FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



The rilrc Jireil Breeder 



Continued from page 3, column 3 

 plete their Advanced Registry records 

 and these records are never reported be- 

 cause the owner feels that they are not 

 sufficiently high to reflect credit on his 

 line of breeding. 



Records are essential to the highest 

 development of a herd of cattle, but rela- 

 tively few records are kept either official 

 or private. There is little interest in pri- 

 vate records and the claim is made by the 

 breeders that the expense of Advanced 

 Registry work is too great. The Cow 

 Testing Association steps right in here 

 and affords an accurate method of test- 

 ing at a small expense. On a herd of less 

 than 20 cows a yearly record can be had 

 through Cow Testing Association on all 

 cows at almost the same cost of a seven- 

 day official test. 



An ideal system for any Holstein 

 breeder to follow would be to place his en- 

 tire herd on record in a Cow Testing As- ^ 

 sociation and then select from these rec- i 

 ords the cows that should be placed on 

 official test. ' 



Some Holstein breeders have confined 

 their testing to the seven-day work. 

 Every student knows that it is impossible 

 to get an accurate estimate on a cow's 

 ability when only .=even-day records are 

 available. These same breeders give as i 

 an excuse that the expense of yearly test- 

 ing is too great. For this class of breeder 

 the Cow Testing Association in conjunc- 

 tion with the seven-day records would be 

 ideal and still within his reach as far as 

 the expenses are concerned. 



There is no doubt but that a seven-day 

 lecord has value and there is no question , 

 but that it takes a good cow to make the | 

 equivalent of 30 pounds of butter in seven 

 days as a mature animal. But it is im- ] 

 possible to breed up a herd of cows to the 

 highest standard with this sort of record 

 alone. Take the question of butterfat 

 test. It is a well known fact that cows 

 in good condition will always test higher 

 during the beginning of their lactation 

 period than they will for the year. It is 

 not fair to .iudge the test of a cow for a 

 year by the test obtained for seven days 

 when the cow is in the best condition to 

 make a good test. Many a breeder has 

 labored under the impression that he was 

 getting a four per cent bull simply be- 

 cause the dam and perhaps the grandam 

 also made this test for seven days. But 

 when the offspring came to milk and the 

 milk was tested by the creamery or milk 

 dealer, he found that the test fell short of 

 four per cent. For the guidance of his 

 bi-eeding operations the Holstein breeder 

 should by all means have his cattle tested 

 once a month, or at other regular inter- 

 vals. There is little demand for Holsteins 

 that test less than three per cent. This 

 sort should be weeded out. 



A distinguished cattle breeder from 

 Germany made this statement to the 



writer a few days ago: "I came over to • 

 America to see your wonderful cows. We 

 have heard of the great records that your 

 cows have made and it is hard to believe 

 that the cows actually produce such large 

 amounts of milk and butter. These rec- 

 ords are difficult to understand because 

 your average cow produces such a small 

 amount of milk." 



No further comment is necessary. We 

 have spent much time and money on mak- 

 ing big records on a relatively few cows 

 but our average remains lower than that 

 of many other dairy countries. 



Is it not time for the breeder of pure- 

 bred cattle to take the lead in making 

 economical tests on their herds so that 

 other things will be given consideration 

 than the making of milk and butter rec- 

 ords on a few cows? 



The writer knows full well that many 

 breeders of purebreds are thinking quite 

 strongly along this line. In Michigan 

 many leading Holstein breeders have 

 their herds entered in Cow Testing As- 

 sociations and they are profiting by this 

 practice. More than thirty per cent of 

 the cows in fifty Cow Testing Associa- 

 tions that have finished their yearly work 

 in Michigan since .lanuary 1st are pure- 

 breds, while less than five per cent of the 

 cows in Cow Testing Associations in the 

 state four years ago were purebreds. 



As intimated before, the breeders of 

 purebred cattle should be the leaders in 

 an effort to place our dairy cattle indus- 

 try on a more economic and efficient basis. 

 There is great room for improvement 

 since only 1.2 per cent of the cows used 

 for dairy purposes in the United States 

 are members of Cow Testing A.ssocia- 

 tions. Denmark, our principal competitor 

 in the dairy industi'y, has 26.5 per cent of 

 their cows in Cow Testing Associations. 

 New Zealand is making great progress in 

 the development of dairying and we find 

 that they are starting right since 11. .5 per 

 cent of their cows are in Cow Testing As- 

 sociations. 



Holstein Friesian World. 



Benefits of a Cow=Testing Association 



Dairymen who belong to an ideal cow- 

 testing association reap the following 

 benefits: 



1. They receive a yeai'ly milk and but- 

 terfat record of each cow. 



2. They obtain a profit or loss record 

 of each cow. | 



3. They know the good producing cows 

 from the poor producing cows. 



4. They can feed according to a cow's 

 production, which is the only economical 

 and scientific way of feeding. 



.5. They can build up a higher produc- 

 ing herd by knowing the good cows and 

 raising their heifer calves. 



6. They can select the good sires by 

 comparing the records of the heifers with 

 their dams. 



7. They know whether or not they are 



Merritt Clark & Co. ! 



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