HERD TESTING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 284, 4 November 1925, Page 11

HERD TESTING.

SUCCESS OF EANGIOTU ASSOCIATION. “ CREDIT TO DISTRICT-ASSET TO COUNTRY” BRIEF REVIEW OE SCHEME. “A credit to Hie owners and an asset to tlie country; i\aS was what the Director of the Dairy Division, Air Singleton, said about some of the herds under test by the Itangiotu Hem Testing- Association, while he also expressed himselt as delighted with the efficient manner in which the organisation was attaining its end —the elimination of the robber cow and the l raising of the average yield of butter-fat. Although the history and progress of this young but wonderfully successful organisation has been chronicled in the Standard before, a brief review of what has been accomplished will not be amiss. A reporter who recently interviewed the honoraiy secretary of the association, Air E. -J. Legg, at his farm at Bainnesse, gathered some information which will be oi particular interest to show visitors who are unacquainted with wliat is being done in this district in the matter of co-operatne herd testing as distinct from systems of factory tesing.

TESTING OVER GOOO COWS. The association was formed and commenced its operations in the 1923-4 season, dealing with one group of 1612 cows, the testing being carried out by one official. Instantaneous success attended the effort and such a live interest was taken in the movement that applications from other herd owners desiring to join up poured in. The result was that in tho next season there were three groups, embracing in all 4522 cows, and tho number of testing officers was increased by two. This season the number of cows under test is 6022 and there are four groups with a tester employed seven days a week in each. As a matter of fact sufficient applications have been received to form still two more groups, but the association has so outgrown its initial organisation that the time lias arrived when the magnitude of business warrants the employment of a paid secretary. That, Mr. Legg informed tho reporter, is a matter that will receive consideration at an early date, but, lie added, irrespective of the tax on the present organisation a further group would have been operated this season had it not been for tho damage to the Shannon bridge and the consequent transport difficulty in that direction. THE MODUS OPEItANDI. The method of working of tho group testers is simple and effective. Each herd is tested once a month and as there are some 30 odd herds in a group the testing official has in some cases to do two small herds in 24 hours, while herds of 100 and over may require two days to complete the individual tests. With liis apparatus he arrives for the evening milking at the residence of a herd owner, weighs the vield of each cow and takes individual samples. In the morning he does the same tiling and then conducts the separate tests for butter-fat yield. As the actual test over 24 hours can only be carried out once a month oil the same herd the figures obtained arc multiplied by the number of days in the month to give wlrat may for all practical purposes be assumed to be an accurate estimation of the month’s milk and butter-fat yield of each cow. The returns are entered on tabulated forms thus: Number or name of cow; yield night 'and morning; lbs of milk lor 30 days; test; lbs of butter-fat for 30 days; days in milk; total to date. At the end of the season, therefore, the dairyman knows to a decimal point the value of each of his cows in terms of its yield and lie culls -accordingly. The tester carries with him a Gerber tester, supplies of acid and alcohol, and all the necessary sample bottles and 12 buckets for weighing at milking time. Usually he stays the evening 'at the farmhouse where he happens to be testing and moves on to the next in rotation after ho has made up his returns in the forenoon. EXTREMELY LOW COST. The cost of testing under the association’s scheme has been proved to be remarkably low. Naturally, whenever a new group is started, the first capital cost of testing equipment, buckets, and such items makes the charge per cow comparatively high, hut it is less in the succeeding seasons and, in any ease, the results far outweigh the outlay. The capital cost per cow tested in the original group in the first season was 10id, and the maintenance and operating costs 2s 5 l-32d —a total of approximately 3s 4d per cow over the whole season. In the second season it was deemed advisable to reduce the number of cows in any one group to 'about 1500 to allow of tho best working results, and, despite the fact that this tended to increase tho per capita charges, the cost per head in No. 1 group for the 1914-15 period was only about 3s, and Glut alter an extra outlay of some £2O for a testing apparatus. In the Waikato, where tests are conducted by the factories on samples supplied by the fanner himself, the average charge per cotv for the season is ss; the levies running from 4s to Bs. Under the Rangiotu Herd Testing Association’s organisation, samples are taken and tested by an expert, while the farmer is relieved of all worry. The busy man often would have no time to take individual samples to bo forwarded to the factorv for testing in any case, and it is an expert’s job. THE WEIGHT YIELD. Since the introduction of milking by machines the majority of dairy farmers have no idea of just what amount of milk each cow is giving—it all goes through the pipes into the reception tank, whereas the association’s tester on his monthly visit has each cow’s milk directed into his own special

