THE BABCOCK TEST FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE 



FARMERS 



BY IVAX COMINGS WELD 



For the most successful management of the dairy herd the 

 Babcock test is a necessity. To gain the highest degree of 

 success, owners of dairy cattle must know the productive 

 capacity of each individual cow in the h«rd. 



But few farmers realize the difference in cows in this par- 

 ticular. To show that a difference exists among individual 

 cows, and also that the per cent, of fat in milk from the same 

 cow varies greatly at different times a herd of eight cows was 

 tested morning and night for a period of three days. 



The results are here 2:iven : 



These figures should be sufficient to show the wide differ- 

 ences between individual cows in the production of butter fat. 

 They also emphasize the necessity of taking for the test a 

 composite sample from the entire milking, both morning and 

 night, for a period of three or more days. 



From the above table it will be seen that the average per 

 cent, of fat in the milk produced by cow No. 7 was 3.16^ 

 while cow No. 8 tested 6.43. In other w^ords, if each cow 



