A QUESTION OF TESTING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 79, 26 November 1912, Page 5

A QUESTION OF TESTING.

MIDHIRST ASSOCIATION RESULTS.

A STARTLING HYPOTHESIS

At this time when farmers are turning their attention toward champion cows, prize bulls, record yields, but-ter-fat competitions, and the rest, we are glad to publish from an authoritative source two sets of figures, which teach a lesson that must be driven home to the unprogressive farmer. The figures in question are taken from the records of the Midhirst Cow-Testing Association, and refer to the yield for the thirty-day period, ending November 11th, 1912, of the ten best and the ten worst cows among the herds of the Association’s members. It does not follow, though it is quite probable, that some of the “scrubbers” and the “breadwinners” are to be found together grazing on the same farm. Take a hypothetical case and imagine two farms, side by side, on, say, the Salisbury Road, and suppose that Mr A, the owner of one farm, has all the good cows and Mr B, his neighbour, all the wasters,. A has realised that with a poor cow the doctrine of “as ye sow, so shall ye reap” cannot be interpreted too literally. He knows that no m.attcr how good the feed or how energetic his efforts, the “scrubber” will not respond. But he also knows that the good cow will repay him for all his efforts; the more he puts in the more he will get out. Knowing all this, he has tested his cows, applied the knowledge he has learnt, procured a purebred bull of a good milking strain, and built up a really good herd. Allowing that his ten average cows are the ten best cows of the Midhirst Association, then for the thir-ty-day period ending on November 'l4th; Tfis 'Mi cows have produced 13,6121 b of milk, \ which at a test o! 4.32 made 588.061 b of butter-fat, giving at Is a pound a cheque of £29 8f for the month. On this basis, Mr A is getting from his fifty cows tin handsome little November cheque oi £147. His neighbour Mr B has ar equal number of cows, equally good grazing, works equally hard, but is not equally progressive. The methods of his great-grandfather are good enough for him. He judges his cows by the quantity of the milk they stream into tlhe bucket, and their general appearance, and has never heard of wolves in sheep’s clothing. What is the result? Let his ten average cows be the ten worst cows of the- Midhirst Association’s herds, anc these are the figures that greet him: 38171 b of milk, 3.36 test, 129.511 b but-ter-fat, at Is lb, £6 9s. His fifty cows swell the cheque to approx £32. Carry the the figures on a step further, and on a general average, it will be seen that for the milking season A’s cheque will be somewhere in the neighbourhood of £9OO, but B will only receive £225. . The comparison is, of course, made the most of; the hypothetical cases, while not impossible, are improbable, because it is unlikely that any one farmer would possess fifty cows as good aS Midhirst’s ten best, or that one farmer would be so foolish or unfortunate to possess fifty cows as bad as Midhirst’s ton worst. Because one side of the picture depicts ignorance and stupidity at its worst, the lesson should be none the less beneficial, or the remedy the less obvious. 1