306 



Milking and Butter-Test Trials. 



exception to the winners in any class as too good, seems 

 ridiculous. If, however, the milk records, published from time 

 to time by some of our best breeders, are compared with the 

 yields of milk and the periods of lactation given in the reports 

 of these trials, the average figures will be again found to 

 approximate closely. 



Expense is, of course, a matter for consideration, especially 

 in these days when there are so many shows that it is not safe 

 to reckon on getting a good gate, but as there is usually a 

 working dairy at any show that lasts over two days (and trials 

 of this sort should have at least three days allowed them), the 

 extra cost of carrying them out cannot be a large item. The 

 real question is: Are these trials worth anything at all? If 

 they are, the expenses incurred in carrying them out should be 

 a secondary consideration. The good that has resulted from 

 them in the neighbourhood of Tring is a matter of common 

 knowledge, and I believe that if only similar trials could take 

 place in other dairy districts, equally good results would follow. 

 $oth the milking and butter-test trials are practical, and are not 

 dependent on the particular fancy of the judge. They afford 

 the only opportunity to breeders of milking stock to demonstrate 

 the goodness of their animals, and, although there is this draw- 

 back, that appearance counts for nothing, yet experience has 

 shown that good looks must be combined with utility if good 

 prices are to be realised. 



Milking trials with the " Gerber " or " Babcock " testers could 

 well be carried out at the smaller agricultural shows, where they 

 might take the place of the "classes for dairy cattle." In nine 

 cases out of ten, where these latter classes are well filled, the prizes 

 usually fall to those animals which, if sold, would fetch the highest 

 price from the butcher. This is no exaggeration. I speak from 

 my own experience, but perhaps the remark which I over- 

 heard at this year's London Dairy Show will best exemplify 

 the last sentence. Behind a large-framed fleshy cow, that did 

 no good at all in the trials, stood one, whom from his appearance I 

 took to be an old-fashioned farmer and breeder. Examining 

 the animal carefully, he turned round to his friend and said, 

 " That be a nice bullock." 



Ernest Mathews. 



