DAIRY AND SEKD IMPROVI^MENT MEllTINGS. 247 



WHAT THE cow TEST ASSOCIATION HAS DONE 



FOR ONE FARMER. 



By A. E. Hodges, Fairfield. 



I have been asked to say something on cow test work and I 

 have decided that the way I can arouse the most interest among 

 farmers who are not members of a cow test association will be 

 to tell them how it has benefited me. 



I have no apology to make for this attempt, as I am a farmer 

 and not an orator, and you will have to excuse the rather free 

 use of the personal pronoun, as it is only by giving you my own 

 personal experience that 1 can show you what a help the cow 

 test association can be to the dairyman who will take an inter- 

 est in it. 



I have kept cows since I was old enough to milk. I used to 

 think I had some good ones, but it was mostly guess work. I 

 used to think that if a cow gave a big pailful of milk when she 

 was fresh she was profitable. 



When the Walterville association was started I heard for the 

 firsit itime that there was such a thing in the world. It sounded 

 good to me and I, with some of my neighbors, attempted to start 

 an association of our own, but didn't succeed in getting cows 

 enough to start. However, that attempt set me to thinking and 

 I began to weigh each cow's milk separately and took samples 

 of milk to the creamery occasionally, to be tested, and so fol- 

 lowed cow test work the best I could alone. 



About 18 months ago I moved to a farm near enough, so 

 that I was able to join the Waterville association, and I soon 

 found out there was a whole lot I hadn't learned about cows. 

 When the tester came to my place the first time, I asked him 

 how some of the other members were feeding their cows, and 

 when he had my records for that day made out, he and I went 

 over them together and I saw that the herds that were making 

 the most profit were not being fed as mine were. I had usually 

 fed equal parts of cottonseed and bran, when the cows were 



