44 
Dairy  Caitle  and  the  Butter  Test. 
In  the  early  days  of  Imtter-testing,  these  figures  exercised 
me  much,  as  I could  not  understand  how  butters  of  the 
highest  quality,  and  supposed  to  be  genuine,  could  be  sold 
at  the  very  low  prices  then  in  force,  more  particularly 
as  I knew  from  Mr.  Hall’s  writings,^  as  also  from  independent 
authorities,  that  the  butter  ratios  of  the  cattle  in  those 
European  countries  from  which  the  greater  part  of  the 
imported  butters  came,  varied  from  26‘00  lb.  to  30’00  lb., 
and  that  the  cost  of  milk  in  those  countries  was  never  quite 
as  low  as  2\d.  to  SJrf.  per  gallon. 
Acting  on  this  knowledge,  I called  attention  in  1895  to 
the  very  low  prices  at  that  time  quoted  for  French,  Danish, 
and  Dutch  butters,  which  ranged  from  80s.  to  90s.  per  cwt., 
and  I urged  as  strongly  as  I could  that  all  imported  butters 
should  be  examined  at  the  port  of  entry.® 
Under  the  Margarine  Act  of  1899,  this  condition  became 
law,  mainly  through  the  exertions  of  the  English  Jersey 
Cattle  Society,  and  the  correctness  of  one’s  suspicions  was  at 
once  demonstrated  by  the  rise  in  prices  of  the  butters  exported 
to  this  country  after  the  Act  came  into  force.  These  remarks 
do  not  apply  to  the  Irish  and  Colonial  butters,  the  prices 
of  which  were  kept  down  by  the  foreign  butters,  because  it 
was  well  known  at  that  time  that  the  price  of  milk  in  Ireland 
was  almost  50  per  cent,  under  the  English  price,  while  our 
colonists  were  glad  to  get  2\d.  from  the  factories  for  milk 
which  was  otherwise  unsaleable. 
Period  of  Lactation. 
In  the  early  days  of  butter  tests  no  points  were  allowed 
for  the  length  of  time'  a cow  had  been  in  milk,  although  in 
the  milking  trials  at  the  Dairy  Show  the  period  of  lactation 
had  always  been  taken  into  consideration.  The  result  was 
that  heavy-milking,  fresh-calved,  cross-bred  cows  were  always 
very  high  up  in  the  prize  list,  although  they  were  not  often 
heard  of  subsequently.  The  allowance  of  points  for  lactation 
quickly  put  matters  right,  and  did  more  than  that,  for  they 
showed  that  the  more  profitable  cows  are  those  which  keep 
up  their  flow  of  milk.  From  a perusal  of  the  lactation  figures 
under  the  heading  “ days  in  milk,”  which  will  be  found  in  the 
Reports  of  various  Butter  Tests,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Channel 
Island  cattle  apparently  milk  longer  than  other  breeds. 
Colour  and  Quality  of  Milk  and  Butter. 
In  1890,  a column  was  added  to  the  butter-test  tables,  for 
colour  and  quality  of  butter,  although  no  points  were  awarded 
1 “ The  Jersey  as  a Butter  Cow.”  B.  and  W.  E.  Journal,  Vol.  II.,  Ser.  4. 
“ “Thoughts  suggested  by  the  Tring  Dairy  Trials.”  Live  Stock  Journal 
Almanack,  1896. 
