COWS AND CARAVANS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 116, 12 September 1941, Page 42

COWS AND CARAVANS

F you look at the School Journal you will be almost sure to find pieces of verse in it about the lure of the open road. This verse is read and-chanted by boys and girls alike. Boys and girls are therefore equally likely to grow up with the roaming urge strongly developed. How does our civilisation cater for this urge? In the case ‘of men something can be done. They can become commercial travellers or big business men tripping from conference to conference. But what of our girls? Similarity of taste may lead them to marry commercial travellers or big business men. But instead of tripping round the country they find themselves staying home to cook the week-end meals. It was with some excitement therefore that I noticed in the papers last year that applications had been invited from women for a_ herd-testing course at Massey College. Since then several twoor three-week courses have been held, both at Massey College in the North Island and Lincoln in the South Island. The first annual report of the Women Herd Testers’ Reserve was presented at the Re-union last June, and there were then 54 women actually in the field. The General Idea The idea of the course was to train women as herd-testers to replace the men who were in camp or overseas, and to assist in the war-time increase of production. Now, however, it is felt that many will remain on after the war, as the increasing awareness of the possibilities of herd testing will lead to a demand for more and more trained. workers. " But what is herd-testing?" I asked one of the girls who has just completed her course and is out in the field. "What are you supposed to do?" "The general idea of the whole thing," she said, "is to test samples of the milk that comes from each cow, in order to find out which cows are giving the best milk. The best milk from the farmer’s point of view is that with

the highest per cent. of butterfat. You see, nowadays most farms have milking machines, and as all the milk goes straight into the separator there is no way of telling which cows are giving the best milk. Even in the case of handmilking mistakes can be made, as the cow that gives the most milk may not necessarily give milk with a very high proportion of butterfat. Knowing the actual performance of each cow enables the farmer to improve his herd by weeding out the less desirable cows. Tattooing Calves "It’s a help in regard to the calves too. We individually tattoo each calf and keep a record of its parentage. The farmer can therefore form an estimate of its possibilities." "And can the farmer choose whether he wants his herd tested or not?" "Yes, those farmers who want to belong to the Herd-testing Association pay a small sum each year and then get visited by us once a month. Each of us has her own special district, usually consisting of notymore than 26 farms. We test a herd a day, which means that each cow gets tested once a month." "How do you get from place to place?" " All the girls have cars or horses and gigs, and one or two of us have caravans. The procedure is briefly as follows: We start out after dinner and. reach our next farm about afternoon tea: time. We unpack the gear, change into gumboots and overalls, and go out into the shed for weighing and sampling, This takes several hours. Then we spend the night at the farm house. Next morning we’re up at five o’clock and test all the samples from the night’s and morning’s milking. By the time we’ve finished testing, clearing up our apparatus, working out our returns, and re-packing the car it’s dinner time, and then we get into the car and drive to the next place," Social Occasions "Then you don’t get time to be lonely?" "No, and you soon get to know all the people on your particular route. It’s really fun, because your arrival is always (Continued on next page)

WOMEN HERD-TESTERS (Continued from previous page) something of a social occasion. It mieans that you probably get taken to a dance or perhaps neighbours are asked round to play cards. When you’re up at five you usually like to go to bed at nine, but you’re very lucky if you’re in bed by midnight. Every month, of course you have a few days off, and you can catch up a bit then."

"Do many of the girls have caravans?" "Very few so far. There’s a move to provide all of us with caravans, but that will not happen for a long time. One of the troubles with a caravan-I mean of course the trailer type — is that you can’t back with it. You have to unhook it and then back. A friend of mine got into difficulties through taking the wrong turning and finding both her caravan and herself completely bogged. She was rather late for milking. Subsequently she camped in a field and was tossed out of her bunk at 2 a.m. by an earthquake. She found later that ijt was a cow rubbing against the side. So until cows become caravan conditioned houses are really more comfortable for sleeping. But it would be delightful to have somewhere to keep your clothes." "Do you need very many?" "Of course in the car you can live in slacks and a jersey. But there’s always the dance problem, so you have to take an evening dress, I found it very difficult keeping my clothes in good condition until my father made me a fitment for hanging things in the car. Now my frocks travel hung from the roof and swathed in a calico bag. It billows out as I travel and gets mistaken for an apparition. Unjust Suspicions | "We're all very glad that the fine weather has come back, For months I’ve had to pack my clothes damp and there’s a rather musty smell coming from the back of the car. And the alcohol we use for testing gets spilt over our overalls and gives rise to unjust suspicions. I’m waiting for the first fine day so that I can hang everything in the sun and wind for hours."

"But in spite of all the minor incon‘veniences you don’t want to give it up?" "No, in spite of all the difficulties about ‘clothes and baths and the embarrassment of haying your stone jar of sulphuric acid mistaken for beer, I wouldn’t give up my job. It’s a most satisfying one for a girl who likes the freedom and interest of a roving life."