CONTROL SOCIETIES 



Of all the co-operative undertakings initiated and developed 

 by Danish farmers in connection with the animal industry 

 none equal in ingenuity and in economic value the " Control" 

 Societies. Like many other similar enterprises they had 

 forerunners ; the need for them was felt before the means of 

 carrying them out were available. As soon as the time was 

 ripe they developed a vigorous growth. Like the Co-operative 

 Dairy Societies, they originated in their fully developed form, 

 in the south of Jutland ; they took their rise in the private 

 initiative of men of the peasant class, and it is owing to the 

 public spirit of these men and their inborn desire to impart 

 useful knowledge to their fellowmen that they spread in a 

 short time over the whole country. 



When the interest in cattle-breeding was revived during 

 the last century, dairy cattle were judged by exterior, by such 

 points as a harmonious build, fine horns, pure colour, and the 

 various points indicating a good yield of milk. But few 

 farmers knew whether fat or lean kine filled their byres, or 

 which of their cows gave an economic return in milk and 

 butter for the fodder consumed. The Cattle Breeding Societies 

 brought some improvement by drawing attention to the im- 

 portance of selecting good breeding animals, so far as the 

 knowledge of their good qualities went. But when hard 

 times came in the eighties and nineties the necessity was 

 felt of more precise knowledge of the yield of individual 

 animals in relation to their consumption of food in order to 

 decide which animal yi^ded a profit, and therefore should 

 be preserved and bred from, and which should be fattened off 

 and sold. 



Attempts to judge dairy cattle according to their yield of 



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