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Show PRACTICAL COW-TESTING ASSOCIATIONS NEWAYGO COUrWY DAffY TES77AG A&SOCM770AS I1 MCHGAA. ' YEARLY AVERAGES PER COW SUMMARY OF THE SEVEN HERDS WHCH HAVE BEEN M THE ASSOCA77CW CONTJfVUOUSLy 'SACE TS OR&WZAT7CW. j J L J L A lilili 1 I906 SO S88SO 3J2 231.1 23.3 S336 0.4i h65 2223 .7V 37 S3 S 9Q7 6Q 59527 3 34 2346 29. I 6823 2633 34 3979 28.44 1.7 7.0 663 j 9Q8 69 6Q3S4 4 IS 2533 27.3 692Q 24 JO I&3S 4Q.4S 2375 171 6.Q 664 j 3Q3 72 6XC6 426 2697 3. 6330 2594 AS 4205 493 S9 56 667 j '3'Q 79 62086 428 2657 339 9022 366 786 4952 4O.70 32 136 798 i 13 SO 6411.0 433 2909 237 90 65 2982 1866 48.48 32J7 1.66 7J 756 i 80 6548 445 2733 35.0 9573 270 666 4446 527 2.15 6 2 722 J93 69 61234 464 2647 352 I003S 31.0 86 4927 508 204 73 80S j (Prepared by tlie United States Department Depart-ment of Agriculture.) In popularity, cow-testing associations associa-tions have grown rapidly in late years, increasing about 63 per cent in the United States in 1914. The prime purpose pur-pose of an association is to put dairying dairy-ing on a better basis and to eliminate unproductive cows. The average annual an-nual production of the cows of the United States is approximately 4,000 pounds of milk, containing 160 pounds of butterfat, though there are many herds with records of production averaging av-eraging more than 10,000 pounds and 350 pounds of fat. It is the low average aver-age production which increases the dairyman's troubles. Chief among the causes of small milk flow are the following: fol-lowing: The cows are not properly fed; many of them are not capable of making a large production; the farmer hat. no records and has little idea of which cows are making him a profit and which are failing to pay for the feeds they consume. Farmers are often prone to believe 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, Fre-mont, Mich., in 1905. These associations associa-tions are now to be found in 30 states and in 1914 totaled 165; of these New York had 29, Vermont 28, and Wisconsin Wis-consin 24, other states following with much Bmaller numbers. Co-operative cow-testing did not originate in this country; indeed, the movement is still in its infancy when compared with the number of associations in Europe, where there are between 2,500 and 3,000. There is nothing especially difficult In the work of keeping records of cows, but It is usually more advantageous advan-tageous to the farmer to hire the testing test-ing 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 running all the way from a Bhort winter course to full four years' work. A knowledge of feeding, breeding, and her management is essential. es-sential. The expense of hiring a man to act as tester varies, but it not far from $550 a year, which is divided among the members in proportion to the number num-ber of cows they own. The membership member-ship Is necessarily limited to the owners own-ers 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 $1.50 a cow a year when the herds contain con-tain 10 cows or over, or $15 for the herd of fewer than ten cows. The tester arrives in the afternoon at the farm at which he is to work for the next 24 hours. When the milking milk-ing is done he weighs the milk given by each cow and takes a sample toj test of butterfat. At feeding time; he weighs the feed given each cow,; whether she is milking or dry, andj also weighs the roughage that several cows get, in order to know the aver-' age weight given to each; This Is re-i peated in the morning. It is as im-i portant to have the records of the feedi given dry cows as of those that arei In milk, as the total cost of feed for! the year should be balanced against; the total value of the product to Bhow; the profit or loss on feeding. : Each cow's milk is again weighed ini, the morning and a sample taken, toj be mixed with the sample taken at the; night's milking; later in the day thej samples of milk are tested for butter-i fat by the iBabcock test. Thus thej tester is fortified with the complete; data of the production of milk and; butterfat by each cow in 24 hours, asj well as the record of all feed con-, sumed. On this one day's average hJ( calculates the amount of production; and cost of feed for each cow for thei month. It may be seen that an esti- mate made in this way is not exact;; careful studies have shown, however,;, that this method gives results thatj are within 2 per cent of the actual pro-i duction of the cow. The findings are, recorded in a herd book that is sup-! plied to each member by the state ex-i periment station or by the United1 States department of agriculture. The tester is expected to lollow the local feed market and work out the most economical ration for the dairy-, men. When the record books are com-, pleted, the tester loads his outfit m-his m-his wagon and drives to the next farm where he is to work, arriving there in time for the evening milking. ' Thus, at the small cost of $1.50 a cow, dairymen have learned that they, have kept many cows that did not pay; for the feed they consumed. They have also learned that many cows in, their herds were capable of paying for much more feed than they were in the habit of allowing them, that there, is a great difference in the feeding, values of feed mixtures, and that equally good mixtures can often be purchased on the market at different prices. |