COW-TESTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 32, 27 January 1908, Page 3

COW-TESTING.

PRODUCING UN THE DARK. The enigma iu the milk-producing business is that while systematic testins of cows is the only means by which profits may be increased, the principle is practically ignored. The Jew who wei»h the inn* of individual members of taeir herds and test it for butter-fat content have conclusively proved its value as an infallible means of discosin" a cow's true capacity. The practical Danes attach proper importance to cow-tcstiiig. The first record testing association in that country was organised in 18U5, wuu twelve members, and in 1005 there were no less than 401 associations in existence with a total membership o£ something like 'JOOO, testing and keeping the records of 172,240 cows. The cllect of this systematic testing performance was that the average increase in all the associations for a period of five years was !)321b of milk and 431b of butter-fat per cow. The Canadians arc following the Danish example, and the good work is rapidly extending in that country. New Zealand dairymen have not yet come to realise the importance of the subject. Here and there individual dairymen have tested their herds in a more or less satisfactory manner, and the Weraroa Experimental D'arin has carried out a splendid demonstration, but the cooperative testing association idea has yet to be introduced. That this is so is a matter for regret, for the Department of Agriculture is ready, when producers take sufficient interest in the movement to establish associations, to appoint official testers who would test milk samples and generally direct the work. We have said that some farmers in this country have tested their herds in a more or less satisfactory manner. By this we mean that tests have been taken, but have generally been conducted over merely brief p'eriods. The only test of any value, however, is that systematically carried out for the whole year. It is the persistent cow which is generally the more profitable. The lazy man, says a Canadian writer, is noted for doing l>i;i things in a short time, and the principle specially applies to cows. Any 1; liner who desires to-increase the productive capacity of his herd must know exactly the amount- of butter-fat each member of it has produced iu the year. Then, and only then, will he know which cow- are returning a profit and which are being milked at a loss. Before next season comes around it Is to be hoped the testing association Idea will be adopted, and that with the assistance of the Department's officials it will rapidly extend and become part of the ordinary routine of New Zealand i- dairy farmers.—N,Z. Times.