Show EE PRACTICAL RA COW TESTING associations AfI CHIG APE PER an COW oc orm ME 54 SVEN MV WS MF B V THE ra 1 V A q 11 t os P i 0 1 it 1 s 3 41 1 1906 SO 5 zaff 2339 0 O H hes M SAX 13 70 M booy so 60 4 2349 34 6 29 za V 13 1341 41 7 70 66 am 69 4 IS efto 1635 63 af 60 abw 72 66 av V 63 96 16 azos 41 93 4 9 isa 7 90 79 az aw JU 33 00 04 66 17 76 M I az 2 18 86 6 1 0 60 43 2003 9 2962 1866 ats 9 ZM 0 1 5 77 16 66 44 WW M size 2 0 62 33 3 9 3 ca 64 1 tle cyz V Z 31 7 0 of 9 sae Z 20 77 0 prepared by the united states department of agriculture in popularity cow testing associations have grown rapidly in late years iner increasing dasing about 63 per cent in the united states in 1914 the printa purpose of an isso association clation Is to put dairying on a better basis and to eliminate unproductive cows the average annual production of the cows of the united states Is approximately pounds of milk containing pounds of butterfat though there thera are many herds with records of production averaging more than pounds and pounds of tat fat it Is the low average production which increases the dairy mans troubles chief among the causes of at small milk flow are the following the cows are not property properly fed many of them are not capable of making a largo large production the farmer has no records and has little idea of which cows are making him a prost profit and which are falling failing to pay for i the feeds they consume farmers are often prone to believe bellee the cows pay in some mysterious way mainly through the manure they produce and thus bring ultimate success the first cow testing association in this country was organized at fremont mich in 1905 these associations are now to be found in 30 states and in 1914 totaled of these new york had 29 vermont 28 and wisconsin 24 other states following with aach ch smaller numbers operative cooperative co cow testing did not originate in his country indeed the movement is still in its infancy when compared with the number of associations in europe where there are between 2600 2500 and there Is nothing especially difficult in the work of keeping records of cows but it Is usually more advantageous to the farmer to hire the testing done than to devote so much time to the work himself the tester hired by the association usually has special training in an agricultural college his experience exper lence running all the way from x short winter course to full four years work A knowledge of feeding breeding and her management is essential sent ial lal the expense of hiring a man to act as tester varies but it not tar far from a year which is divided among members in proportion to the number of cows they own the membership Is 13 necessarily limited to the owners of about twenty six herds of ten or more cows each or one herd for each working day in the month the cost to the members usually Is about 1 BO a cow a year when the herds herda contain 10 cows or over or 15 for tho the herd of tower than ten cows the tester arrives in the afternoon at the farm at which he be Is to work for the next 24 hours when the milk ing Is done dona he weighs the milk given by each cow and takes a sample to test of butterfat at feeding time he weighs the feed given each cow whether she Is milking or dry and also weighs the roughage that several cows get in order to know the average weight given to each this Is repeated in the morning it Is as important to have the records of the teed feed given dry cows as of those that are ara in milk as the total cost coat of feed for the year should be balanced against the total value of the product to show the profit or loss on feeding each cows milk Is again weighed in the morning and a sample taken to be mixed with the sample taken at the nights milking later in the day the samples of milk are tested for butter fat by the babcock test thus tho the tester is fortified with the complete I 1 data of the production of at milk and butterfat by each cow in 24 hours as well as the record of all feed consumed on this one days average he be calculates the amount of production and cost of teed feed for each cow for the month it may bo be seen that an estimate made in this way Is not exact careful studies have shown however that this method gives results that are within 2 per cent of the actual pro of the cow the findings are recorded in a herd book that la is supplied to each member by the state experiment peri ment station or by the united states department of agriculture the tester is expected to follow the local feed market and work out tho the most economical ration tor for the dairymen when the record books are completed the tester loads his outfit in his wagon and drives to the next farm where he la Is to work arriving there it ii time for the evening milking thus at the small cost of a cow dairymen have learned that they have kept many cows that did not pay for the feed they cons consumed thel the have also learned that many cows in their herds were capable of paying for much more feed than they gerein the habit ot at allowing them that there la Is a great difference in the feeding values value of feed mixtures and that equally good mixtures can often be purchased on the market at different prices or COW 1 yv IN THE me srab STATED av v OV va 1 OF IN STATES 1907 1903 abw WO 1911 3 1912 S SK awa 4 1 jr 1 4 1 4 4 3 J 7 4 3 6 57 4 s Ar vw v www w diw 1 11 a 3 9 hf a 21 29 a 0 ft f 17 ZB 28 I 1 S 4 a 7 0 6 f j s Z 4 4 9 1 0 0 0 a f za misch lZ MASICA t 0 0 0 3 1 V 2 OW 0 0 4 3 3 2 4 3 Z 7 3 0 0 a 7 0 0 a 9 taw 0 0 s 1 SS 2 3 7 st 2 0 va ma si 2 2 f 2 2 1 f I waw 2 soam 1 4 6 25 10 64 62 ga |