COW-TESTING WORK

Waipa Post, Volume 31, Issue 1732, 13 March 1926, Page 7

COW-TESTING WORK

METHODS COMPARED.

<BY OVERSEAS VISITOR

In regions of intensive dairy development, herd improvement through cow testing work is recognised as one of the most important steps affecting costs of production that can be taken, says Professor H. L. Russell in his description of New Zealand in the Dairy 'Farm of the Empire. It is comparatively useless for the cow owner to give much attention to the character and manner of his-feeding methods or to the degree of care with which the animal is handled, unless the individual animal on which he bestows these efforts is worth it. Most farmers know now that this result can be definitely found out only by weighing the milk and determining its fat content. Yet, many fartmers" go on blindly, milking their herds day after day, with only the most general knowledge of how herds is producing in terms of buttermuch each individual cow in their fat per year.

One would think in these post-war days of attempting to lower the costs of (production by every conceivable means that so simple a method, be universally practised, at least in all prominent dairy districts. It will be of interest to compare the activity of New Zealand with American dairymen in this regard.

Cow testing work originatetd first in /Denmark in 1895 and was not started in New Zealand until 1909. Naturally it might be expected that the method would be in wider use in the country of its origin. In 1921-22 230,000 head of dairy cattle or 20 per cent, of the 1,184,000 cows in Denmark were und,er tefet. In New Zealand in -1923-24, 11.5 per cent. (151,214 out of 1,312,500 head) were in cow test work. Of this number tested, over 144,000 or 14.34 .per cent, were in the North Island where dairying is of leading importance. It would not he fair to compare these result's in intensive dairy districts of limited size with the entire United States, but it would be quite comparable to check these figures against the testing work in equally well developed dairy regions, such as "Wisconsin, 'Minnesota, New York and California. For the calendar year 1924 there were 80,780 cows under test in Wisconsin, 30,600 in Minnesota, less than 10,000 in New York, and 38,800 in California. Percentagely, these states, in which dairying is prominent, had under test on January Ist, 1925. according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures, 3.5 per cent, 1.7 .per cent, 0.6 per cent, and 5.8 per cent. 'None of the prominent American States had more than a small fraction of what either New Zealand or Denmark had.

Here in the United States, the work is organised on the basis of the group system, where a group of 26 farmers have a tester who visits the farm of each member of the group one day each month, takes the samples, tests thorn, and sends the records secured to the head office (generally at the State Agricultural College) for necessary checking and tabulation. This same method is followed in recent years in New Zealand but in the beginning of the work they introduced the system that was earlier used iu Canada and, the United State*, viz., that of individual tests.

Under ithis system the farmer toOfr his own samples for four milkings (two days) and sent them with his daily milk supply to the factory where they were tested. The farmer had to provide himself with bottles and a case for the transportation ,of the samples. The local factory of which he <wa& a patron did the testing through one of its employees or the tests were made by the Government dairy instructor in his round to the factory.

TPp to the present time, the larger number of tests have been carried out on the individual system, but within the last three or four years the group system has made phenomenal progress. In 1923, 40 per cent, or 43,000 cows were tested by group system. Of .this number 32,000 belonged to a single organisation, the New Zealand. Cooperative Dairy Company.