844: QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 May, 1899. 
present time butter factories are free from all trouble in this respect. This 
development in modern dairying is due to the invention by Dr. S. M. Babcock, 
in 1890, of a rapid, accurate, and inexpensive method of determing the 
amount of butter fat in milk; and his machines, which have been proved by 
careful comparison with accurately made chemical tests to give exceedingly 
correct results, are used throughout Australia for this purpose at the present 
day. 
% The results of this universal system of milk-testing show that from time to 
time, and from noapparent cause, the milk given by any one particular herd is liable 
to vary in its richness. ‘This unexplainable fact has, in some instances, given 
rise to doubts on the part of dairy farmers as to whether the weekly tests at 
the factory are to be relied upon, and whether by the present system of testing 
that justice is done to their milk which they were led to expect, and felt justly 
entitled to receive. ‘Ihis feeling of doubt has, in many instances, been 
accentuated by the great discrepancy between the results obtained in the show- 
yard and those given by the factory to which the milk from the same cows was 
sent. In this respect matters were brought to a head at the last show at 
Tatura, in Victoria, when {some really astonishing results were obtained. All 
the usual precautions were taken to provide a fair test, and Mr. H. W. Potts, 
the Victorian Dairy Expert, was appointed to do the testing. The milking was 
done at 12 noon, and the milk tested with the following results :— 
| 4 
Owner. Milk. | Test. Butter. ae ateeem Ib. 
lb. Ib. lb. 
T. O'Reilly, No. 1 oe ie 39 58 2°49 15°64 
T. O’Reilly, No. 2 yee “az8 35 55 2:19 16°00 
T. O’Reilly, No. 3 ay “+f 38 4°6 1°96 19°33 
Andrew Collie ... Sf <r, 32 41 1°46 21°94 
A. Crawford... ae ae 29 3°9 1°25 23°12 
J. Ellis... ite, se £ are 26 41 118 21°94 
As the butter returns of the winning cows were so high, Mr. Potts 
determined to test them again. The cows were accordingly milked at 5°30 that 
evening, and the results of the testing were as follows :— 
| | 
' * Equivalent to in 
Name of Cow. Milk, | Test. | Hitter me root pean One Week in 
| 
Ib. | Ib. 
Bauley eee eter 11 pe} |) ay 376 25'32 
Pansy ded ore a. 11? 12°2 | L’61 3°80 26°60 
Dolly mts si oN 124 58 | "84 2°8 19°60 ~ 
Seeing tliat only some five hours had elapsed since the previous milking, 
the quantity of milk yielded was naturally small, but the increase in the 
percentage of butter fat was extraordinary. ‘These cows were kept in the 
showyard for the night, and again milked and tested the following morning, 
when the fall in quality was even more remarkable than the rise at the 
previous milking, the results of the testing being as follow :— : 
Lb, Milk. Test. 
Bauley ... $35 och Hin or 29 3:3 
Pansy ... “20 cox! 50 on 24. 3'8 
Dolly ... on 300 , sth BE! 3:8 
These results must raise grave doubts in the mind of every thinking person 
as to the reliability of showyard tests, and seem to point to the fact that in 
competitions of the kind some means must be devised for carrying out the 
milking in a manner more closely resembling ordinary milking conditions. 
But now Mr, O’Reilly, the owner of the cows, comesin. He at once concludes 
