1910.] Value of Records of Milk Yield of Cows. 471 



societies has led to their establishment in other countries, but 

 in Great Britain they have so far only been formed in the 

 south-west of Scotland under the auspices of the Highland 

 and Agricultural Society, which makes a grant towards the 

 cost. These Scottish Associations are generally composed of 

 twelve to eighteen members, each of whom has the milk from 

 his cows weighed and tested, usually by a young man who 

 has been trained in the Dairy School at Kilmarnock. He 

 arrives at the farm during the afternoon, and weighs, 

 samples, and tests for fat the milk of the evening and of the 

 following morning, after which he goes on to the next farm. 

 The weight of the food used is also ascertained, and some 

 very interesting information as to the cost of food in the pro- 

 duction of milk has been obtained. Thus it has been shown 

 that the system of feeding adopted on some farms costs double 

 as much as on others in proportion to the milk produced.* 



Though these are the only British societies established 

 up to the present, the Lancashire Education Committee have 

 adopted the same system as a means of demonstrating how 

 farmers can eliminate from their herds cows which produce 

 milk of an inferior quality. 



Value of Milk Records to the Dairy Farmer. — Apart from 

 the benefits of the practice to the milk-seller and to the butter- 

 maker, the keeping of milk records presents great advantages 

 to the dairy farmer who breeds his own cows. 



Milking qualities are largely hereditary, and the progeny of 

 a heavy milking cow are likely to inherit the characteristics of 

 their dam. It is therefore of the first importance that the 

 dairy farmer should have a record of the performances of his 

 cows, and should select the heavy milkers to breed from for his 

 own herd. Dairy qualities are also transmitted through the 

 bull, and it is equally important to be able to show that a 

 bull is descended from a heavy milking strain. 



The possession of a satisfactory milk record becomes in 

 this Way a very valuable asset, not only as a guide to breed- 

 ing, but also for sale purposes. In Denmark the prices of 

 dairy cows are in many instances regulated by their milking 

 records. 



* Journal, September, 1907, vol. xiv, No. 6. 



