MILKING RECORDS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 15 November 1913, Page 10

MILKING RECORDS.

A farmer in Sweden, who prided himself on having an extraordinarily good milking herd, joined one of the milkrecord associations of 1897, and during his first year his herd of seventy gave an average of 800 gallons of milk. • He sold off forty-two of his worst milking cows and kept twenty-eight'of the very best, which he mated with a bull out of a known heavy-milking cow... In 1905 he had again a herd of seventy-two milking cows, all descended from these twenty-eight selected animals, which gave an average of 1220 gallons in that year. One society in South Sweden, that of Vallakra, where Ayrshires were in great request, increased its average yield per cow from 670 gallons of the milk during the first year to 876 gallons in its sixth year. During the first year of its existence the average percentage, of fat in the milk was 3.09, whilst in* its sixth year the average increased to JJ.2I per cent of fat, notwithstanding the 7 fact-that the quantity of milk was: 31 per, cent, greater than it was six years previously. From 1898 to 1903 Dr Woll, of the Agricultural College of Wisconsin, caused. every separate article of food which was given to each of the thirtyfive to thirty-eight cows in the college herd during that period to be weighed. The milk was also weighed and analysed. The herd was composed of selected specimens of each of the three or four principal dairy breeds. The results showed ihat, while one cow yielded butter of the annual value of £20, after payment had been made for aU her feed, the yield of butter from some of the others dropped gradually till one actually produced £1 less value in. butter than had been the cost of food alone consumed by her during that year. In the other two years during jvhich the cow was tested she gave a small profit. These experiments conclusively proved that pedigree was of far greater importance than food in the production of milk or butter.

Mr John Speir, in his summary of a report on milk records appearing "in the 1909 Highland Society's Transactions, made use of the following weighty words: "In many of the districts producing milk in winter, few, if any, young stock are reared, farmers being under the impression that they can buy cows cheaper than they can rear them, or that thejr land is too valuable for rearing young stock. These are greatly mistaken impressions. Farmers could probably buy full-grown cattle at less than they could rear their own, but then they are only getting a class of stock which are the outcasts of the stock of otfier breeders, and which as milk producers could certainly not be said to be up to the average. If they selected their stock from a milk record point of view, and bred from their best, in a few years they would likely find themselves in possession1 of herds yielding from 10 to 30 per cent, more milk than they had previously been accustomed to. No ordinary farming land is so valuable that it cannot be profitablyutilised in the rearing of such stock, for. leaving the breeding of such animals out of account, they are worth? very much more than ordinary stock simply as milk-producing machines A cow yielding 600 gallons at a lact?*.iori is said to leave 100 gallons of that milk available ac profit after paying for food and all expenses. A cow giving 700' gallons could be kept on almost the I same food and from her the profit would

be double. If this be so, and we have reason to believe it is, with cows which yield 600-700 gallons, it is not difficult to realise what profits might be reached if cows could be bred to yield 800, 1000 or 1200 gallons."

A series ot tests or records with various herds in different parts of Lancashire was started some years ago to demonstrate the advantages accruing from the keeping of exact records of the milk production of each cow in a herd. Observations on the results of the four years' work may be summarised as follows:—1. In average herds the amount of variation in milk production is very great. Comparing animals of the same age which calved at the same time of the year, the produce from the best cows was in many cases worth twice as much as that from the worst. 2. Except in one case, there, has been no improvement in the milk yields of the herds in the period under which they have been under test. The average increase in the period 1908-1910 was forty-seven gallons per cow. At the same time the»e has been an improvement in the quality of the milk, both as regards fat and solids-not-fat. 3. The milk of cows giving a small yield is not necessarily richer in fat* or in solids-not-fat than that of cows giving a large yield; in fact, the opposite may be the case. 4 Generally speaking, cows improve in milk yield up to the fourth, calf.

It is concluded that by keeping records, coupled with careful breeding and selection, the general standard of dairy Herds in the county could be much improved, especially as regards the yield of milk. Incidentally it was found that in cases where milking took place early in the afternoon, the morning's milk frequently contained less than three per cent. fat. As an example of what may be done by some good milkers, the following instance was quoted: In the Belleville district of Ontario, already known as a famous Holstein breeding centre, is a Holstein heifer, three years and three months old, which has just concluded a seven days' official test that is a record for Canada in milk and butter production, which exceeds the best record made last year in the world by a cow of this age by over 541b milk and nearly 31b butter. Her official test was 24.31 1b butter in seven days. Her best day's milk was B£>lb., In the first ten months of her yearly record of performance test she made 18,1001b milk and 6001b of fat at a food cost of about £19.