COW TESTING

Waikato Independent, Volume XXIII, Issue 3006, 11 January 1923, Page 6

COW TESTING

WHAT SOME DAIRYMEN SAY ABOUT IT.

The following extracts are taken from the annual report of the Canadian Dairy and Cold Storage Commissioner: “Cow testing shows me how to feed intelligently; one cow would not respond to any extra feed, while another took much more and gave a good profit.”

“I was surprised to find that one cow gave 15.12 dollars in the year nforo than another of the same age that freshened just four days different.”

“One cow cost me 2.55 dollars more to feed than she earned. ”. “I was astonished to find one cow gave 1145 pounds of milk more than another that freshened a month earlier. ’ ’

“I did not think I had such poor cows till I commenced' to weigh the milk from each one separately.” /‘I find it pays to test as well as to weigh the milk; one cow gave me 565 pounds of milk more than another, but 16 pounds of fat less. One cow gave me 45 pounds of fat more than another the same age.” “I found that my two best cows, age five, gave me 799 pounds of milk more than three others, also aged five. Seeing they were all fed alike, I had to handle five poor cows to got the prolit made by one good cow. This looks like waste of time.”

Another large milk shipper says he finds it pays him to feed each cow according to her yield, instead of lumping all together and feeding all alike.

“I consider the’ scales and tester to bo the greatest aid. The' scales act as governor to regulate your care and feed by, and in this way alone I had added 500 pounds of milk to each of my cows’ production. I weigh every milking of every cow; it pays big.” “We have weighed each milking for four years and have made the following averages: 1918, 19 cows, 7240 lbs of milk; 1919, 21 cows, 7450; 1920, 23 cows, 7319; 1921, 25 cows, 8000 lbs. We now sell all cows that do not make 7000 pounds, and all two-year-olds that go under 6000 pounds.” “The more we follow up weighing and testing of each cow’s milk, the more we are convinced that it is the only way to show what our cows aro doing. We thought the weighing ’night and morning might become tedious, but it is just the opposite.”