COW-TESTING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10279, 6 July 1911, Page 5

COW-TESTING.

MEETING OF DAIRYMEN. ADDRESS BY MR SINGLETON. AN ASSOCIATION FOR MASTERTON. A well-attended meeting of dairy farmers was held in the A. and P. Association's rooms yesterday, for the purpose of considering the a-clvcF-ability of forming a cowtesting association. Ma- J. C. Ewington, chairman of the Masteirton Co-operative Dairy Company, who occupied the chair, explained the object of tlie meeting. Ho called on. Mr W. JVI. Singleton, of the Agricultural Department, to explain matters in detail, stating that a. resolution could be parsed at a later stage. Mr Singleton said ho felt that no apology was necessary in introducing •tine question of cow-testing to dairy farmers. In early days it was not an unknown thing for a da : rymar. t:> test his yield by weighing the milk before fat testing was introduced. 1: saw its inception in 1595 in Denmark and was now to be found in many other parts, including Now Zealand. The first New Zealand Association was formed in Dateneld, and called the Wairarapa Association. The idea of starting an Association there was to illustrate the. benefits. Three other Associations had since beea started. Th'e system that the Dcpartmcint was working on was that farrows or the members of the Afr [ sooiatjons were asked to weigh the yeild .of each cow for four consecutive milk-Lags in the middle of every thirty day period. The farmer takes a sample of each, and preserves it in a bottle. The Department was prepared to supply the necessary forms for entering up .the results. These forms, with the samples, are sent to the Department's* officer who tests the samples. The returns are then sent to'each, member, who wa.s enabled to learn of the value of each cow in his herd. The members were also given the percentage of butter fat and the pounds of butter fat. The benefits, of cow-tasting were various. It made the farmer a better dairyman. Thoy wene forced to acknowledge that thoy muct have cows of a dairy temperament if they wished to produce a. good yield. A long milking season was neoassary to cot: big yields. ' In the Daleficld' district one member had a. cow in for seven months, and the yield was 2271b.r-, while a cow that was imilkied for nine months produced 2971 bs. Taking the price of butter fat at Is per- lb the difference was £3 10s. If a cow war going to be milked over a long peasou she must bo fed well even xv]w. dry. The principle of letting cowr; , go on their own when dry -was getting more and more out of date. In a number of districts the milkinp season had been increased by about { three or four months by better feed, extra care, and better cows. In a Dalefi'S'ld herd two cows which calved in the same week produced 318 cr.d 1931bs of butter fat respectively, making a difference of £6 13s. Sp"? cial dairy cows were recosc-ary to produce butter fat cheaply. An A? sedation was a great help to f.vr.l- - cm aiding them in their iudgr.v:' 1 as to what ccostitufod a. good "dairy cow. Mr Singleton emphasised !•!•••••■ necessity of careful treatment T did not matter how good'the- cov-V wore, unless they were kindly t'-eret-ed the host results were imposFf'b.'o. A oei*taiai farmer had a herd that produced a test ".of 4-1 in November, but although his was the highest test at the factory he was not satined. Tire butter fat for the month only reached 271hs, while a neighbour with a low test was able to produce 431bs of butter fat. It Avas the quantity of .butter fat that was required. Farmers have different way:; of culling. Some selected the cows that are holding out, best at the end of the iseason, which was a good line to work upon. Others selected the cows that gave a good bucket of milk in. the flush of the season. This was quite x im unreliable method of selecting the 'best cows. One of the most amusing features in connection with the Department's work in .forming Associations was the way in which farmers selected iwhat they considered were their eight best cows. Not one could do it correctly. One selected a cow with a yield of 2691 ibs, while a cow with a yield of 3671b5. did not obtain a place in the eight. Thelsame farmer missed both his second and,third best cows. Another selected a cow with a yield of 1791bs> in preference to one "with a yield of 3331hsi. The best cow n all the four Associations that -had been formed, namely, one with a yield of 5041hs of butter fat, was not selected among the eight best of the herd to which it belonged. In that herd, a cow with a yield of 281 lbs was among the eight select*-..i, while four oowis with larger visits were omitted. In the Associations the dairymen now culled their bonis according to the yield. So far as the improvement of a dairy herd was concerned, Mr Singleton said he did not know of any better ratlind than that for selecting the best cows. The cows should he mated firstly with a bull of a good milking strain, and secondly with a purebred bull. The milking strain should be considered in preference to a purebred animal. For a farmer to decide upon a bull it was necessary to see ■. he records of he® dam and if possible Ms giaud dam. At the present time tu<re were records to refer to, but the result of the A&sociatffioinsi in later years would 'be that records would hj? availahle. Another .point in favour of a cow testing proposition was Shut if the boy on the farm took ,s.n interest im the returns of each iVividual cow he would receive an education which would be of great benefit to him all has life. In conclusion Mr Singleton said the Department wished to foster the n overwnt, and the officers w&ro available to give all the assistance tlwr other work permitted. With regard to the cast of cow testing, Mr Singleton said that a herd of 20 rows w.vid probably awn into about «':c rl-Jln.g .per head, while thu f.rc.nfcsr the i:i mher the less the sr-'ragr c>&t v "< lid be. Mr E. C. '"olnes tn'i that il was the profitable cow that was required, and he thought that an Association was the best means towards that end. He • o.ed rhVi an .A5-o?iat-*.ii he formed in Masterton on the linos explained by .Vr Sincl--t-#>rj. Mr E. J V rgnt ••■ , roti«l-l il;e motion, which was carried unanimously. The lairvMori piwnt rm?:.M: 322 cows m.' i're A* jo "iniio>!. A committee consisting of Messrs A. Wilton, E. C. Holmes, E. J. Wright, R. Kibblewhite, J. C. Ew-,

ington, and the chairman, was appointed to •■"..ij-ass :n. .;; ; . ct t->r i It was anticipated that close on • 1000 cows will be guaranteed. Mr E. Harper moved a hearty vote of to .V* > up!' t'.ji t-r-' his address. Mr Ewington seconded the motion, and in doing so said that the farmers were- deeply indebted to Mr Singleton and the Department for their valuable assistance. A meeting of the committee was held subsequently, when each member was allotted his portion of the district to canvass. The seretary (Mr R. Brown) was instructed to write to the Dalefield I Association with a view to amalgamating and forming one big Association for the district. ' The mooting closed with a vote of thar.k.s to the chairman.