3^8 AGRICULTURK OF MAINE. 



necessary to be done, both in book-keeping and in other tilings 

 of which I shall speak later relating to the dairy herd. First, 

 this is a system of book-keeping with every individual cow, 

 showing both the debts and the credits so far as the feed is 

 concerned. Of course it ic^nores that which a man ou<^ht to 

 be able to attend to himself, — the cost of care, the investment 

 in the plant, etc., but for a sum which is very much less than 

 we should have to pay an expert book-keeper, our books are 

 kept with every individual cow for the year, month by month, 

 and also at the end of the year a balance sheet is made up which 

 shows the loss or profit, and just the amount of loss or profit 

 that is made both on the individual cow and on the herd for the 

 year. This enables a man to weed out his herd, turning his 

 boarders for beef, or those cows that are not absolutely boarders, 

 but do not pay a profit large enough to justify keeping them 

 because of the overhead charges, — the investment, depreciation, 

 labor, etc. It also enables him to improve his herd, by keeping 

 his best cows and by raising his heifers from the best cows, 

 and also by buying cows to replace those that have been sold. 

 So that in a very short time, two or three years, a man's herd 

 may be made, through this system, if the man himself has any 

 business capacity, to double his profit. 



A second advantage of the cow test association is that very 

 much better feeding methods are put into operation. Now 

 there are very few men who have been connected with one of 

 these associations, even if they have been members of this dairy 

 organization from its beginning, who have any adequate con- 

 ception of the proper balancing of feed rations or the proper 

 feeding of cows after the rations have been balanced. I know 

 that there are dairymen who were members of this association 

 for years, and who, after being members of a cow test asso- 

 ciation for a year, have largely increased their profits. One 

 man with a herd of 30 cows so eliminated his poor cows and 

 replaced them with good cows that the second year his profits 

 were over $400 more than they were the first year, and $400 is 

 quite an increase of actual profits for the ordinary dairyman, 

 or in fact, for a good dairyman. This is what the official tester, 

 who, as I understand it has already been trained at our State 

 College in methods of feeding, can accomplish for a man who 

 will listen to him and who will watch his cows and put into 

 operation the principles which he has learned. 



