No. 5. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 199 



change of opinions, discussions of the question of markets, most suit- 

 able breed of cattle and other problems, the solution of which helps 

 to increase the profit of the dairy farms. In the great dairy county 

 of Bradford, one such association was organized something over a 

 year ago, but in order to get the necessary 28 dairy farmers, it was 

 necessary for the agent to travel over a territory having a radius 

 of thirty miles. The benefits of this association were so clearly ap- 

 parent after the work was begun that others seeing the advantages to 

 be gained, applied for membership and two associations were formed 

 in that territory, making the work of the agent considerably less and 

 more effective. I beg leave to incorporate in this, some comments by 

 the clerk on this work which will be of interest. 



''Since such a wide area had to be covered to organize the associa- 

 tion for its first year's work, with but two or three exceptions only 

 the most progressive men in a community are in the association, 

 hence only a few of the so-called boarder cows are being found and 

 many of these have already been sold. Also, with only one or two 

 exceptions the 29 herds are either pure bred or grades headed by a 

 pure bred sire." Therefore, the years testing work will be more to 

 show a man what are his poorest cows and what are his best ones so 

 that he may know when he increases his herd what cows to sell and 

 what calves keep. Another point in regard to the breeding is that 

 by having their cows tested, where they have a cow and her daugh- 

 ter both being tested, the farmer can note the effect of his sire. This 

 has been shown already several times, where the calf is better than 

 the dam, but the sire was sold for beef before the association started, 

 because it was only by testing that this difference was noted. 



The statement is frequently heard that a one day's test is not a 

 fair criticism by which to judge one month's work. Edwin Wright 

 uses the same kind of scales as the agent and milks regularly, each 

 milking of each coav in his herd is weighed and recorded. One 

 month when his 24 cows were at about the best part of their lactation 

 period, he compared the one day's average with Mr. Wright's total 

 for the month and the greatest variation of any of the cows giving 

 600 to 1,000 pounds of milk in one month was 25 pounds. Some of 

 his cows giving a little above and some a little below the agent's fig- 

 ures. Some farmers not in the association have a cow tested once or 

 twice in her lactation period, or maybe only once or twice in her 

 life and then tell their neighbors that this cow tests — per cent., 

 but this may be far from what a cow averages in a year. For in- 

 stance the most variable tester in the association while giving over 

 twenty pounds of milk per day varied in her test from 31 per cent, 

 to 61 per cent. Of course this is the worse variation but it shows 

 how unreliable one test is. 



I have found that a cow often is a boarder, not because she does 

 not have it in her to produce the milk or butter fat to pay for her 

 keep, but because of the man who feeds her. She may be fed a proper 

 amount of roughage but skimped in her grain, thus not bringing the 

 best out of her or else she may get too much grain which is out of 

 proportion to the amount of milk she gives. 



The most economical producer of milk in the association have been 

 the Holsteins and the Ayrshires, while the cows that produce a 

 pounds of butter fat the cheapest are the Jerseys and the Guernseys. 

 Also the cows that are producing either milk or butter cheapest and 



