Milking and Butter-Test Trials. 



305 



hand, the butter made from the milks of those animals which 

 do not expect to win a prize in the milking trials is usually 

 good in quality, flavour and texture. As every lot of cream 

 is treated alike, the dairy work cannot be held responsible for 

 these differences, and therefore injudicious feeding, in the 

 absence of any other cause, must be the reason. Looking at 

 some of the inferior, almost nasty, butters which I have seen 

 made at these trials, the thought has often occurred to me, can 

 milk which produces such butters be fit for human food ? 



Before concluding, I would refer shortly to an objection that 

 has been made to these trials, viz., that as cows will not milk so 

 well in the show-yard as at home, the trials are not a reliable 

 guide to the value of the particular animals tested ; that, conse- 

 quently, the averages are not correct ; and that, therefore, they 

 are not worth the labour and trouble expended on them. The 

 large individual yields of milk and butter chronicled in the 

 records of the trials show that all cattle are not equally 

 affected by strange surroundings, but, of course, some cows are 

 more sensitive than others, and do not do themselves justice. 

 That these trials are fairly accurate, however, is shown by the 

 report of the butter-test trials carried out by the Somerset 

 County Council at their Experimental Farm at Bickenhall. 



The trials lasted a year, from April, 1901, to April, 1902, the 

 tests being taken fortnightly. The two breeds selected were 

 Shorthorns and Jerseys, there being six of the former and nine 

 of the latter. The average butter ratios of the cows were : 

 Shorthorns, 27-13 lb. ; Jerseys, 18*89 lb. If these ratios are com- 

 pared with the ratios of the cattle tested at the Tring and London 

 Dairy Shows given above, they will be found to correspond 

 closely ; but if the ratios of the Jerseys alone are taken, and are 

 compared with the ratios of all the Jerseys tested publicly from 

 1886 to 1 901, numbering 1,321, the difference is still .smaller, 

 being 18-99 lb. against 18*89 lb* 



It has also been urged against these trials that the cattle 

 exhibited are not average specimens of their respective breeds, 

 being far too good. This objection might equally be made to 

 the winners in every inspection class. The aim of all agri- 

 cultural shows should be educational, and therefore to take 



* English Jersey Cattle Society's Herd Book Vol 13, page 447. 



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