258 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



TEST ASSOCIATION. 



BY J. H. MONRAD. 



In the southern part of Jutland at "Veijen" was estabhshed 

 the first Test or Control Association in 1895, ^^^ in 1896 I had 

 the pleasure to translate a condensed report in "The Breeder's 

 Gazette," of Chicago. 



There is now, three years later, not less than forty such 

 Associations in Denmark, twenty-five in Jutland. Only the 

 invention of Babcock Test and its modification by Gerber, made 

 it practical to do the work systematically. The Veijen Associa- 

 tion combined for 5 years, as being the shortest period to get 

 good results, and hired a young man to visit their farms (13) 

 once a fortnight, test each cow and keep the accounts of the 

 result, as well as an estimate of the feed consumed. 



I reproduce only the detailed result on two of the farms A 

 and B as they contain the full range of variations. The first 

 column gives the number of the cow (generally burnt on the 

 horns) the second her age, then the pounds of milk and the next 

 the butter The ''fodder itnif (zoXnvciXi needs some explanation. 



In Denmark they have adopted a simple unit which repre- 

 sents .the equivalent values of different feed stuffs. It means 

 that within reasonable limits they may be substituted for each 

 other as follows: One pound of rye= i fb. barley= i tb. corn= 

 0.8 R). oil meal=:2i ihs. hay=4 lbs. straw (oat or barley=4ft)S. 

 potatoes=6 lbs. skim-milk=.-. 12 lbs. of whey= 10 lbs. of mangel 

 wurzel=i2 lbs. of turnips. 



This estimate is of course only approximately, but good 

 enough for all practical purposes. 



In these tables we have indeed a valuble lesson, a lesson 

 which ought to make every man, who milks a cow, keep track 

 of what she is doing. 



