Imperial Valley press., 1922-09-20
cow TESTING BY
NOVEMBER FIRST
IS NOW PLANNED
De Tai Outlines Importance
of Organization To
Keep Records

Imperial County dairymcn viii havt
! COW testing association in operation
oy November l, if plans of the leaders
II the movement are carried out.
In discussing the attitude Of inpcr-
al Valley dairymcn toward a COW test
ng association, Nern De Tarr, assistant
arm adviser in charge of dairying, says
hat the recent QUESTIONABLE sent on
o all dairymen who could be reached
howed that 279 representing 1922
COWS said they would join a COW test
ing association, and 100 representing
1887 cows gave doubtful answers but
would probably join.
"From this it can be seer,'' said
Mr.. De Tarr, ''that the dairymen really
lesire a COW testing association, and /
oelieve they will support one. There
ire 26 cow testing associations i'll Cali
iornia at present, each of which is a
lecided success and has meant better
profits for the members and there is
10 reason why the same condition can
not exist i'll Imperial Valley.
'tTo the question, Does COW testing
pay?,' which is asked by so many, l
AN best answer by quoting from Il
Hayne, one of the foremost dairy eX-
)erts in the country.
Mr.. Hayne says, 'The day is com
ing when dairymen will no more think
IF Keeping COWS without keeping rec
ords than banker will think of loan
ing money and trusting to his memory
md luck to collect interest. Here are
five good reasons why we should form
cow testing associations:
4. We will take better care of
he cows. Many a man when he begar
-esting his COWS also began taking bet
er care of them and surprised himself
With how good his cows were.
"'2. We can find out which cows
ire paying a profit. There are thou
sands of herds where part of the cows
ire profitable and the rest "boardcrs
eating up the profit.
'''3. Cows will be worth more to
is when we know how good they are.
\ good COW will bring $50 more if we
.an show her record when we wish to
sell her.
80 The calves will be worth more
wise man will give 500 or more for
good calf from Il good COW with a
tecord, and will give $35 or less for {
good calf from II COW with no record
'''5. We can improve our herds.
When we know by actual weights
nd figures that we oave high producing
lows, we would be fools if we did not
keep the heifers from those cows.'' -
Continuing, Mr.. De Tarr said, "Wt
,annot tell for certain whether or moi
COW is worth having unless we know
how much milk she gives, how much
butter fat there is in her milk and how
much feed she eats. There is no MAJ
living who can guess this information
correctly. Nothing but correctly kept
records will enable US to obtain thi.
data.
1T is our hope to have the COW test
ing association III Imperial Valley in
operation by November /. At present
& here is much detail work to be handled
before actual testing can be started
md | believe it is better to clear al
this up and start off correctly rather
than to jeopardize our chances for sue
cess by rushing into such an associa-
ton before informing every dairymand
just what our aims are. | will be salts
fled if we can start off with 1000 cows
i'll the association and believe this is
a sufficiently large number, also, J
I'm certain we will have this number
lined up by November l.
Practically all of the dairy business
IN the valley lies south of Imperial. !
There are several dairymen doing bust
ness north of that city, but practically
speaking, the bulk of the industry is
in the southern half of the valley. The
largest dairying sections lie west OF
FL Centre and south of Holtville. Wher
it is remembered that there are approx
mately 10000 dairy cows in Imperial
Valley, it is surprising to learn that
there is no cow testing association here
It is my understanding that an asso-
ciation was formed Just prior to the |
war, but was not successful due to con
ditions at that time, and another was
started two years ago, which also peter
ed out. This time we are going TO start
at it in the right way and carry it
through to ultimate success. Cow test
ing is too large an item for the sue
cess of the dairy industry to be over.
looked and the dairy industry being the
for the success of Imperial |
Valley, we have got to do everything
we possibly can to make it profitable |
industry. The best means of insuring
this is a COW testing association, and
we are going to have it,