COW TEST ASSOCIATION 1 17 



COW TEST ASSOCIATIONS PROMOTE 

 BUSINESS METHODS 



What they are. Cow test associations are organ- 

 izations of dairy farmers having for their object the 

 determination of the economical production of the 

 individual cows in the herd. The plan commonly 

 followed is for a number of dairymen having a total 

 of 300 to 500 cows to organize, elect officers, adopt 

 constitution and by-laws, and perhaps give the offi- 

 cers power to employ a man to do the testing. The 

 tester should be a practical and tactful man, having 

 a thorough knowledge of his business. He need not 

 necessarily be a college graduate; often "Short 

 Course" students make splendid men for this 

 work. 



How the work is done. The tester visits each 

 herd once a month, weighs the milk of each cow for 

 a period of twenty-four hours, takes samples of 

 some and analyzes them for per cent, of butter fat, 

 weighs the feed that each cow is receiving, figures 

 out the cost of the ration, puts the record in his 

 book, leaves a copy for the dairyman, gives him all 

 the helpful suggestions possible, and proceeds to the 

 next herd, returning again in about a month. The 

 entire cost to the dairyman for a year is about one 

 dollar per cow in addition to boarding the tester 

 during his stay at the farm. If there were 400 cows 

 in the association, this would amount to a salary oi 

 $400 and board for the tester. The tester says to 

 the dairyman., "For the sum of one dollar per cow, 

 I will tell you just how much profit or loss every 



