10 Sept., 1919. J 



Standard Herd Test. 



516 



lactation period. What a task, then, is set the other 300 to save their 

 owners from insolvency ! Fifteen of these cows failed to give 100 lbs. 

 fat, while the worst cow gave a return of 87 Dds. If the price of 

 butter fat be set down at Is. 5d. per lb., the return from this animal 

 would be only £6 3s. 3d. The worst herd of 20 cows, or under, gave 

 an average of 161 lbs. fat, as did the worst herd of 50 cows, or over. 

 The best cow gave 351 lbs. The highest number of cows in any herd 

 giving 300 lbs. of fat was 16. And in reading these returns it must 

 be remembered that they are from the best daii-ying country in the 

 State. 



Consideration of these figures suggests a question to which an 

 answer is required; and as it is undisputed that the Ayrshire cow is 

 the popxdar one, the Ayrshire breeders must supply the answer. Is 

 this low return due to the prevalence of Ayrshire b-ood ? Ayrshire 



Mr. C. G. Knight's Heifer, " Lady Choice of Tarnpirr. ' 



(Born 6.9.1.5.) 



8,007 lbs. milk. 493 SO lbs-, butter fat, 6-17 tesi. 



breeders are still shy of entering their herds for Government Certifica- 

 tion, and the principal herds are conspicuous by their absence. The 

 progressive breeders, however, recognising the high standard to which 

 Ayrshires have been brought in other countries, realize the ultimate 

 good to be derived from testing, and at present 23 herds are undei~going 

 the test. Fifteen herds are mentioned in this report as having com- 

 pleted their term, instead of six as last year. The total number of 

 cows of this breed which completed their test and gained the standard 

 prescribed is 84. 



Turning for a moment to the records published below, do' the figures 

 help us to answer the question? On studying the order of merit, it 

 is seen that only 10 Ayrshires appear in the first 100 mature cowe 

 recorded — 4 in the first 50 of second-calf cows, and 5 in the first 50 



1 t 



