COW TESTING.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1915, Page 4

COW TESTING.

Jn spite of the fact that it has be.:n conclusively proved that the principle of cow testing is most advantageous to dairy farmers, it is still the exception rather than the rule. Evidently there is some cause for this indisposition io profit by a system that unerringly indicates to the farmers the exact producing value of their cows. In any other business the keeping of unprofitable stock is always avoided as far as possible, and the main energy directed to that which pays hest. There are at the present time probably thousands nf cows that do not pay for their keep, yet entailing as much expenditure for labor as those which yield handsome profirs. At the present price of good dairying land a farmer, if he is to derive any benefit from his capital and labor, must adopt the best means for making his business pay, and that can only be done by intensive cultivation, and the rigid culling of unsatisfactory cows from the herd. It may be that at the high price of dairy produce, which has been such a boon to dairymen, they do not sufficiently realise the importance of adopting up-to-date methods, and if that be so they are living in what is generally called a fool's; paradise. They may hug the consolation that it will be time enough to tuyn over a new leaf when a fall in prices compels them to do so or to face bankruptcy. But surely it is more businesslike and manly to t,ackle the matter straight out and get ' the advantage without delay. The present an exceptionally favorable time for disposing of their culls, either at the freezing works or for the canning trade. There should be no hesitation over this matter, for delay means serious loss. It takes no more to feed a good cow than a waster, and the labor is just the same, but • ■ the returns are vastly different. The directors of the dairy factories can render material assistance in this matter. Already the New Zealand Dairy Company, the Kaupokonui, and, just recently, the Bell Block Company have decided to undertake and pay the cost of conducting the tests. This sweeps away one of the main objections made by the farmers, and should certainly stimulate them to take advantage of the system. To replace the cu'ls will, of course, involve expense, but It must be remembered that fifty cows milked at a loss arc only a drag and drain on the farmer's resources, while twenty good cows of proved worth as butterfat producers will each yield 1 a handsome profit, besides lessening tiio labor, and their progeny will more than repay the advanced price of the parents. The lesson is so plain, yet so pointed, that the wonder is it fails to be taken to heart. We should like to see every dairy factory in Taranaki take up the same line as those we have mention*;:!, and it would be still more gratifying to know that the test results were being acted on generally, so that in a year or two the output of the province would have doubled itself and its prosperity become so firmly established that the dairy farmers would he able to face with equanimity any fall in prices should it occur. They only get paid by results, so that it is extremely necessavy that these results should be the very best that can be obtained. If the best quality of butler is to be placed on the market so as to get on a level with Danish prices then the best milk must be produced—-a result that is only possible by building up the herds on the one safe line of retaining only those cows which yield the best material for making the highest class butter cheese.