DECLINE OF TESTING.

Putaruru Press, Volume III, Issue 94, 13 August 1925, Page 7

DECLINE OF TESTING.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. An Interesting Survey. According to the United States Agricultural Press there, has within the last few years been a marked decrease in the number of cows placed ! on test for advanced register in that ; country, and all persons interested in the progress of the dairy breeds are seriously inquiring as to the cause of this decline. , Mr. Robert Seoville, president of the American Gurnsey Cattle Club, in an article in the Breeders’ Gazette, has recently surveyed the position. He says that although some of this decline can be attributed to the econonic situation, it is also due to the fact that advanced register testing has unfortunately grown into a competitive game rather than a constructive breeding standard. “There are too many high records that do not tell the true story of the producing ability of the cows in question, because they do not represent her normal dairy capabilities. These are the cows that have had too much opportunity to make good. They have been aided by abnormal conditions of housing, feeding, and other phases of management that have caused them to produce an amount of milk and but-ter-fat considerably in excess of the amounts that they would return to the average practical dairyman. I ——T-hl.-, condition,” Mr. RcovjlJc continues, “ produces a harmful situation that is, I believe, directly responsible for the decreased interest in advanced register testing. The spread between records so made and those made by the breeder, who, because of conviction or necessity, refuses to depart from what is considered good dairy practice, is much too wide. A bull calf from a 6001 b cow, treated

under normal conditions may be more valuable than one from a cow with a record of 7001 b or 8001 b made under abnormal conditions; nevertheless, it will always be difficult to persuade the buyer of the truth of this fact. Is it any wonder that under such conditions the practical breeder finds much discouragement in record-mak-ing?” from the economic value of the calf for replacement purposes, it is obvious that the dairy functions of the cow demand that she shall reproduce, and the present system disregards this facto r.” He suggests as an alteration on the present method in the United States that there should be only one class, namely, a 305-day class, providing for the birth of a living calf at, for instance, 13 months after freshening for the record. The official acceptance of the record would be contingent upon the birth of a calf within the stated period. If the calf is not born within this time the figures should be accepted as unofficial, but published with the actual date of the birth. “ The object of testing,” Mr. Scoville adds, “ should be to develop a sturdy race of good producing and reproducing animals. Our records are now incredible to the man on the farm. Make them seem more reasonable and understandable to him. Make them more nearly approach ordinary (but efficient) dairy practice, and the advanced register record will assume a. new significance and retrieve its popularity.”