenson said that he considered any farmer very unwise not to test bis cows systematically, and he quoted figures taken from actual herds tested to prove his words. He reckons at the high price of land now ruling it' takes 1601b butter-fat at ls per lb to keep a cow 12 months, that is, keep, labor, etc., and anything above that is profit. Taken as a whole, Taranaki cows do not produce on an average more than 2001b butter-fat, so it will be clearly seen that there are a great many cows being milked that do not actually pay expenses, to say nothing of profit. Mr Stevenson gave instances of cows which 'had cost £10 at a clearance sale, and when tested did not produce more than £5 worth of butter-fat for 12 months, and as it takes £8 a year in e.\penses, it would have actually paid the buyer | to have given the vendor £3 and left j the cow behind. When testing herds ( was first started a number of fairiers were asked to place eight of their best cows in order of merit by guess, and when tested they were wrong in every instance, and cows they thought no good at all were actually producing over 3001bs butter-fat, and in one instance one gave over 4001b butter-fat, and a three-teater at that. _ It was decided to form an association provided Meremere and Melrose dairy factories would join. in the -event of an association being formed the Government would send ip an expert to see what support would be likely and then put it on a sound business footing. The cost per cow the first yeJtr !would be about 2s 6d to 2s 9d each, which would include everything, outfit, etc. To prove a success about 2000 cows would be required. The great trouble in all these associations, etc.. is the shifting population, and until farmers take up the business seriously, with the idea of sticking to it, "they will never "make good," as the American phrase has itr