22 



Milk Testing in Denmark. 



[APRIL, 



Vejen. Briefly, the method adopted was to employ a young 

 man possessing the necessary experience in milk testing to visit 

 each of the dairies belonging to the society once in fourteen days 

 to test, by means of the Gerber apparatus, the milk of each cow, 

 and to enter up in books kept for the purpose particulars as to 

 the amount of fodder consumed, the milk produced, the fat and 

 butter yield, and the changes in the live weight of each animal. 



The success which attended the establishment of the first 

 society at Vejen soon led to a great extension of the system in 

 Denmark, and in 1902 there were 308 societies with 3,780 

 members possessing 136,800 cows. In 1904 the number of 

 societies had increased to 340. The movement spread also 

 to the neighbouring countries, and there were reported to be 

 204 societies in Sweden, 120 in Norway, 40 in Finland, and 50 

 in Germany. In Denmark the societies receive a State grant 

 amounting in 1902-3 to £2,900, of which one society received 

 £27, five societies £18 each, and 302 societies £9 each. 



These control societies were described by Dr. Buer* as small 

 co-operative bodies in which the farmers in a limited area, such 

 as a parish, have combined in order to share the expense of 

 testing their cows, the object, as stated in the rules, being to form 

 a race of cows giving the highest possible production of butter. 

 The number of members is usually limited to twelve or thirteen, 

 having altogether 300 to 400 cows, and no member can with- 

 draw in less than five years, except in consequence of removal. 

 Three of the members form a committee, one of whom acts as 

 treasurer. An assistant is engaged, who visits the members at 

 regular intervals (usually once a fortnight), and remains on the 

 farm for a day. His duties are to superintend the milking 

 and give any necessary instructions to the milkers, to weigh 

 the milk of each cow, to take and test an average sample, to 

 prescribe a proper system of feeding, and to enter up in the 

 books the results of the control. 



To carry out these duties it is necessary that the assistant 

 should have received a sound practical and theoretical education. 

 The most suitable persons are usually farmers' sons who have 

 had practical experience on their fathers' farms, and afterwards, 



* Die danischen Kontrollvereine, Berlin, 1902. 



