HERD TESTING.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 595, 24 December 1920, Page 4

HERD TESTING.

By J. G. WARD.

The Association method of testing dairy herds was inaugurated in New Zealand by the Dairy Division by starting nine groups some years ago. The accuracy of Jhe work accomplished on Association lines had been checked in two ways, viz., (a) against! the semi-official testing of such cows as to be tested by both methods during the same season; (b) against the factory returns. Evidence from both these sources showed that the Association system of testing individual cows is as accurate ?i3 leouired. Association figures, however, would probably he found to exceed the factory figures by 5 to 8 per cent. Such variations would be largely due to the fact that the Association eretlllts each cow with her yield from the date of calving, whereas usually the milk produced during the first four days or so does not find its way to th 3 factory. Also milk used for household purposes and feeding caives, and that spilt, would account for the variation. The semi-official testing work bears satisfactory evidence that provided the dairyman takes his samples and weights carefully the Association method will produce 'results which will compare most favourably with the semi-offi-cial testing where an independent Government testing officer checks the v/eiirhts and takes the samples. Association testing " shows that as a whole they know far less about their individual cows than they have reason to suppose. They often buy cows with unsatisfactory results. One man av the beginning of the seas.on paid £lO for a cow which in 233 days produced only 961bs of butterfat. Testing not only proved unprofitable buying. but it proved injudicious selling. A dairyman tested a cow once through'the season, and being dissatisfied with the exceptionally low test sold it to a neighbour, who during the succeeding season had his herd tested on the usual plan and found that his lecent purchase produced 3961bs of butterfat. Further proof that dairymen did not know the respective merits of then- cows was shown in the experience of the Dairy Division in asking members of various associations to select their best eight cows and place them in order of merit before the season's testing commenced. The mistakes made by almost every dairyman in this connection should satisfy dairy farmers that the taking of the weights and regular monthly testing were essentials' to accurate knowledge of the individual cows. Milking machines have made it very difficult up to the present for users to avail themselves of the benefits ol testing associations, but the difficulty was now overcome by a New Zeal antler's invention, whereby accurate results could be obtained. The present cost of these machines was fair-; iy heavyrbut one of the two methods couid be adopted which would reduce the cost per head- (l/»t) to hiatal, say, two testers in a four-cow piant and take four days over the sampling instead of two,* or (2) loiit group of farmers to go in for a set and work it round among themselves, so that the last man to use them would finish up in time for samples to < f o on by the 30th of the month. Fifty pounds of fat per cow per year was a low estimate of the increase to be attained by culling in one season, and on that basis a herd of 40 cows would produce £152 Is 8d more it; one year, taking butterfat at Is •7t!. or ':15« Gs Sd at Is lOd. During the second year of testing, 15 herds produced 2681bs of butterfat fiom average cow. whereas during the first year the same 15 herds averaged only 209!bs of fat, a difference of 57li>s of fat per cow. In some herds the increase had been as much as iG lbs of fat. Following are the testing F,mres of these association?, vhich show:—-A: Ist vear, 19olbs nf fat; 2nd vear. 255. B. 205 and 240. C: 209 and 257. In other words, i quarter less cows would produce the same mount of fat. The variation in the production of various herds was intereptlng, ami in w&ny cases wide differences wore shown. One herd 01 3(> cows with an average milking period of 218 day.s averaged 253!ds of fat per cow, whereas* another herd of 30 cows with a period of 217 days produced only I4Blbs of fat per cow, a difference of 1051b?, worth f.B 6s 3d at Is 7d per lb. The difference of individual cows in the same herd was even more striking. One cow during the first 186 clays produced 31 Libs ot fat. another milking 182 days only, produced 1861bs. In a second herd one cow produced 4101bs of fat in 269 davs, while her mate gave 221bs in 270 days. The difference in the yield of individual cows was largely due to variation in dairy temperament, and to this was attributed the cost at which one type of cow Will produce butter fat as against a cow or a different type. Experiments showed, that variation in the oo»t ot production was considerable between cows 'of different temperaments. While cows of Ihe dairy type and *ter#peiameut, have, under given condition! produced butterfat at a feed

coat of 6d per lb., the cost of producing butterfat by animals -f the milk and beef type will be 7cl per lb., and of the beef and milk type 8u per lb, whereas the beef type could rot produce fat at under.a cost of Sd. These costs would be higher proportionally to-day, the figures gave an' indication of the necessity ot specialising in the dairy type if butterfat is to be produced at the lower heist. Kaupokonui was one of the associations started in New Zealand, and some of the best cows in individual nerds during the past season have ciie following butterfat yield to their credit:—6os, 530, 479, 447 431, 420, 419 and 415. The lowest mn' from HOlbs in 252 days upwards until one man's lowest was 631. Four herds had a lowest yield exceeding 2iiolbs per cow. The average cov.' had n credit of 2661b:., and the average of the herds was 2851bs per cow. The Association average for all cows milking 100 days was 250.071 lbs in 2'59 days, while the five lowest yielded only 98.01 lbs in 162 days. The following figures go to show the influence of sire on progeny. A sire from Certificate of Record cow was used:— Record of dam: 231 days, 215.(9!bs of fat; 207, 257.1: 241, 214.64. Records cf daughter: 273, 326.34; 238. 330.50: 217, 2975.3. This paper concludes by an acknowledgment of the assistance given by the Director of the Dairy Division in supplying the statistics relative to Association herd testing. The cost to farmers having their cows tested by the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company is 2s 9d per cow, or Is' 9d per cow for the outfit, and Is per cow for the testing. Outiits are returnable at the end of the season, and full credit allowed if in good condition, but this, is a business where persistency and consistency pays, and should be done every year. Balances, graduated to 'Mb'up to 251 b or 501b. vary in price from Is 6d upward. It is very -lecessary that these weigh correctly, as an "error of 1 -.lb in each weighing increases to 151b in the month and 120 lbs iii the season of eight months.