Milk Records. 21 



Testing by the Gerber process, however, is useful in showing 

 the percentage of fat in milk, and so enabling a farmer to satisfy 

 himself that the milk he is sending out from his farm is up to 

 the so-called Government standard of 3 per cent, fat — a standard 

 which no one keeping a large herd of cows should be afraid of. 



It is not necessary to refer here to the pecuniary benefits 

 that follow the keeping of milk records, as the high price now 

 being paid at sales and elsewhere for milking cows of any 

 breed, even without pedigrees, that have their milk records 

 published, is sufficient evidence of the fact; Ijut l^feel it 

 necessary to call attention to certain drawbacks which, in my 

 opinion, may attend the injudicious overdoing of this hobby. 



To "make " or " break " a record seems nowadays to be a 

 ruling passion, and milk records form no exception. There is 

 a tendency amongst some breeders to sacrifice too much to 

 quantity of milk, disregarding those other essentials which 

 should be found in all dairy cattle. 



Constitution. — A good constitution is an absolute necessity 

 in a dairy cow. The strain on an animal giving a large 

 quantity of milk is very great, and she is consequently much 

 more prone to colds and ailments of various kinds than one 

 which is only rearing her calf. Again, the young stock from 

 very heavy milking cows require exti-a care and feeding, as 

 they otherwise seem to thrive less well than do the offspring 

 of moderate milking cows. 



While not wishing to deprecate the breeding or exhibition 

 of cows which give abnormal yields of milk, I am satisfied that 

 the most profitable dairy cow in the long run is one that will 

 give a fair quantity of milk, spread over a lactation period of 

 from nine to ten months, and produce a strong healthy calf 

 within the year. Such cows do not, as a rule, give more than 

 from 400 to 500 gallons with their first calves, but they 

 gradually increase as they get older until they reach from 800 

 to 1,000 gallons. A cow giving a moderate quantity of milk 

 spread over a period of lactation of nine months is a more 

 profitable animal in the long run than one giving an abnormal 

 quantity for three months. 



Type. — Another drawback to the keeping of milk records is 

 that with some breeders the production of milk, and that alone, 

 seems to be their highest ambition, apparently ignoring the 

 question of type and the general appearance of their animals. 



The continuous foreign demand for cattle from this country 

 is to be traced to the patience and care taken by the breeders of 

 pedigree stock for, in some cases, a hundred years or more, to 

 improve and fix the type of their particular breeds. To 

 sacrifice type to milk, therefore, must be wrong, and may 

 prejudice the demand for English stock abroad, but on the 



