Massey College Course For Herd-Testers

Northern Advocate, 25 May 1938, Page 9

Massey College Course For Herd-Testers

Each year sees an increasingly keen, demand for the services of trained herd testers to take up positions as Sampling and Testing Officers locally or in other districts. A lot is said about the lack of opportunities available to a farmer’s son who is anxious to pursue an independent course for a year or two with the object of getting about and seeing what lies beyond the boundaries of his parents’ and immediate neighbours’ farms. However, herd testing positions, which are today well paid, enable keen yoryig men to tread the road of independence and at the same time to acquire knowledge of many and various farming practices, and to weigh the merits of same, with the view of settling down to farming at some future date with an added knowledge and broadened outlook not easily acquired by a farmer’s son in any other way,

Massey College Course

For 'one to be sure of employ merit it is necessary for prospective herdtesters to attend a short course at Massey Agricultural College and to enrol through the New Zealand Dairy Board or the local herd testing office, if possible by June 10. though later enrolment may be considered. The next Massey College course commences on July 5 and finishes on July 22. The fees for the course are: Tuition. £,?> 3/-; students’ association fee. 2/fi; accident insurance. 5/-; contingency deposit (returnable). 10/-: total, £4 0/6. Board and lodging at Palmerston North, which is extra and is available at 30/- per week, can be arranged. Special Qualifications Necessary.

Documentary recognition will be given to those students who attend the course and who satisfactorily fulfil the examination requirements. A herd-tester’s certificate, issued by the New Zealand Dairy Board, will be granted after any officer has given satisfactory service in the field. Herd-testing calls for special qualifications. No special educational standard is nccesarily insisted on, but applicants should be at least 16 years of age and preferably not more than 25. An applicant must be of good character and be a person of tact in his dealings with people. A herdtesting position should be regarded as a training ground for dairy farming at a later date. Owing to the fact that the testing officer invariably obtains his accommodation at the farm at which he is testing, and he tests on a different farm each night, the job is really not one for a married man. Any person wishing to enrol for the Massey College course, or desiring further information in regard to the course, will find, the secretary of the local herd-testing association prepared to assist with counsel and advice.