The accuracy of estimation of a dairy cow's production of milk and butterfat

Abstract

Calculated milk productions for 89 Jersey cows based on yield recordings made at weekly, fortnightly and monthly intervals were compared with actual production. The results indicated that in experiments involving the production of a small number of cows, the shortest recording interval that could be used to ensure a reasonable degree of accuracy would be one week. A longer interval would be suitable where a large number of cows was involved and the recordings averaged, as the plus errors would then tend to cancel out the minus errors.