lo Oct., 190S.] Improvement in Dairy Herds. 597 



IMPROVEMENT IN DAIRY HERDS.* 



p. J. Carroll, Dairy Expert. 



The possibility of improving the production of the dairy herds ot 

 tlie State has been the subject of frequent discussion, and much writing. 

 It is no doubt one, if not the most important, of the works remaining to 

 be done in connection with the great dairying industry. A systematic 

 testing and recording of the milk and butter-fat yielding capacity of the 

 herds is the great need of the day. Records prove conclusively that there 

 is a wide variation in the productiveness of different cows in the same 

 herd, and that some herds show very much better average results than 

 others. Some farmers have been enterprising enough to adopt the prin- 

 ciple, but these are too few to have any material effect on the industry 

 as a whole. I know of herds the results of which go to prove beyond 

 the shadow of a doubt the value of keeping records. We have individual 

 herds in the different districts, the average yield of which is something 

 over 600 gallons per head, per annum, whilst the average for the whole 

 State it but little over 300 gallons. 



It is needless for me to go into details to prove that this average is 

 altogether too low ; figures speak for themselves. However, to illustrate 

 as briefly and as clearly as possible what this difference would amount to, 

 when applied to the whole of the cows of the State, I submit the follow- 

 ing figures. The present average milk yield is 300 gallons per cow. 

 The annual value of the milk and butter production according to this 

 would be as follows : — 



300 gallons milk at 3.9 fat test equals 117 lbs. fat at lod. per lb., 



= £a 17s- 6d. 

 600 gallons milk at 3.9 fat test equals 234 lbs. fat at lod. per lb.. 



As there were 701,309 dairy cows in Victoria at the end of year 1906, 

 the total value of milk produced would be ;^3,4oo,ooo. If 600 gallons 

 instead of 300 were the average the value would be .^6,800,000, leaving 

 the large sum of ^3,400,000 as a reward for the energy and enterprise 

 of the dairymen. It is well known that the cost of up-keep is almost 

 as great in the case of a cow producing ;i,oo gallons yearly, as it is in the 

 case of a cow producing 600 gallons of milk. The labour is the same 

 in both cases. Assuming that it cost ^2 los. for feed and jQi los. 

 for labour and other expenses, per annum, or ^^ in all, the average 

 profit from the cow yielding 300 gallons per year would be but 17s. 6d., 

 and in the case of the other cow yielding 600 gallons per year, some 



It is on record that the average in Denmark is something like 700 

 gallons per year. In the year 1903, 628 herds yielded an average of 

 770 gallons of milk ; other herds yielded as high as 1,100 gallons. 



To. show that this statement is not an exaggerated calculation I will 

 quote the experience of Denmark. 



" When these Associations were started Denmark exported to Britain 

 ^3,800,000 worth of butter, and in 8 years the value had increased to 

 ;^5,8oo,ooo from about the same number of cows. The cost of making 

 the tests was from is. 8d. to 2s. 6d. per cow. The Government of 



* Paper read at the Sixth Convention of the Victorian Chamber of Agriculture, held June, 1908, at 

 Geelong. 



