HERD TESTING.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1929, Page 8

HERD TESTING.

The South Taranaki Herd-Testing Association’s first annual report should have proved very encouraging to members. It showed that the owners of dairy herds in the district covered by the association were realising the value of herd-testing in that no less than 53z3 cows had been tested by the officials oi the organisation. The cost per cow had been ss, and there seemed a possibility of reducing this charge by amalgamation with a neighbouring association with headquarters at Patea. The success achieved by the Hawera organisation differs in no respect from that obtained by other associations, save that it follows its first twelve months’ operations, while some associations have been in existence for several years. »/nerever such associations have been formed there is no doubt they have proved of benefit to the industry. Superficial judgment of the most experienced stock owner is of little use in defining with accuracy

the value of a cow in a dairy herd. Only the test will do that, and by becoming a member of an association a farmer receives the benefit of having the work done by an independent official, whose only concern is that his records are accurate, and done at a cost that is infinitesimal compared with the value of the information it gives the stock owner. Land holdings in Taranaki are likely to be much more sub-divided, with cultivation much more intensive in the future than in the past, and there will be no room for the holdings that are not being used up to their full capacity. A corollary of this is the herd producing to its full capacity, and the only way that this can be ’brought about is by herd-testing and the rejection of any animal that is not giving a fair return on the cost of its upkeep. The arguments in favour of herd-testing are so overwhelming anl the results so valuable that it is to be hoped, for the sake of the individual a? well as for the industry as a whole, the coming season will see a great expansion of the work of the various associations.