Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1920-12-09
Cow Testing Associations

BY II. Il. NOBLE, county -ASIlcul-
tural Agent: A Farmers Co-opera-
tive COW Testing Association is as the
name signifies, an association organ
lied for. the purpose of keeping
yearly production records Of the in
dividual COWS belonging to the mem
bers.
The advisability of weighing and
testing each cows milk during the
year is made quite evident when we
discovering through testing that the
entire profit derived from their
herds comes from a relatively small
number of the animals kept. Strange
as it may seem, animals which had
been considered most worthless as
regards their milk and fat produc-
ton have often been found by testing
to be proftabTy COWS. Keeping rec
ords Of the production of a herd en-
ables a dairyman to intelligently
weed out his improbable COWS.
To the man who is attempting to
develop a high-producing herd Of
COWS, testing associations have an
other important significance. Each
year a certain number of heifer
calves are raised. When the cost Of
raising a calf to the time when she
comes in milk is considered, it is
quite evident that it is a losing prop
osition unless the young COWS prove
to be profitable producers. 1t will
cost just as much to raise a poor
producer as a good one. Nature in
tended the avera5e cow to produce
enough milk and butter-fat during a
lactatiOn period to give a healthy
calf a proper start in life. In terms
of butter-fat this means between
100 and $50 pounds per year, which
from a dairyman's viewpoint is un-
profitable production. If a dairyman
is to succeed through the production
of his animals and not the increased
valuation Of his property he must
make intelligent selection from his
best producers. Only calves from
COWS that have proved themselves
through testing-not by guess--to be
profitable should be raised. Ample
proof of the wisdom of this method
is furnished by comparing the rec
ords of herds when they first began
testing and after testing had been
carried on for a series Of years.
We judge the dairy COW by her pro
duction and the dairy bull by his
ability to get heifers with greater
milk and butter-fat producing quail
tiles than their dams. Herein lies a
third reason for keeping records of
the individuals in each herd. By
keeping a pure bred rather than a
grade or scrub the chances of getting
profitable COWS are more greatly in
creased, but all pure bred bulls do
not transmit their good qualities in
the same degree, and since the value
VI q JUL do w Gil d0 Ills SSI 1S u0ISl-
mined by productivity it becomes
most necessary to keep production
records in the herd.
Charles M. Schwab, head of the
Bethlehem Steel Corporation, once
said "The greatest thrill that can
come to any man is the thrill of sue
cessful accomplishment" There is
some truth to that
In our county there are at the
present time only four associations.
In our state, there are 115 associa-
tions. We lead the Union It re-
quires about Is herds to operate one
each member a booster for better
dairying, and the extreme distance
between herds about ten miles.
There is room for associations
with centers at Arena Hollandale and
Rewey. Keep this in mind for you
may be called upon to join in the
near future