HIGH-TESTING MILK

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1933, Page 3

HIGH-TESTING MILK

DOES IT INCREASE YIELD? CASE FOR THE LOW TESTER.

(By

R. A. Wilson, Rangitikei.)

In the April, 1932, number of the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture Mr. Fawcett published an article purporting to show from the statistics he gave that a rise in test was synonymous with a rise in yield and recommended that the New Zealand dairy farmers should endeavour to raise the test of their milk. I replied in the papers to this article, pointing out the unscientific procedure of endeavouring to prove the effect of one factor from results which depended on so many different factors. Mr. Fawcett’s article was a recommendation of the high-testing breeds, and was therefore in effect an advocacy of the Jersey breed against the Friesian breed, of which 1 was the Breed Society President. I had at that time a herd near Himatangi milked by Mr. W. L. Johnson on a share basis which, although mainly Friesian were bought as ordinary grades, but four of them were purchased as calves from Mr. W. L. Shailer, of Oroua, Downs (who had a high-class Jersey herd) and reared on my property. Mr. Shailer had at the time I bought had the herd tested for the two previous years and it had averaged 4061 b. fat for 25 cows in 1927 and 3931 b. fat for 30 cows in 1928, the first result being reported to be the highest yield in New Zealand for that particular year. The calves were by a purebred Jersey bull of high butter-fat backing, and were eligible to be registered as marked calves as none of the cows were below 3001 b. fat.

Last year these calves were approaching their second and third calves, so they were coming to their full yields. I therefore considered it would be a good trial to put the herd under test, and if the Jersey breed were as superior as Mr. Fawcett believed the result would be decisive.

The Friesian grades in the herd were not particularly high class, as I had bought them from various breeders, and some I had bred myself without having tested or culled the herd to any extent, as I was expanding the herd each year. The Jerseys had better credentials in the way of breeding than the Friesians. The property is of a light sandy nature and -until top-dressed it was not dairying country. The herd was running on about 300 acres which before I started top-dressing was not carrying more than about 40 ewes. Unfortunately last year was a very dry year and the property (like all sandy property in the vicinity) suffered very much from the dry weather and the herd yields were poor in consequence. This class of country is supposed to favour the Jersey breed as the Friesian is supposed to be suitable only for heavy wet land. I give below the yield of all the cows in the herd that completed the test with a lactation period of 199 days or over. A few cows came in very late, and these I have not included. The adult Jerseys were purchased as heifers with no records of breeding, but the four-year-olds and the three-year-olds were bred by Mr. W. L. Shailer, and should have shown up much better if the breed is as superior as Mr. Fawcett apparently believes. It will be seen that the adult Jerseys were below the average adult Friesian yield; the four-year-old Jerseys were below the average four-year-old Friesian yield; and the three-year-old Jerseys were slightly below the average three-year-old Friesian, and all were well below the highest yield in their respective classes. This shows that, quite apart from the .question of whether we should have high or low testing milk (and scientific opinion is rapidly coming round to preferring low testing milk for cheese) that for production the Friesian breed is just as suitable as the Jersey. These figures indeed show them to be superior. The above , facts and figures are open to inspection and confirmation by anyone interested. The herd testing was done by Mr. Bell, of the Manawatu Coop. Herd Testing Association, and the other facts can be verified by anyone in the district.

No. Breed Age Test Yield Days 1—Friesian ,. M 3.7 293 266 2—Friesian . .. M 4.0 273 258 3—Friesian .. M 3.2 267 257 4—Friesian . ,. M 4.0 256 244 5—Friesian . .. M 3.7 255 259 6—Friesian .. M 3.8 255 237 7—Friesian .. M 4.1 253 248 8—Friesian .. M 3.8 248 252 9—Friesian .. M 3,5 247 250 10—Friesian .. M 3.7 245 259 11—Friesian . .. M 3.8 244 222 12—Friesian .. M 4.3 243 256 13—Friesian . .. M 3.8 240 265 14—Jersey .. .. M 4.5 239 227 15—Friesian . .. 4 4.0 238 199 16—Friesian .. M 4.0 237 268 17—Friesian .. M 3.8 236 261 18—Friesian .. M 4.1 235 248 19—Friesian .. M 3.4 235 257 20—Friesian . .. 4 3.7 235 249 21—Friesian .. M 3.5 234 227 22—Friesian .. M 3.3 232 250 23—Friesian .. M 3.4 228 257 24—Jersey .. .. M 4.1 227 263 25—Friesian .. M ■ ■4.0 221 210 26—Friesian . .. 4 3.6 220 229 27—Friesian . .. 4 3.9 219 220 28—Friesian . .. 3 4.2 210 213 29—Friesian .. M 4.0 206 260 30—Jersey ... .. 4 5.0 206 260 31—Friesian . .. 3 3.2 201 256 32—Friesian . .. 4 4.2 200 226 33—Friesian . .. 4 3.3 197 256 34—Friesian . .. M 3.9 197 248 35—Friesian . .. 4 3.6 195 256 36—Friesian .. M 3.3 194 253 37—Friesian .. M 3.7 194 224 38—Friesian . .. 3 3.9 193 245 39—Friesian .. M 3.3 192 261 40—Friesian . .. M 3.3 .192 242 41—Friesian . ,. 3 3.9 191 244 42—Jersey ... .. 3 4.7 187 243 43—Friesian . .. 4 3.9 186 251 44—Jersey ... .. 3 4.7 182 252 45—Friesian ■ . .. 3 3.9 181 235 46—Friesian . .. 3 . 3.9 179 242 47—Friesian . .. 3 3.7 174 235 48—Friesian . .. 3 •3.7 172 ’ 253 49—Jersey ... .. 4 4.1 171 ■ 259 50—Friesian . .. 2 3.9 162 221 51—Friesian M 3.6 164 225 52—Friesian . .. 2 3.4 134 218