668 



AoRICUIiTURE x\bROAD. 



[Sept., 



AGRICULTURE ABROAD. 



It is fully recognised by many Canadian farmers that the 

 milking herds of the country can be much improved by means 



Milk Recordine ^^^^ records. The information ob- 

 in Canada tained from the records is applied in 

 two ways : (1) to the elimination of 

 the poorer animals from the herds, and (2; to the selection of 

 pure-bred dairy bulls possessing inherited dairy qualities of a 

 high order for use in the herds. 



Mr. A. H. White, the senior dairy promoter attached to the 

 Dominion Department of Agriculture at Ottawa, reports that a 

 brief analysis of the records of most of the Ontario herds shows 

 that even in the better of them there are nearly always one or 

 two poor cows, and that where there is no systematic effort to 

 grade-up the herd, it is not uncommon to find one-quarter of 

 the animals not even paying for their feed. In one instance 

 of 540 cows recorded, the average production for 1920 was 

 7,094 lb. of milk and 248.8 lb. of fat, against an estimated 

 average production in Ontario of about 4,000 lb. of milk. The 

 best record was of a cow which produced 14,160 lb. of milk and 

 545.6 lb. of fat, and the poorest yield was 1,595 lb. of milk and 

 79.9 lb. of fat. This is an astonishing difference. Further 

 analysing these records, Mr. White points out that the best 135 

 cows produced more than twice the amount of milk and fat than 

 the poorest 135 cows, though the latter yield was about equal 

 to the estimated average production of all the dairy cows in 

 Ontario. These figures make it clear what latitude there is for 

 improvement. It should be remembered that all increased pro- 

 duction is practically net profit, because a poor cow requires 

 the same amount of food and attention as a first-class one. The 

 total number of cows recorded in Canada in 1920 was 33,382 in 

 B 847 herds at 564 centres. This shows an increase of nearly 

 50 per cent, on the number tested in the previous year, so that 

 the practice of milk-recording is growing very rapidly in Canada. 

 It appeals to the Canadian dairy farmer as a certain money 

 maker, and it is safe to predict that none will give it up. Its 

 immediate success is attributed very largely to the enthusiasm 

 of the Canadian Government dairy instructors. In addition to 

 this work, instructors supply milk record forms to farmers who 

 are too far from an organised centre to have samples of milk 

 tested regularly for butter fat. Thus these farmers may keep 

 their own figures. 



A case is cited in a recent issue of The Agricultural Gazette of 



