Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-09-14
ADVANCED REGISTRY RECORDS
How Much Better Mixers Are Advanced gistry
Cows Than Or binary Cows

Orono, Me-, Sept. 12.-(SpeciaD.-T
following was made public today by
Charles D. Woods, director Of the
Maine Agricultural Experiment station
at the University Of Maine:
Any one who has given any thought
or study to the so-called official ad-
vanced registry tests Of dairy cattle in
this country must have queried in his
own mind as to how much superior the
istry are to animals not in this "blue
book" of the elite. In recent years
many facts have come to light which
would indirectly tend to indicate that
the standard requirements for adj
vanced registry, as set by the different
cattle clubs and breeders associations,
are not really extraordinarily high. and
that, as a matter Of fact, any animal,
which the average farmer would re-
gard as a good cow. could with proper
handling and care make the require
ments Of advanced registry for that
breed. Thus there have been published
from time to time authentic records OF
grade animals making milk and fat
production records which not only met
the advanced registry requirements,
but were nearly or quite as good as the
very best of advanced registry records.
Again in the case Of the Jersey breed,
one of the largest dealers in Jersey
cattle in the country has for many
years advertised that he would guar
antee any animal which he sold to
make advanced registry. Recently
this dealer publicly made the state
ment that he had never been called
upon to make good this guarantee, or
in other words, no animal which he
had ever sold has failed to make ad-
vanced registry if tested for 1t. Re-
quirements cannot be extraordinarily
high which will permit one to guaran-
tee that every animal sold will meet
them.
It has not been possible until recent
Nv to make any comprehensive and ex-
act comparison between the average
performance Of the cows of breed
not in advanced registry with those
that were in advanced registry. Re
Gently the Maine Agricultural Expert
ment Station has been able to make
such a comparison in the case of one
breed, the Ayrshire. The Station has
in hand at the present time statistics
which will enable such a comparison to
be made for another one Of the dairy
breeds. The facts for the Ayrshire are
interesting because there is every
reason to regard them as entirely typ
ical for all the other dairy breeds.
In the case Of the Ayrshires the COM
parison is made between the records
of Scottish Ayrshire cows furnished by
the Scottish Milk Records Society.
These records correspond to American
cow test association records in this
particular that the records Of all cows
of each herd, good, bad and Indifferent.
are included. The records used are
based upon many thousands Of cows
and certainly may be considered as
fairly representative Of the Ayrshire
breed of cattle as it exists in Scotland
today. There Is no reason to suppose
that the average Of the American Ayr
shire cattle is either better or worse
than their Scottish sisters.
Comparing the milk production in
gallons per week Of these general aver
age Scottish Ayrshire COWS with Am
ericsn advanced registry Ayrshires. age
by age, we have the following results:
For two year old heifers the average
production was 14S gallons for Amer
lean advanced registry animals and 1876
gallons for Scottish general average
Ayrshires, giving a difference of IL
gallons per week in favor of the Am
erican advanced registry animals. For
three year old COWS the American ad-
vanced registry average production is
1868 gallons, and the Scottish Milk
Records Society is 1873, making a diff
ference Of 80 gallons per week in favor
Of the American advanced registry an
imals. For four year old cows the
American advanced registry animals
averaged lis gallons per week while
the general average of the Scottish
Ayrshires yielded 1872 gallons per
week. making difference Of 2.s gallons
in favor of the American advanced
registry animals. Taking all mature
cows together, the average production
in gallons per week for the American
advanced registry animals is 20.3 as
against 1876 for the general average OF
the Ayrshire bl eed as it exists in Scot
land. making a difference of IL gallons
in favor Of the American animals.
From this 1t will be seen that the
American Advanced registry Ayrshires
outyield their Scottish sisters, on the
average, from about one and a quar-.
ter gallons to three gallons per week
or roughly from 10 to Is pounfs