12 Milk Records. 



circumstances of feeding and treatment.'" The milks in 

 these trials were weighed and sampled three times in the month, 

 morning and evening milk being taken separately, and so 

 much interest was raised by the publication of the figures 

 that "control societies" were started, and are now thoroughly 

 established. The cost of a society of fourteen or fifteen 

 members is estimated at 50Z. per annum, but apparently in 

 Friesland no subsidy is obtained from the Government. 



" The percentage of fat in the milk " and " the influence of 

 the sii'e on the productiveness of his female offspring " are the 

 points specially brought into prominence by the figures shown 

 in the various societies' records. 



Denmark. — Denmark seems to have been the first country 

 to obtain grants from the State for the keeping of milk records. 

 " Control unions " were started in 1895, whose object " was to 

 strike a balance sheet for each individual cow for guidance in 

 feeding, for weeding out cows, and for help in selecting cows 

 from which to breed."" To carry out the work, a paid assistant 

 once in every fourteen or twenty days measured and sampled 

 the milks of the various herds in the particular union or society, 

 weighed and kept an account of the food given to each animal, 

 made tests of the cows, their dates of calving, &c., &c., " for 

 the purpose of drawing up a family herd book at each farm ";^ 

 whilst a Government grant up to l\l. per annum, given to each 

 union, reduced the cost to the members to a sum from one to 

 two shillings per cow per annum. 



The Association of Cattle Breeders, which had been started 

 some years previously to improve the quality of the cattle by 

 the use of selected bulls, worked so well with the " control 

 unions " that the average yield of butter from the control union 

 cows in £t comparatively short time exceeded by 33^ per cent, 

 the yield of the ordinary cow of the country. 



Get^many. — Milk control societies on the same lines as 

 those in Denmark have been in existence in Germany for 

 some few years. They have been worked with the dual 

 object of furthering the breed of cattle, and using the milk 

 yields '' as a basis on which an improved breed of cows can 

 be built up."-' 



Ayrshire. — Breeders of Ayrshire cattle commenced keeping 

 milk records in 1903. Small societies were formed on the 

 Danish lines, and with grants from the Highland Agricultural 

 Society, the Ayrshire Cattle Herd Book Society, and lately 



* '• Milk Kecords," by J. Mesdag. Juumal of the British Dairy Farmers'' 

 Association. Vol. XXVI., 1912. 



■■^ '"The Danish Sysicra of Cattle Breeding." P. A. Morkeberg. Journal of 

 the Board of Ayriculttirp. March, 1910. 



'"Milk Tests and Milk Control Societies in Germany." Journal of the 

 Board of Agriculture. October, ISHl'.l. 



