HERD TESTING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 95, 22 April 1912, Page 7

HERD TESTING.

A RECORD OF PRACT ICAL EXPERIENCE. (By T. McPhillips.) ■lf we !i;ive sonic cows producing up to 400 H) of butter-fat. and mate thesecoivs to purebred bulls with a butterfat record behind them oqually’as good or better, and rear heifer calves, 1 cannot sec why we cannot build up herds the average cow of which will produce 4001 b of butter-fat. An 'illustrating this, I had nine two-year-olds -which averaged for last season almost 2901 b of fat, and these should be equal to 4001 b a year when mature cows. The records of these two-year-olds showed an average of 58961 b of milk and 286.741 b of butter-fat. To illustrate the difference in earning capacity of two herds: One herd, say, is equal to the average of all the cows tested by the cow testing associations last year, and gives abouc 2201 bof fat, while the other herd gives 3001 b of fat per cow per annum. Allowing 100 cows in each herd, the difference in the total yield of butter-fat per herd would be 801 b per cow, or 80001 bof fat. Tailing ten years as the period of usefulness of each herd, the difference, in . that time would amount to 80,0001 b of fat, which at 4c per lb would equal £4OOO. Now that the time has arrived when dairymen must brood their own Calves’and rear them for their herds, it hi essential that those good heifer calves should not be .stinted. they should get now milk For six to bight weeks,' and then", ■ 'anti only, jillC^(is the. foundation laid for a good institution and a spiyu|,;f;oiV. Not onjy dp wo get constitution,!flint that’ will, the ; first'* jyCfiV* she ip,mmiMUujg, pay 'for tfso- proper hda re giviem Ihov-ljn the first six or eight weeks of her existence. If dairymen would hare their cows tested, find out the robbers and throw thorn nut altogether, and keep only the profitable' cows,, those cover; would p-iy, l/etier. still, ,(ihd' thmij-, s-dves better o!f witi-,.t,1 ? .e smayci- juu(qhoF’of cows all (of ivvhism were i Iprofi liable’. 1 ' ; Cows ntffSt ihiive plcfitittfl' of ■suitable feed. Rps'lust as to .feed cows wlie®,',ti\cy are,, turned out ase when'they are being ■ '.milked. We must not think that* Vve ' are goimp; to get 4001 b of butter-fat from even a good cow if half starved, in winter. If cows have dene well-when dry they will ho at their host in throe weeks after calving. If not, it will bo about three months before they have built up their systems and can make their best returns. Kind treatment is just as essential right through the life of a cow as at any particular stage. ?.fy experience has been that we can never get the full return from a cow that has been abused. I consider that the dairy business is only in its infancy. It is only by records and and the use of a purebred bull with a 'milking pedigree that we arc going to got increased production. There is a lot of room for improvement. Sonic people have an idea that a cow-testing association is not altogether what it ought to be; but 1 am thoroughly satisfied, for it practically worked out with .my factory returns. Where dairymen are not saiiCt fird,'T think a good deal of the complaint is caused by .conditions on the farms. Cows roughly handled or samples improperly taken cannot give the most accurate results.