Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1916-12-26
Keep Cows Record.
VALUE OF COW TESTING ASSOCIATIONS
DEMONsTRATED-APP OFTEN
DECEPTIVE IN DAIRY COWS.

That the appearance of dairy COW
cannot be depended on to indicate her
production Of milk is illustrated by a
demonstration conducted under the aus
pices of the Dairy Division of the de-
partment with herd of nine cows at
the National Dairy Show held recently
at Springfield, Mass.
A years record of milk and butter fat
already had been made for all the COWS
of the herd. During the show complete
records of production and feed consump-
tion were kept and in every case the pre-.
vious records were duplicated. Some Of
the COWS were of poor dairy type, yet
we're good producers; Others were of
good dairy type, yet were poor produc-
srs; still others of similar appearance
had greatly different records. OF the
last.named class were Nos. s and 8.
Many experienced stockmen selected No.
9 as the better OF the two, but the rec
ords showed that for the last year No. 8
gave S,445 pounds of milk and 346 Of
fat compared with 4,279 pounds of milk
and 1913 of fat for No. 9. This served as
an object lesson to the hundreds of
people who daily viewed the demonstra-
ton that good dairy type is not always
associated with large production and
that poor dairy type does not indicate
lack of large yield.
"What does II cost to keep records?"
was q common question of the dairy
men. In cow-testing associations,
where the above. .quoted records were
made, the charge is $3.50 q month for
each COW, and in addition the board of
the tester for one day each month.
With feed, labor, and live stock 80 high,
it certainly is imperative to eliminate
every unnecessary expense like the
"boarder" or "robber" COW that fails to
pay for even her feed.
In the big room at the dairy show
where the cows we're sanctioned were
several hundred comfortable seats. Here
several times each day well-known dairy
men from various parts OF the country
talked to the large audiences on dairy
problems, illustrating their remarks
with the COWS of the demonstration
herd. Especial emphasis was laid upon
the value of records in economical man.
agemept.
Cooperative bull associations were
carefully described and their many ad-
vantsges explained. That 1t was possible
TO have high class bulls Of the finest
breeding for the use of dsiryman with
only few COWS seemed to many farm
ers as too good to be true, especially
when the cost was even less than in the
case of scrub bulls. In this connection
the charts that illustrated the con-
ditions at Roland, Iowa, before and after
the organization of q bull association,
elicited much interest. At that place.
for yearly investment OF $3.50 each,
the members have the use of Eve $24O
bulls for 10 years.
On the walls of the demonstration
room were pictures of famous dairy
animals, charts showing results OF record
keeping, etc. Adjoining were skeleton
milk or dairy houses, with the sides only
partially finished, to show the construc.
ton; also model of dairy barn and OF
a silo. In the milk houses was dairy
equipment, and q man In charge answer
ed questions on dairyiug and explained
the construction of these and all other
kinds of dairy buildings.
At regular periods demonstrations IN
the sterilization of milk utensils were
given with the inexpensive farm steriliz'
or described In Farmers Bulletin 74S;
these smonstrations we're we'll attend
ed.
There was also keen interest in every
part of the demonstrations, as may be
Judged from the fact that about 5000
people listened to lectures and fully
tx nm ved the exhibits.