VALUE OF COW TESTING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3019, 6 April 1926, Page 3

VALUE OF COW TESTING.

ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS.

One of the principal advantages of milk recording is that it is a sure test of the quantity of feed necessary for each cow in order that the maximum yield may be obtained. On this subject, Professor G. Scott Robinson, D.S.C., of Queen’s University, Belfast, delivered a lecture on the highly-interesting subject of “The Feeding of Dairy Cows.”

In the course of his address Professor Robinson said that the steady growth of the milk recording or cow testing movement is a clear indication of the importance which the fanner attaches to the dairy cow. Success in the keeping of cows cannot be attained without adopting a system of milk recording, and it would be difficult to find a progressive farmer to-day who is not prepared to admit that milk recording is the basis of profitable milk production. It is universally recognised that the gradual weeding out of the poor milking cow is the immediate economic advantage which should, and does, follow the adoption of cow testing. Whilst it is so, members of cow testing associations soon realise that it is not the only advantage which follows recording. A still greater benefit is secured when the results obtained from the keeping of milk records are applied to the problems associated with the breeding and feeding of heavily yielding cows. A constitutionally poor milker cannot be converted into a heavy milker, no matter what food is given, nor will a 100 gallon cow milk as such if she is fed on a ration adequate only for a 400 gallon cow. Without “testing” it is impossible to tell whether either the breeding or the feeding has been successful.