The Farmer's Experience: South-West Scotland

Extract

I have four dairy farms, two with pedigree Ayrshire herds and two with pedigree Friesian herds. We have a fifth herd we keep at home as a hobby herd, with special heifers and cows, and which my wife specially looks after.

On the four commercial farms we produce Certified milk. We milk about sixty cows; we also occasionally breed a pedigree bull; and we are interested in good records of butterfat. We find that the incidence of mastitis in pedigree cows is extremely important, because if a good-looking cow with a beautiful pedigree and a first-class record is suddenly struck with mastitis her whole history is ruined from the practical farmer's point of view. This is so important that on the four commercial farms we take regular monthly tests from each quarter of each cow. These are reported to me as well as to the veterinarian and to the herdsman who is handling the cows.