Breeders' and Growers' Associations 91 



The Plan of a Cow-testing Association 



The plan of a cow-testing association is simple. It is 

 usually organized around a creamery. Each association 

 contains 13 to 26 members owning 300 or more cows, 

 the former number if each herd is to be tested twice a 

 month ; the latter, if once a month. The members pay 

 from $1 to $1.50 annually for the testing of each cow. 

 The association employs a tester who is a specialist in the 

 dairy industry and who gives the dairymen expert ad- 

 vice aside from the testing of the cows and pays him from 

 $50 to $100 a month. He spends a day with each herd, 

 provided it does not contain more than 40 cows, and he 

 may test more than one herd in a day if they are small 

 and not too distant or too widely, separated. 



The official tester weighs the milk once a month or 

 oftener, night and morning, determines the amount of 

 milk and butter-fat produced and the quantity of hay, 

 roughage, and grain consumed by each cow. He deter- 

 mines the cost of keeping the cow each month by multiply- 

 ing the result of each test by 30. At the end of the year, 

 the farmer knows approximately how much butter-fat 

 each cow has produced, and what it has cost to produce 

 it. The tester leaves a record of the herd each month 

 with the dairyman, showing the cost of feeding and the 

 production of each cow. He keeps a detailed permanent 

 record in the test book of the association. This book he 

 takes with him. It is open to the inspection of every 

 member of the association. 



The value of a cow-testing association to a dairy com- 

 munity is incalculable. It leads to more economical 



