FARM NOTES.

Thames Star, Volume LIX, Issue 16656, 28 November 1925, Page 10

FARM NOTES.

DEALING WLTH WON’T WORK COW. The only thing to do with an “1 won’t work” cow of this character is to discard it. It does so little that it never has a chance to get tired, in this respect, resembling the' tramp who secured a job with a farmer because “nothing ever made him tired.” Two hours later the farmer found him fiat on his back on the sunny side of the haystack. “Hey,” he shouted, “I thought you said nothing ever made you tired.” “This doesn’t make me tired,” was the calm reply. The patience of this mair is only equalled by that of the New Zealand farmer who does not get tired of milking dud cows. Detailed tests I of 55,000 cows in the Waikato last season showed that one out of every five was actually robbing the man who milked it by giving less than it cost to keep. Another one out of every five was being .kept purely for ornamental j purposes, in that it paid for its own ; rent and food, but left nothing over for the farmer. Of the other threefifths, half gave a fair return, and the other half an excellent return. If the low-producing cows had been on Jdie average level of those showing a profit, another 2000 tons of butter would have been produced, thus permitting an extra £400,000 in cash being divided ajnongst suppliers. But individual cases make the point clearer.,, One man with a herd of 58 cows reckoned his returns should be fairly decent. They proved to be positively indecent—disgraceful—averaging 92.4411) per head. This is simply , slow suicide—it is not farming at all. To conduct dairy farming on a reasonable basis of comfort and prosperity, the average cow on good land must yield 2501 b of fat, and at that it is only the last 501 b or so that gives the farmer his profit. Do not forget that just as the cow collects her wages just because the farmer gets only the surplus over her own bodily needs, so farm profits have first call before farm profits are available. ! There is no hope for the farmer in the cheerful philosophy of Pat, who greeted his landlord's intimation that lie was going to raise his rent, with the hearty ejaculation, “Begorra, I’m mighty glad of’ that, because it is past mo raising it myself.” The only man who can raise the farmer’s wages is the farmer himself. His only source is extra production, and the only line to that is testing, which will identify the producer and brand the i-miter and boarder. HOW TO GET TESTING DONE. There are three effective methods by which dairy farmers may test their herds. These revolve round 1 (1) Groups of farmers forming testing associations. I (2) Individual action, and each ' man doing his own. • 1 (8) Individual action based on factory co-operation. The fullest and most comprehensive scheme is that of the Herd Testing Association, an example of which is now operating effectively in the Waikato. This is its fourth season, in the first year 800 cows were tested, in the second 31,000, in the third 55,000, and in this, the fourth year, approximately the same number. This system relieves the individual farmer of all responsibility. Approximately 28 or 30 farmers group theirseives together, pay 5/- per cow, and secure thd* special services of a tester. This tester visits each farm once a month,, takes night and morning samples, weighs the milk and averages the Return. The results are effective and comprehensive, the only risability being the cost and the inapplicability of the system to districts where the farms are widely scattered. The second and third methods throw the labour on to the farmer himself, his family, or his help. Once having sampled and weighed the milk, the actual testing can be done either bv himself or at the factory where facilities by directorates interested in the welfare of their suppliers. Individual sampling and weighing by farmers themselves is not popular because the impression exists that time and tropble is involved. This is not so. With very little demonstration it can be shown that five minutes is all that is equired to effectively sample and weigh the milk of 30 cows. This can be done even with machine milking on the releaser system, because special patent buckets are now available which keep separate the milk of each cow ready for weighing and sampling. The arguments of ' time; trouble and bother are demonstrably unsound, so that farmers handling large herds with milking machines can effectively check up their production. With the will to test, trouble is infinitesimal.

MAKE USE OF THE CHILDREN. The real secret ol' success in tiie testing movement will prove to lie, j. think, to interest the women and children. When they realise that their possession of a motor-car, a better home, radio, and a gramophone is going to be hastened by the careful checking, sampling, and testing of the herd, the farmer’! worries in the shed will be wonderfully lightened. Many farmers to-day have been reared in a terribly hard school. In many cases they are frightened of figures, and are not trained to exactness in recording tilings. It is not the farmer’s fault, but it is a fact, and a factor in this testing business. The youngsters of to-day are the farmers ol the future, and they can be trained in the niceties of exactness. It is all a. matter of training. The practical use of the Rabcock Tester should be demonstrated in every public school in dairying districts. This is being done in Australia. It has been done ,in some districts in New Zealand, where dairying is prominent and as a result children become thoroughly inmiliar with all points involved in sampling and testing. This robs the farmer of his fear of fiddling detail. The joy of finding out things about cows appeals to youngsters. As the chart unfolds its illuminating records I of performance day by day. showing which cow is good and which is poor, the interest deepens. This gives the farmer the 'fundamental knowledge which enables him to built his future programme of herd improvement by breeding from high producing cows and high testing capacity. By a proper

system of branding the calves from high testing and good producing cows farmers will most easily and quickly place themselves on the basis of prosperity they are entitled to. The only man the farmer can ask for a rise is himself. Will he hand himself one? I will leave it to the boys and girls to answer. It is their future that is at stake.