Testing Dairy Cows.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 218, 3 September 1887, Page 2

Testing Dairy Cows.

Thk vaiious agricultural and pastoral societies throughout the colony will now be making up their progt amines and .schedules of prizes for the Spring shows o^ 1887, and therefore it will piobably be useful to secretaries of these societies to know how things are managed in other fanning communities. Hitherto the competitions in the department for dairy stock have been conducted in a somewhat loose fashion. For instance, in veiy few cases if any has any allowance been made for the length of time since calving « hen testing the relative richness of the milk \ielded by the different competing cows. We have before diawn attention to this great oversight, pointing out that in the English shows so many points are "always allowed for every week since a cow has calved. Another matter which greatly affects the practical value of these competitive tests is the amount and quality of food which the cow has consumed immediately prior to the milking for testing purposes. "We have on previous occasions published in The Farmer the system upon which cows arc judged in such competitions in the old country. We now give the conditions adopted at a show held in Milwaukee in September of last year under the special supervision of the State Experiment Station, for the purpose of testing the respective merits of cows for the production of either milk, butter, or cheese. The rules under -which the competition took place were as follows :—: — 1. The competition shall be open to all cows without distinction of breed, but no cow shall compete for more than one of the premiums. 2. Each exhibitor shall make to the society a certified statement of the age and time of last calving of each cow entered. 3. Each animal may be fed as the exhibitor may desire, but all food given during the test and for twelve hours before shall be weighed out by the person supervising the test, and a record of the amount consumed shall be kept by him. 4. The rows shall be milked twice daily for two consecutive days in the presence of the person supervising the test, who shall keep a record of the number of pounds of milk yielded at each milking. 5. The average chemical composition of the milk produced by each cow during the test shall be determined (so far as is necessary for the purposes of the test) by chem ical analysis. 6. Each cow shall then be credited with the number of points due to her according to the following scale : For Milk : One point for every ten days since calving ; one point for every ounce of total solid matter produced in twenty-four hours. For Butter : One point for every ten days since calving ; three points for every ounce of fat produced in twenty-four hours. For Cheese : One point for every ten days since calving ; three points for every ounce of protein produced in twenty-four hours ; if the amount of fat produced is less than one and one-seventh times the protein, deduct three points for every ounce deficiency. 7. A public report shall be made on each cow, stating her age, breed, date of last calving, the food eaten, the amount of milk produced, the result of the chemical analysis, and the number of points awarded the cow on each count The cow receiving the lai'gesb number of points in her class shall be entitled to the premium. The competing animals had to be delivered over to the show officials by 2 p.m., on the day preceding the show at the latest, the test beginning at 5 a.m. the next day. There were ottered fchreo prizes of £10 each for the best milk, butter, and cheese cow respectively. The objects sought to be attained were to ascortain the relative value of individual animals by an impai'tial trial by actual yields, and also through a sufficient number of such tests to learn something of the relative value of the different breeds for milk, butter, and cheese production. Under the above rules, each animal tested is tried on her actual performances independent of any personal opinion as to excellence. We strongly commend the adoption of some such system to the committees of management at our forthcoming cattle shows. |