THE VALUE OF TESTING.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 58, 4 December 1924, Page 4

THE VALUE OF TESTING.

EFFECTS AT MOTUMAOHO.

Improvement in Tested Herds,

Much has been said by its advocates that herd testing is eventually a means of improving the herd supplies but as testing is yet practically a novelty there has been little actual proof that these theories work out well in practice. However, a little proof of this phase is forthcoming from the Morrinsville district. The Norfolk Herd-testing- Association has now been operating for four years, during which time the achievements have been carefully noted. It is now becoming- apparent that those who have adopted testing have an advantage over those who have seen no use for it. Mr. S. A. Ferguson, chairman of directors of the Norfolk Co-operative Dairy Company, under which the Norfolk Herd-testing Association is conducted, mentioned to a Morrinsville Star reporter this week that it has been a noticeable fact that those who have been testing- their cows have increased their supplies to a far greater extent than those who did not test.

Besides ascertaining exactly which are the “ duds ” which should not be tolerated testing gives an indication of the cows from which heifers should be saved in order to build Tip the herd. The weeding out and the building up necessarily takes time but in those four years those Motumaoho farmers who adopted herd testinghave effected beneficial changes in their herds and it is little wonder that during the past season the supplies to the Norfolk factory averaged over 2501 b of butterfat per cow.