26 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



a little common sense and a little experience should be able to 

 run a Babcock test. 



I have tried to make these details clear. However, you will 

 probably not be able to remember them. Do not let that worry 

 you. The Uniersity of Illinois Agricultural Exeperiment Sta- 

 tion has published a bulletin on just this subject, ''Testing for 

 Fat in Milk by the Babcock Test." Its number is circular No. 

 174. They will send it to you free, for the asking. A postal 

 card will bring it to you. The bulletin will give you all the de- 

 tails of the v/ork and tell you how to remedy any little troubles 

 which may occur. It is better to follow the directions as they 

 are given than to follow any which may be given in pamphlets 

 furnished with testing machines. 



Just a word in regard to testing outfits. A farmer can well 

 afford to have a tester of his own. If he does not care to do this, 

 he can probably arrange to buy a tester in co-operation with some 

 neighbors of his. This is possible since a two-day test once a 

 month is considered sufficient to determine the quality of milk 

 a cow gives. In that way one farmer can use it and then pass 

 is on to the next. 



The size of the outfit would be determined by the size of 

 herds to be tested. Four bottle machines, in which four tests 

 can be made at one time, can be secured for five dollars and up, 

 complete, ready to test milk. Such a four bottle machine would, 

 in my opinion, be sufficiently large to test herds up to ten to 

 fifteen cows in size. 



In addition to the testing outfit, each farmer should have 

 a milk scale, preferably one that reads in pounds and tenths of 

 pounds instead of pounds and ounces. It should weigh up to 

 thirty pounds and should have a loose index hand wihch could 

 be so adjusted as to point to zero when the empty milk pail is 

 hung on it. With such a scale, it would be easy to weigh each 

 cow's milk every day with little effort and little loss of time. 



Now with a record of how much milk a cow gives and what 

 kind of milk it is, a farmer can start to follow out the sugges- 

 tions given this morning on how to build up a better herd. 



In the past, the importance and value of the solids not fat 



