YIELD OF DAIRY COWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3802, 25 January 1927, Page 13

YIELD OF DAIRY COWS.

FIGURES FROM DENMARK. WELLINGTON, January 20. Regarding the yield; of the average dairy cow in Denmark, a statement-made yesterday by the Minister of Agriculture will be of general interest to New Zealand dairy farmers. The yield credited to the average cow, he said, is usually exaggerated, and varies all the way from around 250 to .410 pounds of butter-fat, and is most frequently quoted at from 300 to 350 of butter-fat. - . Jyst how far these figures are misleading will be seen by reference to the following figures (the figures in parentheses are for 1924, the others for 1925): — Total cows in milk in the country, 1,390,000 (1,369,000); number of dairies reporting statistics, 856 (861); number of suppliers represented per factory, 141 (142); number of cows represented per factory, 937 (911); number of cows per supplier, 6.6 (6.4) ; total suppliers represented, 120,696 (122,262); total cows represented, 802,072 (784,371); percentage of total milk represented in statistics, 58 per cent. (57 per cent.); average pounds of milk per cow for factories reporting, 6274 (6279); pounds of milk per lb of butter-fat, 24.7 (24.4) Therefore, the average butter yield 254.011 b (257.331 b average but-ter-fat yield (at 86 per cent.), 218.451 b -(221.301b); percentage of Denmark’s total milk cows represented, 58 per cent. (57 per cent.). “The New Zealand factories, continued the Minister, “tell me that their suppliers average 2201 b per cow.”