Show CO OPERATIVE cooperative COW TESTING associations A 3 a v I 1 s cs c S s if aw EXPERT testing TEST and COWS FOR COMMUNITY from the tha united states department of 0 agriculture increases of front froni 1010 10 to 18 15 and in some cases much higher lit in the annual profits from each dalry dairy cow have resulted from the organization of coop co op cow testing associations intha nth united states ti according lo 10 stats tle gathered by the dairy division of the united states department of agriculture the expense of membership in these lis soc lations on oil tile the other oilier hand litis hay been only about per cow per year the organizations therefore have been very profitable I 1 because of the grent great and obvious economic advantages arising from the associations dairy specialists of the department believe that the organizations are one of tile lie most important factors for the up building and devel opulent of the lite dairy industry in this country such tin an organization con slats generally of 20 26 farmers fan nera living within a radius of it few miles ties who cooperate to hire oil an expert tester to keep accurate accounts of ta alio and cost of feed consumed by each cow in the association the quantity of milk produced by each and its richness cliness rl in butterfat those these statistics usually reveal tile fact that somo cows aro are not producing enough to pay for their keep while others are ape highly profitable acting oo on this information the owner of tha tho cows disposes of tile least desh raide of ills his animals and makes up ills his lierd herd exclusively of those that produce a 0 consid orallo profit the membership of the ho association la Is placed tit nt 20 so that tho the tester can make it complete round each month devoting one avs work day to member that iiii ho may keep lc eli ills his rec on it mont lily basis it tills has been foiled bound by careful experiments that tho mec ages based xa on monthly tests do not vary more than two to percent per cent from the he production as shown by dally daily observations ions since tho the tester la Is an expert ind and can make tile necessary tests and computations rapidly ind and sinco he ha cau cati bo be depended on oil to make ills his observation independently ot of pressure of work ork on the individual farm the owners of dairy cows find it chean er r and moro more satisfactory in many cases to have their testing done through the association than to undertake to do it themselves there ure are now nearly cow cortest test lug 1119 associations in the alio united states having been added luring the last year these associations have an aggregate membership of farmers owning approximately jr cows COM the cow testing association originated rIgIna ted lit in denmark in 1805 find and tile first of the organizations in III tills cogul try was aa formed in lit in 1000 because of the value of the associations to the dairy industry of the country the united stales department of agriculture Is stimulating interest antero st lit in thein and is assisting farmers in III their organization bull associations another and soine somewhat what similar flar line of operative cooperative co work holcli is being encouraged by the department for tile improvement of dairying and cattle calsing Is the formation of bull associations ciati clat lons ons mhd function of these organizations is 13 to make available at slight expense tile services of purebred bulls for the herds of the associated farmers it has been found that often the total value of the scrub bulls owned by farmers Is lelent to supply through a bull association purebred bulls for tile the herds of all A number of blocks of the lion members are formed and a purebred bum bull placed la in euch each the bulls are shifted every two years to prevent interbreeding Inter breeding I 1 of tho nearly cows in tile united states are too inferior to produce profitably where the bull associations have been formed the grade of the stock tins hag been raised appreciably dairy specialists of 0 the ahe department believe that alint these associations will bo be an important factor la in increasing thi th quality of dairy cattle throughout tho country |