TESTING OF COWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2779, 19 June 1907, Page 9

TESTING OF COWS.

_ln an article in. a recent issue of tbe Garden and Field Mr Robert Coldwell draws attention to what i s being done in Canada in the way of improving the herds that supply the milk. Canadian farmers are inclined to follow the example of dairymen in Denmark and Germany, who by means of a system of testing the weight and quality of the milk supplied by each cow during the year have secured substantial benefit. It simply does not pay to keep some animals on the farm. According to tests made at one of the stations in Canada, the owner of some animals v>as losing two dollars per head during tbe year in supplying milk to a factory, and the proprietary actually thought he was doing fairly well out of these. The Canadian Government is so alive to the importance of the work that the Minister of Agriculture, for the Dominion said if fanners would only form themselves into testing associations and weigh the milk of ' their cows at regular intervals, and supply tbe department with samples and particulars, an officer would be told off to o^ake the tests for them free of charge. In this connection the authority .quoted above exclaims, " How easy it is to waste good feed on a poor cow! For instance, there is a startling difference in the cost of a pound of fat or of 1001b of milk as produced by a good ■and a poor cow. Taking six fairly good typical - dairy cows, as reported on in the State of Ulipois, we find that the ccst of 'a pound of fat varied from 6£ to 13£ cents, the average being 10 cents, but as produced by six poor cows the cost varied from 14 to 52 cents, the average being 26 cents. Similarly, the cost of 1001b of milk xanged from 30 to 50 cents, with the good cows -averaging 38 cents, while with the poor ones the cost was from 51 cents to 2 dollars, averaging 99 cents. No more striking proof could be given of how easy it is- to lose . money with poor cows !" Special note should be made of. the above Information. Let the points be again stated: While the cost of producing a pound of butter fat with six good cows averaged Sd, the average cost of producing the same quantity with six poor cows was 13d (Is Id), or Sd more! No- wonder that the improvement of their dairy herds is receiving such Attention on the part of those who are leading the dairy industry in Canada! A 6 one speaker remarked, "Let us aim to have nothing less than 300 pounds-of-butter oovr?- There is room for them, nn<i I a.m convinced that a? soon as we get up to 3001b we will want to aim still higher!"