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Herd testing in South Australia, early 1950s: from left, Gweneth Grundy and Win Turner

Associations for dairying were located in suitable grassland Riverland areas in the State, and trained herd testers were employed to visit dairy farms on a monthly basis taking samples, and by means of a centrifuge establish the butterfat content percentage for each cow. The results of a night and a morning reading taken by the testers were listed on prepared sheets, and then forwarded to the Department of Agriculture for processing.

The results were used to cull out low producers, retain high producers and to breed and market progeny from accredited herds.

Early in 1954 Powers-Samas Office Machine Punch Card equipment was introduced and installed to expedite the recording of herd testing data. The equipment machine comprised:

• 5 x 40 column card punch machines
• 1 x 40 column card sorter
• 1 x 40 column card interpolator
• 2 x 40 column card hand punches
• 1 x 40 column card tabulator

For punch card purposes, codes using numbers represented the association, the dairy owner, and each cow and its production during lactation. (A lactation period was 30 days over 10 months of testing.)

Each column or group of columns on a card was programmed to represent a code of identity and relevant quantities. Each column had number 0–9, and from herd tester sheets certain codes could be locked in a machine, and margins set, the machine operator reading from sheets keyed in the figures, so that a hole over the appropriate number would appear giving all the information required.

A punch card operator with experience could process up to 550 cards in an hour, some more, some less. A mirror on top of the machine was set to reflect each card until it dropped into its exit magazine. Cards could thus be viewed and if the operator detected an error it could be corrected and the incorrect card discarded. Operators became very skilled in reading the holes in a card; accuracy, of course, was the main aim.

Another operator, changing the machine to verifying position, verified each set of work. Any errors would see another single hole punched in the column, while in agreement the original hole would become elongated.

The sorter machine came into action and would sense any card with two single holes in a column and would insert an error card with a corner protruding to allow the operator to correct and insert back into the pack. Corrections were mostly done on the hand punch.

Packs of card were carefully stored each month in special card-sized column shelves and as new monthly figures came forward new packs were interpolated in preparation for printing out each cow’s certificate in the tabulator.

An average butterfat percentage for the lactation was calculated by a comptometriste and entered on each certificate.

Office clerks then prepared and sent out certificates to the dairy farmers.

Payments

Payments for herd testing were managed through the Department’s Accounts Branch.

Training

Early in 1954 three comptometristes employed under the previous manual system were given the opportunity to train on the new system. Gweneth Grundy was the only one who chose to stay and the others transferred to other departments. New operators were employed, obviating several male clerks under the manual system. We were trained on the job by Powers-Samas staff, and their company carried out the maintenance for the machines.

Location

Power points were installed along part of the southern wall on the first floor of the Simpson Building, which was on the west side of Gawler Place between Pirie and Flinders Streets, Adelaide. A soundproof large room was built and a glass partition was erected to house the tabulator, sorter and interpolator, which were quite noisy, allowing a margin of quietness for the concentration of the punch card operators next door.

Staff and Experience

Gweneth Grundy was given the opportunity of experiencing the use of all the machines in the new system, which was quite a challenge but often very satisfying. Our leader was Vic Russell. Bruce Lock from the Accounts Branch was transferred over later, mainly to learn to operate the tabulator, which needed careful setting up. Later, Jim Badenoch, also from Accounts, took over from Lock after he moved on to the expanding Central Processing for government departments.

The operators included Margaret Prest (née Cass), Pam Grandison, Joan who later married Jim Badenoch, Win Turner and Gweneth Grundy, among many others over the two years before Grundy transferred out of the area to her initial, and favourite, occupation as the comptemetriste under the care of the Chief Clerk, Bill McGee, where she was responsible for calculating the average butterfat percentage on cow certificates and other work required by the Department.

Summary

In 1954 the Department of Agriculture was second to the South Australian Railways to use a punch card data system, which was considered an early electric brain for gathering data: it shortly preceded the development of the computer age moving rapidly around the world. Gweneth Grundy was stunned when Vic Russell told her Powers-Samas was already outmoded only 6 months after the system’s installation. However, it wasn’t an easy system to learn. Human errors at all times were embarrassing, but one had to work very hard to get on top of the system to ply one’s hand.

The system was eventually phased out when new methods of testing a cow’s performance were adopted.

(Source: Letter from Gweneth Grundy to Trevor Roberts and Arthur Tideman, 18.2.2007)