Gunnison news-champion., 1922-04-21
Ranch and RANCE :: I: =:
SOME REMARKS ABOUT
COWS AND MILh TESTING
Rr An lharr.rr.

b. an Ob5eTyeT--
A. = result of the recent milk tests
Of Gunnis0U dAiries there Is consider
able activity b. the dairyInen 20 test
their eOWs and get I'd Of some which
Unexpectedly fell below the standard.
Some surprising results are already
reported.
The recent ordnance establishing
certain standards for milk sold within
the Town Of GUnus=ou was designed 70
protect the consumer, and the method
81 checking Up the milk apply in
v0lve- not the sting u one sample,
made Up Of milk from every DAIRY,
but the testing Of Individual samples
from each source OF supply. The ques-
ton Of protection E0T the producer l.
also one o. importance, for he, too,
should know the nature gf the milk
produced by each q his sources of
supply. Naturally, the producer must
acquire this information for himself
A wise man once remarked tha. il
l. impossible 10 tell how far n frog
can jump by just looking at t. IL Is
just a. impossible 20 tell what kind of
milk a COW gIll produce By Just look
!u az her. In order FOR the dairynan
10 knox that each individual COW Is
worthy Of the feed and care she gets,
her milk should be tested and all un-
certainty removed. This will prevent
such errors a. feeding milk with four
per cent butter lat 20 the calves, while
three per cent milk Is carefully kept
back for the town trade, just because
one COW h. q better locker than the
other, OF perhaps an easier mixer.
Influence Of Feed and Care
IL kH.s 81
quality OF a COWS milk is very much
Influenced by the kind Of feed and care
she gets, and that COW on summer
pasture will not produce as rich milk
D. she will on solid food. The pre-
ponderancc Of evidence, however,
.eers 10 show that the butter fat con
tent of q cows milk is almost as much
a fixed characteristic Of the COW as
the color OF her hair. II We leave
out Of consideration the COW which l.
really undernourshcd or out Of con
diuon, and the occasional unexplained
temporary change, II seems that the
variations in the butter fat content Of
any cows milk will not exceed a few
teuths Of one per cent. II she is
four per cent COW, there is no need 10
fear that she will drop TO three per
cent when placed on summer pasture,
and on the other hand. IL she is q
three per cent COW. il Is folly to at
tempt 10 induce her to give four per
cent milk, even tho the food and care,
as well Is language at milking time,
be very much bcttered. She can not
do il for any length Of time.
The amount and kind Of food, how
ever, do have an influence on the duan-
uty Of milk COW produces, and are
really important factors that the
dairyrnan cannot afford 10 neglect. Il
might be that four per cent cow with
a scant flow of milk would not pay
her way, while a three per cent cow
with a large flow would produce
enough butter fat, salable as cream.
TO make her very valuable. All of 4
these factors should be considered in
culling the herd.
Breeding Up the Herd
The only sure way to build I'D a
good dairy herd is to get nd of the
and to build for the fu- i
ture by selecting heifers from dams
which are known to be proft-produc-
ing, and above all to use pure bred /
sire from good milking strain. In
addition. the sire should be checked
on at the earliest possible time by test
ing the quality and quantity of milk
from his daughters, and il they are
not better producers than their dams,
the sire should be discarded.
Use College Laboratories
Every dairyman should be equipped
with Babcock tester for butter fat.
Small outfits large enough for the or
dinary dairyman, can be bought for q
small sum. Any dairyman or rancher
near Gunnison who does not want to
provide himself with such tester can
make arrangements to do his own
testing at the laboratories at the Gun
nison Normal College.