MILKING RECORD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 6

MI LKING RECORD.

la a letter published in the Yorkshire Post, the writer, an extensive farmer in the county, gives an interesting experience since' he resolved to keep records of th.? yield of milk of his cows. He finds in milking 20 cows by three milkers that, if a record of each cow is kept, less than addition \\ ten minutes' time is required to get through the work. Tims, ten minutes on the part of the milkers morning and evening, together with half an hour for himself each Saturday evening, puts all square, so that the results may be seen at a glance. Now that all cows calved with him diuring the previous year have completed their periods of lactation, he gives a summary of their records. His entire herd embraced 24 cows. Four of xhese he deemed it advisable, or necessary, to weed out, and they were sold barren after an average period of 26^ weeks in milk, their l-ccords averaging 4283ga1. With regard) to the remainder : — _ Ten of the best averaged 9<Be;al. Ten of the worst averaged 670ga1. The best gave 1177ga7. The -worst gave 391ga1. The- last was retained against the owner's better judgment, •'because she was a bonny heifer." and he adds that she would no doubt still be there had no record been kept. lhe hope is now expressed that she may hay- paid the butcher better than she paid her breeder. Since keeping records the follow ing results have been tabulated: — • "« o S a ■ $ a ° '2 & § r u^ bo § _^ fcr-53 1899—17 573 78-1 271 42wl:s 5 ggg£ 1900—20 625 938 365 44 „ 1901—17 752' 1139 490 45 „ 1902—20 77U 1027 39-1 46 „ 1903—20 821 1177 301 45 „ One or two details bhoukl be adcWl to this experience. The herd is a regular breeding one, and some aie bicd at home, but the bulk are bought in tho open mar-

ket in the West Riding from the usual run of good. Yorkshire non-pedigree dairy _ cows. "The records" are kept from the cows' respective dates of calving, so that only ona calf and' one -period of lactation is -included* in each case. Every endeavour- is made that each may calve within the 12 months, as near as possible — some are a little within, others a r little over, and the average is taken. Taking them all from a particular date is, no doubt,- this owner adlmits, absolutely "correct ; but this method lends itself now and again to obtaining a non-natural record 1 . For instance, a*~cow might calve on January 1, and by rushing matters on, calve again by the middle of November, thus embracing two flushes of milk in the one record', though this would hardly be a wise system with a breeding stock In the following table are given the milk records from, another part of the country. They are the records of cows calred during 1903, belonging to Mr John Evens, of Burton, near Lincoln. The milk for these records was weighed twice daily, and the cows are Lincoln red shorthorns, entered in the Herd Book of the Lincoln Red Shorthorn Association. The figures were published in a December numler of the Scottish Farmer : —

3 ~ Q.S I |S II It StaT H.. .. Jan. 14 Ist 10,092 335 30.C Iris .. .. Feb. 12 3rd 8,301 259 32.0 I«ady Button „ 28 4th 10,232 322 31.7 Spotted. ITT.. Mar. 5 2nd , 7,177 245 29.2 Dolly IT .. „ 5 2nd 6,035 252 23.9 Dairymaid JH „ 17 4th 8,823 280 31.5 3£aud .. .. „ 21 3rd 8,486 336 23.2 Spot- II .. » 23 3rd 8,466 294 28.7 Fleet .ll .. „ 24 sth .10,073 280 35.9 Josephine 111 „ 25 Ist 6,636 273 24.3 C.'Star 111 . . „ 31 4th 7,232 - 231 31.3 Variety .. .. April 4 4th 6,089 224 27.1 Vic- II 17 2nd 9.079 322 28.1 Plenty .. .. May 13 6th 10,845 322 33.6 Y. W. II .. „ 18 3rd 5,031 210 23.9 Ruby IV .. „ 28 3rd 8.854 273 32.4 Whitehall -H „ 29 3rd 5,278 255- 20.7 C. Star II" . . June 1 4th 7,812 262 29.8 Profitable II „ 2 2nd 7,228 252 28.6 Euby Spot .. July 3 4th 8,215 252 32.6 Prophetess II „ 4 2nd 9,828 364 27.0 Carnation .. „ 6 2nd 6,793 266 25.5 Jessie II .. „ 13 sth 6,538 245 26.6 Creamy , 16 4th 7,061 238 29.6 Marjorie .. Aug. 2 sth 7,174 280 25.6 Cross II .. „ 6 4th 8,639 238 36.3 Molly Fox . . „ 31 4th 5.072 238 21.3 r*> »^ce II „ Sep. 2 3rd 6,573 231 28.4 Jessie V .. „ 5 Ist - 5.40S 259 20.8 Margaret .. „ 5 sth 12,580 301 41.7 Promise II .. „ 14 Ist 8.275 350 23.6 Mazia „ 18 4th 10.349 280 36.9 Cowslip 111.. „ 18 Ist 11.778 420 28.0 Fuchsia .. „ 23 3rd 9.538 329 28.9 C. Star IV .. „ 28 Ist 5,410 232 21.4 Cowslip II .. Oct. 3 4th 6,455 260 24.8 Burton IV . . „ 6 Ist 8.021 328 24.4 Burton Fox II „ 25 3rd 7,728 287 26.9 Cork 111 . . Nov. 6 Ist 5.636 288 23.9 Carnation II „ Ifi Ist 5,329 224 23.7 Y.~Star .. .. „ 20 2nd 5.0G5 2?S 21.2 Primrose II . . Deo. 7 2nd 8 504 322 26.4 Forty-two co-ws yielded 327.7481b milk. Average per cow, 780 gallons.