The Rural Voice, 1981-02, Page 17All about the art of ROP testing
in DONNA THIEL
Travel and the interesting people you
meet - those are two of the bonuses of
being a ROP tester, according to veteran
tester Dick McNamara.
In 1965, McNamara was a dairy
farmer, but the city of Stratford, bursting
at the seams, annexed his farm. At first
the farmer planned to buy another farm,
but decided to try the life of a ROP tester
for a short time. He liked the life and
recently was promoted to supervisor -
which means more paper work for
McNamara but also more challenges. His
friends and family celebrated the pro-
motion by throwing a party for
McNamara in November.
McNamara says, "There are two types
of inspectors. The first is the younger
group, and often a high percentage of
them come from farm backgrounds. The
second group are in their 40's and 50's.
They were farmers, but due to pow.
health or other reasons, can't continue to
farm. This is one way to keep their
farming interests alive."
In Ontario, 85 per cent of all dairy
herds are tested by ROP inspectors. ROP
stands for Record of Performance, and
the program is operated by the federal
government. The records have been kept
by computer printout since 1964.
"To be on the ROP program there
must be 20 registered cows (in the herd).
Every milk record is based on 100
Breed Class Average (BCA). This
standard average was set from records
from 1949 to 1954. The average was
ROP tester Dick McNamara says there
are two bonuses to the job - travelling
and meeting interesting people.
based on the production from the 183rd
day from calving to the 305th day.
Testing for butter fat was started in
1885 in Canada. It was introduced to
determine the richness of milk by
measuring the butterfat content. The
Babcock test, developed in 1880, made
possible fast and accurate milk grading
by adding concentrated sulphuric acid
into a sample of milk. Before 1880, milk
was recorded by weight only. For the last
eight to 10 years laboratory testing is
being done with an infra -ray machine.
"The provincial average is 132 BCA
and the Region of Durham has the
highest average at 149 BCA. The BCA
average for the counties of Perth, Huron,
Bruce and Grey is from 132 to 129,"
McNamara noted.
Ontario has been divided into 12 zones
with one supervisor each, and 117
testers, who service 235 herds on ROP.
Each zone and supervisor has 10 testers
who receive a list of 12 to 15 herds each.
Testers usually work a five-day week and
test each herd in the evening and again in
the morning. They usually visit a farm
every 35 days.
In Canada, the Records of Merit were
the first supervised records kept. The
records were kept and supervised for
seven to 30 days. The tester stayed at the
farm for the number of days tested, and
cows were often pushed to give a lot of
milk for seven days by extra feeding. But
this caused the cow to produce milk for
only short periods of time. This ROM
program was started in 1890 and was
discontinued in 1924.
The ROP began in 1905. The daily
weighing continued until 1946, and the
inspectors stayed at the farm for 48
hours. In 1948, the inspectors were
required to stay for only 24 hours.
There are 300 herds on ROP in Perth
County and 90 herds each in the counties
of Huron, Bruce and Grey. There is a
waiting list to go on the ROP program and
hopefully the federal government will
delegate the funds to hire the extra
testers to accomodate the new herds.
SMYTN SNOWBLOWERS
Cutting Req'd Approx.
Width H.P. Auger Fan Weight Hoods
Rear Mount
72" (6 ft)
35 & up
Single
24" x 8"
700 Ib.
Manual
16"
84"
55
Single
30" x 8"
800 Ib.
Manual
20"
96"
70
Single
30" x 10"
950 Ib.
Hydraulic
20"
96"
100
14"
36" x 10"
1200 Ib.
Hydraulic
20"
108"
120 & up
20"
36" x 12"
2000 Ib.
Hydraulic
20"
SMYTN
Welding and Machine Shop
RR 2, Auburn, Ontario (519) 529-7212
'HE RURAL VOICE/FEBRUARY 1981 PG. 15