62 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



COWS which do not show a profit, and attempt to replace them 

 with better ones. 



On another chart I have figures illustrating the same point, 

 in the work of the St. Louis herds. The best Jersey cow in 120 

 days ate $32 worth of food and made $50 worth of profit. 

 Another cow ate $30.24 worth of food, and made $23.30 worth 

 of profit. The first cow ate $1.76 more of food and made $26.70 

 more profit. So you see that these differences exist in pure bred 

 cattle. Compare the best Holstein cow at St. Louis, and one of 

 the poorest. The difference in the amount of food eaten was 

 $1.84, and the difference in the net profit was $28. 



In our work at the Storrs Station, we tried to eliminate the 

 poor cows, and I want to show you what weeding out the poor 

 cows and replacing them with good ones will do. We did not 

 raise our cows. We bought them, paying never more than $50. 

 In 1899, they were making 284 pounds of butter each, and the 

 food cost $54.25 for the year. They made a profit of $11.76 

 above the cost of food only. When we considered labor, 

 interest and taxes, they made a net loss of $1.23 each. We 

 figured labor at about 20 cents an hour, foods at the market 

 price, interest at 5 per cent, and depreciation in the value of the 

 cow; all the factors that would naturally enter into the prob- 

 lem. As the unprofitable cows were eliminated from year to 

 year the production increased. You will notice, however, that 

 the cost of food, which was made a uniform price for the five 

 years, differed scarcely $2.00, and yet we went from $1.23 per 

 cow on the wrong side to $21.69 ^^^ profit. That is simply the 

 effect of keeping a record and weeding out cows. I hope you 

 farmers in Maine will get interested in the cow testing associa- 

 tions. I do not quite see the necessity for an association in all 

 cases. I do not see why any farmer cannot take up the work 

 for himself in his own herd, weighing the milk and from time 

 to time getting some one to make a Babcock test. But if you 

 have not the time to do it or the courage to start out, join an 

 association and let some one do it for you. 



This difference in the productive capacity of cows is perhaps 

 brought out more clearly in the figures at the bottom of the 

 chart. Here are practically 100 cows, not 100 individuals 

 exactly, but there are 103 lactation periods. The 20 best cows 



