JUDGING DAIRY COWS.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 145, 12 August 1926, Page 6

JUDGING DAIRY COWS.

MANY THEORIES EXPLODED / . T By Scientific Investigation. ’ There are still a great many dairy- F men and, alas, many breeders of dairy cattle, who claim to be able to judge the worth of a cow by its conformation. Of late years, since testing habecome more common, most men have lost faith in the size of j udder, or the straightness of the rump, as indication of dairy promise, but the old faith dies hard. Mr. J. W. Glover, an American biologist, has been carrying on experiments, begun in 1913 by Dr. Raymond Pearl at the Maine Experimental Sta-* 4 - tion, to ascertain the factors affectj ing milk yield, butter-fat inheritance and milk solids, and he has concluded j that a seven days’ test is an infinitely better indication of what a cow will i yield in 365 days than any of the re- ! cognised points of confirmation. Even; I the milk veins, the size and quality of the udder, the depth of rib and size of paunch were found to be mightypoor indicators of capacity to yield milk and butter-fat. Nineteen nationally recognised judges were asked to “ score ” numerous cows. Of these nineteen, only nine “ scored ” the best milkers, eight » v.-ere only fair, and two gave the lower f producing cows the higher scores. It * was found that the judges capable of picking out the best yielders, by the score card, based their judgments on. the size of the rear udder, the body wedge, with deep, large paunch, and the size of the udder as a whole. It was found that the measuring tape was a better indication than the score card; that milk yield is quite largely determined by the weight of the cow, her body length, width, and girth, though inheritance is the greatest factor. It was found, also, that conformation has no relation to the butter-fat percentage a cow is able to give in her milk. Scientific investigation explodes a lot of theories, and all the scientific discoveries to date are available to cattle breeders. The pity is that somany men are blissfully unconscious that many of their pet theories and their staunch beliefs have been exploded long ago. (