HERD TESTING

Northern Advocate, 3 July 1928, Page 6

HERD TESTING

(By “Progress.”)

The winter is advancing and the milking season will soon be here, so the question, to test or not to test, must of necessity come up in the mind of every owner of a dairy herd. The question of testing has come very much to the fore during the last few years, and the fact that it is being so strongly advocated and widely practised in the more advanced dairying districts is a proof that great advantages are being gained from it.

A few people may do an unprofitable thing for a little while, but when a large number of people continue to carry on on a certain line for an indefinite period, and are still strong advocates, then surely that is fairly conclusive that it is a profitable undertaking.

There is only one way of improving a dairy herd, and that is by getting to know the yield of each individual cow; and there is only one way of gaining that knowledge, and that is by testing. Going by appearances and the apparent production of a cow is not reliable enough, and many a dairy farmer will own that when he took on testing, cows that he thought were among his best proved, when tested, to be some of the poorest butter-fat producers in the herd. In nearly every dairying district there is a herd testing association that will undertake to test and give a reliable record of every herd that is put on its books, and the fee charged per cow is small compared with the gain. There are herds that, by the aid of testing, have brought the average yield to 300 pounds of butter-fat per cow in a very few years, and testing is the only medium whereby that average can be attained in the lime. The wide difference to be found in the producing powers of some cows, as compared with others in the same herd, is quite a surprise to some dairymen, and impresses on them the necessity of careful selection, culling and breeding. It is not only of great financial advantage in a comparatively short time, hut it gives the owner a personal knowledge of each cow, and makes dairying far more interesting. To quote from a book, “Testing Milk and its Products," by Professors Farrington and Woll, dairying scientists, on “Method of improving the quality of milk";—“The quality of milk produced by a herd can be improved by selection and breeding, i.e., by disposing of the cows giving poor milk and by breeding to a pure-bred bull of a strain that is known to produce rich milk. This method cannot work wonders in a day, or even a year, but it is the only certain way we have of improving the quality of the milk produced by our cows."

The book quoted from was first published in 1897, and it shows that even in those early days of wholesale dairying, testing was strongly advocated by experts. There is not only the advantage gained by testing, but there is the advantage that cows giving over a certain amount of butter-fat can have their heifer calves marked, provided they are by a pedigree bull, and in some cases these marked calves are bringing high prices. In fact, special sales of marked calves are held in the Waikato, each calf being put up singly like pedigree animals. Another gain when everybody tests, and it must come to that sooner or later, will be the speedy elimination of the cull cow and dud bull. The high price of land and labour makes it imperative that every pound of butter possible must be obtained from every cow.

The policy of testing must be carried out by each owner singly, but in the long run an immense benefit will be gained by the industry as a wljole. Dairymen, see that your names are 4 on the list to bo tested this coming season. It is not a matter of not being able to afford to test, but that you cannot afford not to.