lo Oct., 1908.] 1 Diprovement in Dairy Herds. 



601 



".In order to show the profit and loss between the good and bad cows, the 

 following table may be interesting : — Allow £2 los. per cow for food and ;^i los. 

 per cow for labour, &c. £4 in all. The surplus over that amount can be re- 

 garded as profit. 



The best cow gave a clear profit of 



The 6 best cows gave (an average of ^"14 "s. 6d. per cow) ... 



The 6 inferior cows gave (an average of i8s. per cow) 



The worst cow shows a loss of 



20 cows equal to 6 best would give a net profit for year of 



20 cows equal to 6 inferior would give a net profit for ye^r of 



Results in Deaimark — In the year 1895 members of the local cattle 

 breeders association, Vejen, Denmark, formed themselves into an organi- 

 zation for the purpose of ascertaining and possibly increasing the pro- 

 ductiveness of their dairy herds of some 300 milch cows. This position 

 was forced upon them by the high prices ruling for food stuffs and the 

 unsatisfactory margin for pxofit and' labour expended. The work would 

 be costly and in some cases impracticable for the farmer to carry on single- 

 handed, but on a co-operative plan it would be comparatively slight and 

 within the reach of all. A set of by-laws was adopted, andthe asso- 

 ciation was named Vejen and vicinity Record Testing' Association. The 

 movement, as might be expected, was watched with a great deal of in- 

 terest, and a. number of new associations were formed each year as the 

 following table bears out : — 



Members. Cows. 



47 ■•■ 835 



1,844 ••• 45,005 



7,134 ... 130,929 



7.990 ... 142,296 



8.991 ... i';5,287 



Somewhat similarly constituted associations were brought into existence 

 in Sweden, Norway, and Germany. In Canada the work is organized 

 and carried out subject to the Department of Agriculture, whose officers 

 test all milk for tha Association. 



Are dairymen going to be content with such comparatively poor results 

 when so much improvement might be made with a little intelligent effort? 

 Any scheme having for its object the impro^vement of our dairy stock 

 must have the sympathy and support of the dairy farmers them.selves ; 

 and, in addition, must involve as little trouble and expense as possible. 



The usual practice in other countries where testing associations are 

 now in full operation is to use some Central Association similar to the 

 Royal Agricultural Society for the purpose of organising the work. I 

 fear, however, that this must of necessity entail a lot of detail that would 



