842 Milk EECORrrxG ix England and Wales. [Dec, 



MILK RECORDING IN ENGLAND 

 AND WALES. 



The practice among dairy farmers of keeping the records of 

 the milk yields of their cows is one to which increasing attention 

 is being given every day. It is impossible to over-estimate the 

 value of this practice. It enables a farmer to weed out cows 

 which are giving little or no retmn, to carry out feeding on more 

 economical lines, and to detect an ailing cow more quickly than 

 otherwise would be the case. Such records also supply him with 

 data which are of gi'eat value in the breeding or selection of 

 dairy cattle, and enhance the selling value of his cows and 

 their progeny. Without the aid of rehable milk records success 

 in breeding or buying hea\'y milking cows is most uncertain: 

 when a farmer chooses a sire for use in a dairy herd it is equally 

 important that he should have access to authenticated records 

 of the sire's dam and of as many of the sire's female ancestry- 

 as possible. 



Milk recording in England and Wales, as organised and super- 

 vised by the Ministry, is carried on through the medium of local 

 societies of farmers. Cows of any breed, type or cross can be 

 recorded imder the Ministry's Scheme, and although the Scheme 

 is not confined to pedigi-ee animals, practically all prominent 

 Breed Societies interested in pedigree cattle urge their members 

 to record the milk yields of their cows under it. Owners of both 

 large and small herds can belong to the same ^lilk Recording 

 Society, and they enjoy equal privileges. ^Members subscribe 

 towards the expense of the Society according to the number 

 of cows in their herds, the annual average subscription being 

 about OS. per cow: the expense, time and labour involved in 

 recording milk yields is small compared with the advantages 

 accruing. 



Milk recording — which is part of the Ministry's general 

 Scheme for the Improvement of Live Stock — although still in 

 its infancy, is making good progress. One of the main objects 

 of the 'Milk Eecording Scheme is to ensure that milk records 

 are kept accurately and stated coiTectly, since the commercial 

 value of records of this kind must depend entirely on the con- 

 fidence with which traders regard them. 



Under this Scheme the Ministry issues official certificates of 

 milk records. These certificates are not merely a statement of 

 the milk yielded, but are a summarised history of the cow for a 

 year. They give, in addition to her milk yield, her age. number 



