Vol. LXXIV. 
No. 4354. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 27, 1915. 
WEEKLY $1.00 PER YEAR. 
They have since changed it so we get four cents 
premium and three cents discount if our milk varies 
from 4.5%. Under this plan if a man had a low 
testing dairy he would take the exchange price and 
would often get more for 3.5% milk than his neigh¬ 
bor who took the stated price and whose milk tested 
4.5%. However, the exchange price is a thing of the 
past, and practically all the milk in this section is 
now bought on test. This explains the greater in¬ 
terest that is now being taken in this subject, and 
why some farmers are trying to build up better 
testing herds. 
DOES HIGH TEST PAY?—There is a big dif¬ 
ference of opinion over the question among some 
farmers as to whether it really pays to make high 
testing milk. One side will insist that you get 
enough more milk from a low-testing dairy to more 
than make up for what you lose in quality. This 
may be true in a few cases, but when you lay that 
A Farmer’s Talk About Milk. 
Thankful He Is a Dairyman. 
NOWLEDGE NEEDED.—“Good morning, Wil¬ 
liam! Are you making much milk?” 
“No, most of my cows are about dry. IIow is your 
test? It ought to be pretty good.” 
“Test, thunder! Didn’t you know the man I sell 
to has just bought a new auto, and us fellers has 
got to pay for it? He knocked me off four points 
when I am sure he ought to have given me four 
points. Say, do you know what I am going to do? 
The next time they put me in trustee in our school 
district, the first thing I buy will be a milk tester 
and the teacher I hire must know how to run it. 
Then when little Billy grows up and sells milk he 
will know enough to figure out the test. How about 
your test, John?” 
“Oh! Mine is 4.2% Summer or Winter, rain or 
price. I did not like this very well, and soon had 
a small Babcock tester and learned to do my own 
testing. Whereas my milk tested 4.2% at the sta¬ 
tion, at home it tested 4.8%. I did not say anything 
to the manager, but wrote to the owner in the city. 
He sent my letter back to the manager, who was 
anything hut pleased, and he gave me a good setting 
out behind my back. However, my test soon raised 
two or three points, but never got above the stand¬ 
ard 4.5%. As there was no pleasure and mighty 
little profit in doing business under those circum¬ 
stances I stopped drawing there and started in at 
the other station, where the manager said that his 
firm did not expect him to earn his salary by cheat¬ 
ing on the test. Aside from a few times, when I 
thought there was guesswork connected with it, I 
have been quite well satisfied with the change. 
PECULIARITIES OF TESTING—One Spring 
we had some silage left, hardly enough to pay to 
sunshine, fresh or nearly dry, it is just the same, 
1 don’t believe they test it at all.” 
“I know one thing,” spoke up another man who 
had been listening, “my wife’s brother works in the 
station at -; he told me that sometimes when 
they were in a hurry they did not bother to test 
the samples, just gave each man about what they 
thought he would stand.” 
“And I guess they get in a hurry quite often.” 
THE TEST.—It was pay day at the milk station 
and the above conversation took place among a 
group of farmers who were waiting under the sheds 
for the bank to open, so they could get their checks 
cashed. And I .think I can prove from some of 
my own experience, that there was at least some 
truth in what they were talking. My first dairy 
consisted of grade Jerseys, and they were good ones, 
but they did not test up where I thought they ought 
to. Every month there would be from six to 12 
cents per 100 pounds deducted from their stated 
The Beginning of a Dairy Education. Fig. 513. 
save and too much to throw away. As our pasture 
land was limited we did not turn the cows out until 
a month after everybody else had. About the time 
everybody’s else cows went out to grass, our test 
dropped four or five points. I spoke to the man¬ 
ager about it and he said: “Oh, they always drop 
off when they are first put on grass.” I opened my 
mouth to tell him my cows had not had a mouth¬ 
ful of grass, when I happened to think they might 
kick on feeding silage at that time of the year, so I 
made a noise like a clam and waited. My test soon 
went back and stayed up even when I did turn out. 
PRICE STANDARDS.—Eight or 10 years ago the 
dairymen had the option of taking the exchange 
price which was supposed to go up and down ac¬ 
cording to supply and demand with no test, or the 
company’s stated price which was given out six 
months in advance and called for a standard of 4.5% 
with a premium and discount of three cents for 
each tenth of 1% above or below the standard. 
down as a general rule, I for one am from Mis¬ 
souri. I will try to give some figures in an effort 
to prove that quality counts in the milk business 
as well as in other lines. 
LAST DECEMBER’S FIGURES.—Last Decem¬ 
ber’s statement is used for text chiefly because dur¬ 
ing that month I bought all the grain fed and know 
the cost per cow for purchased feed. The cows had 
all freshened since the first of September. The 
average number of pounds of milk per cow for the 
month was 998 or a little better than 32 pounds per 
day. That does not sound very big and no doubt 
seme black and white cow man will ha-ha right 
out loud. But they tested 5.3 per cent., and this 
meant eight points at four cents each or 32 cents 
per 100 pounds premium for butterfat. The stated 
price was $2.10 per 100 pounds plus 10 cents barn 
score plus 10 cents on bacteria count plus 32 cents 
butterfat, which gave $2.62 per 100 pounds, and 
$26.15 as each cow’s share of the milk check. I do 
