"ROBBER COWS."

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4957, 18 February 1937, Page 3

"ROBBER COWS."

It is stated on good authority that on the general average two out of three cows cheat their owners—that is that only one cow in three actually pays a profit. Everyone will admit that no storekeeper can make a profit with someone robbing his till. Neither can a dairy herd return a proper profit if poor milkers are allowed to offset the good milkers. The low average mentioned can be raised and the herd made to produce a greater income by the very simple process of spotting the robbers and replacing them by producers. It must be understood that the average cow may not be a money loser, but it is simply that by wrong feeding it has not been given a chance to prove its ability.

Successful raising of stock depends on the man as much as the animal. Good judgment in breeding, handling, and feeding is the difference between success and failure. Yesterday's methods may be good, but science is ever discovering new and better ways of accomplishing greater results at less cost. Whether for show purposes or for the production of milk or cream or for sale as dairy stock, the raising of live stock must represent a profit, or the dairyman fails and the industry suffers. Facts are not stubborn things. It is the man who will not recognise them that is stubborn. The day Dr. Babcock gave to the world the test that bears his name a new era dawned for dairying. The Babcock test is the one and only way in which a dairy farmer can ascertain what individual cow is producing in the form of butter-fat. There is no» other way. There is no guessing about the Babcock test. Knowing all this, why will the great majority of dairy farmers still continue to milk their cows without knowing their producing capacity? A good cow can produce her own value every year, but every cow—good, bad or indifferent—is a good eater, and many a cow that is petted and fondled eats her head off every year without giving any return. Dairying is not a matter of sentiment, but of business. The values involved are large, the labour .is great, and the risks many. The public is exacting, intelligent and critical, and only the best of modern business methods in the industry will ensure a continuance of its patronage.