792 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[lo Dec, 1910V. 



FARM MILKING TESTS. 



Swan Hill Agricultural Society's Competition. 

 G. A. Ryland, Dairy Supervisor. 



The above competition, which was carried out in connexion with the 

 recent Swan Hill Agricultural Show and judged by me, was a great im- 

 provement on previous methods of deciding the best dairy cow entered for 

 show in this splendid dairying district. 



Dairy cow tests held in connexion with agricultural shows are often 

 unsatisfactory, inasmuch as the cows competing do not receive a fair chance 

 to show what they can produce in a stated time. The greatest cause for 

 dissatisfaction among the owners of the animals, and incidentally with 

 the cows themselves, is that the animals are taken from their home sur- 

 roundings and milked in a strange place amidst excitement. It is a well- 

 known fact among dairymen that when a milch cow is excited she does not 

 yield the same quantity of milk, and it may be stated that, as a rule, 

 the better the cow for milk production, the more nervous her temperament 

 and consequently the more easily upset. 



" ELSIE," winner of TEST, 16.986 LBS. COMMERCIAL BUTTER PER WEEK. 



Prior to 1910 the method adopted by the Show Committee at Swan 

 Hill was that the cows were brought to the yards on the evening previous 

 to the show and milked in the presence of the stewards. They were 

 milked again on the following morning, the milk weighed, and a sample 

 tested for percentage of butter fat. This was no test for a dairy cow 

 for two main reasons, namely, that the cows are not in their usual sur- 

 roundings and are consequently excited ; and that the sample tested was 

 certainlv not an average sample of the cow's milk for the day. 



At my suggestion the Agricultural Society at Swan Hill adopted the 

 following conditions which were duly carried out and gave general satis- 

 faction. The cows were seen milked out before the day's trial. 



