FARM AND GARDEN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 343, 8 March 1911, Page 2

FARM AND GARDEN.

COW KNOWLEDGE. WHY TESTING SHOULD EE ADOPTED. Way is it that cow-testing tissue iations do not come into general favour among.-1 colonial dairymen? This may seem to be a dillicult question to answer. The main reason, ;n the opinion of no expert, is because dairymen in this specially-favoured country lrave comparatively little hand-feeding to do. True, some-' fodder is given to the stock on dairy farms at certain seasons, or if a dry spell happens along; but there is not a generallyrecognised period of annual shortage, such as is experienced in colder countries. Dairymen in Denmark, Canada, and various other countries have an absolute shortages of pastures for several months each year; therefore, they must provide fodder or lose their cows This fact causes them to count the cost of keeping their stock, and to compare it with their returns. Dairymen in this country should learn a lesson from this and place a value on each acre of pasture, and whatever fodder may be consumed in addition, and then strike a balance between that and the returns obtained. "Wallace's Farmer," a United States newspaper, has recently hit hard on this point by saying: "While corn was 10c! a bushel and hay 16s Sd a ton, the farmer could survive if his cows yielded him an average of 1401b of butter fat. He did not make much of anything, but dairying on this basis furnished him with something to do, and if he hauled out the manner, he perhaps did as well even then as he would have done spending his time hauling his grain to the nearest market. Times with us have changed since then. Population has overtaken production in America. The land that grew lOd corn was worth from £5 to £S an acre; the same land now growing 2s Id corn is worth from £ls to £3O an acre. The price of butter has advanced but not in proportion to the advance in the price of corn and of the land, and under these circumstances it is folly, if not indeed almost criminal, to undertake to milk cows which give only an average amount of milk. It should, therefore, be a matter of very great concern to the farmer to know just what his cows are doing. The trouble with many farmers is that they think they know, and rather resent any person telling them they do not know. Here is another example of the worst possible kind of ignorance ignorance that doesn't know it is ignorant. A man may give "Si wild guess by looking at a cow as to her value as a milk-producer. He may do more than guess at the quantity, he may go further than that, and accurately know, but the quantity is not the sole criterion. The percentage of butter-fat is quite as important as the quantity of milk, and, therefore, the only way he can know is by weighing the milk, keeping a record and testing it, or having it tested for butter-fat. Then if he will weigh or otherwise carefully estimate the amount of grain that he is feeding his cattle, he can know absolutely whether, having spent his summer in growing the grain, he can spend his winter in feeding it, with profit, to the cows on the farm and have the skim-milk incase he should sell cream, and in any case the manure, worth 8s 4d a ton, and even more than that at present prices, as a profitable byproduct. We have said this so often before that we are really ashamed to talk about it again, but so long as farmers persist in the ignorance of the productive capacity of their cows we shall be obliged to keep on pounding away in the same spot until they actually milk cows intelligenly. Then when they keep them cows intelligently they will keep them with profit. We therefore once more appeal to you who are doing more or less dairying to get acquainted with your cows. You might have worse acquaintances. Find out, in the only way it can be found out, by weighing and testing, just how much your cows are giving you in return for the 50 cent, corn and other feeds quite as high in proportion. If you have not sand enough to do this alone, then talk the matter over with your neighbours. Form a cow-testing association. Get some young fellow who has had experience in testing, possibly some student of the dairy school, to work at it for three months. He can look after twenty or thirty or forty herds, and the expense divided among the farmers will be a trifle, while the profit will be vast. The profit will be great the first year in getting rid of 'Worthless beasts by fattening them for the shambles, and will be cumulative when in the year to come you will pruvide yourself with the cows that will give you a profit. To be candid, apart from our interest in our life work, the development of agriculture, it is not a personal concern to us whether you make money or whether you do not; but it is a matter of concern to you and your family. It is a matter of great concern to your boys and girls, for this weighing and testing your milk is educational, and tends to deeply interest them in country life and to keep them at. home with you or near you, to the great comfort both of yoUi\-e)f and your family. Won't you at this jato date, if not already acquainted with your cows by the method which we have been preaching for, 10, these many years, get acquainted with your cows and save yourself the folly of converting highpriced cum into dribbles of milk—and loads of manure'/"