buckets tor accurate and testing. That is an important point—— one regains a piece of knowledge which went by the board when hand-milking became obsolete. THE DISTRICT YIELDS. The average butter-fat yield for the first season of the cows in No. 1 group was 219.541b5, and for the next season No. 1 group, 245.691b5; No. 2, 220.54 lbs; No. 3, 246.60Ui5. The average butter-rat yield in the three groups for the second season (and the returns were not quite complete) was 237.61 lbs. Naturally, seasonal conditions have to be taken into account, for last season the floods had a serious effect on herds, especially those in No. 1 group. The average is rising and will certainly continue to rise. _ The Dominion average is about lUOlbs and, in view of that, it will be seen that the .Manawatu possesses herds of which the district may well be proud. SUCCESS ON LIGHT COUNTRY. The Rangiotu, Mangawliata and Glen Oroua districts, the reporter was informed, are eminently suited to dairying, but around Oroua Downs and Baincsse is considerably lighter country and the returns from those districts show what can be 'accomplished on such. The highest average herd in tho group embracing the Bainesse and Oroua Downs districts and up towards Taikorea, last season, was 349.241 bs of butter-fat for the season, with the returns not quito completed. TEST SURPRISES. "As the result of scientific testing the farmers have done a great deal or culling.” Mr Legg observed. “The tester meets with some astonishing variations in the yield of members of dairy herds. The lowest cow usually 'goes out’ after the lair test, although, naturally, unless the return is abnormally low, she is given a chance iest she should bo suffering from something at the time the test is made. In one case the tester found a cow yielding only l.rOlbs of butter-fat per month I She was missing next time ho came round.” Every man should aim at getting a pound of butter-lut a day from his cows for a nine months’ season, Mr. Legg stated, adding that that would mean a high average of 2701bs for the season. • I he test held many surprises, he stated, for often the least likely looking animal wag found to be the most profitable. It had been found that one man witli a herd of 20 cows' possessed the proud average for tho season of 4001bs of butter-fat, but it was a strict rule that information as to wliat each herd produced should not be divulged by the tester. The system was leading to each mail specialising in some particular breed and not carrying a herd of all sorts, while by the test it was possible to accurately ascertain which cows were best suited to any particular kind of country. The day when one sought bulls from 3001bs of butter-fat cows was gone. To-day tho farmer wanted a bull from a 6001bs cow, and us evidence that such ail animal was not rare he mentioned that tho association had tested a cow in tho district to yield 607.971bs of butter-fat for 309 days. It was a crossbred animal —- “nothing to look at” —but there was lier yield, and calves front that cow were eagerly sought after, irrespective of whether they were absolutely purebred or not. There was another advantage of the system—the farmer owning the cow in question had discovered a most valuable asset. A GENERAL SUCCESS. “Yes, testing throughout tho district we cover is pretty general now,” stated Mr Legg in reply to a query from, the reporter. “In some districts we are testing 95 per cent of the cows and over the whole area quite 75 per cent of the herds. It is a growing scheme, and is developing into a big thing.” He cited figures to show that every lOlhs increase in the average butter-fat yield per cow over the whole Dominion meant £'1,000,000 to tho country, while it was hoped within ten years to increase the average Dominion yield to 2501bs to 3001bs of butter-fat per cow per season. • Mr J. Linklater, speaking recently- at Rangiotu, had congratulated the association on not seeking Government assistance for its testing scheme, preferring rather to allow any funds available for the industry to bo devoted to research work, especially in regard to diseases in dairy stock. Mr Singleton, as already mentioned, lrad warmly congratulated the Rangiotu Association on its splendid work, and those concerned felt certain that they were on the right track and performing useful work.