30 



Dairy Demonstration Work in jSTew York State 



individual is much too common for the good of the dairyman. 

 When we remember that we are not using the dairy cow as Nature 

 intended, we shall not be so much surprised to find the low pro- 

 ducer of milk and fat in the herd. Nature intended the cow to 

 produce sufficient milk, containing sufficient fat to sustain her 

 calf until it could obtain its living from the laud. This was by 

 no means a large production. A few hundred pounds of milk 

 containing perhaps a rather low percentage of fat was all that was 

 needed, and when the need was filled, the supply ceased. By 

 intelligent selection, breeding, feeding, care, and environment, we 

 have developed the dairy cow from her natural production of 

 sufficient to feed her calf to the splendid performers of the dairy 

 breeds of today, when we are producing from a single cow more 

 than fifteen tons of milk and as much as the body weight of the 

 cow in butter fat in a year ; and the records of production are still 

 going up. If we compare present conditions with the condition of 

 the cow as we began with her, we need not be surprised to find 

 the unprofitable individual in all breeds and in most herds where 

 a careful svstem of selection has not been followed. In order to 

 show the possibilities of selection as a factor in increasing the 

 profits of the herd, we give the record of two herds in an Oneida 

 county association. The first herd of fifteen cows has no unprofit- 

 able individuals, while the second herd has a number of the 

 "boarder" varietv. The record is as follows: 



Record of Entire 

 Herd 



Herd 1 

 (15 cows) 



Herd 2 

 (39 cows) 



213,355.6 



5,470.6 



7,359.8 



188.7 



83,070 27 



78 72 



1,781 73 



45 68 



1 , 365 00 

 35 00 



3,146 73 

 80 68 



76 46 

 1 96 



1 47 

 0317 



17 



Record of Best 

 10 Cows 



Herd 1 



77,011.6 



7,701.1 



2,771.0 



277.1 



51,294 74 



129 47 



476 81 



47 68 



350 00 

 35 00 



826 81 

 82 68 



467 93 

 46 79 



1 07 

 0230 



58 



Herd 2 



69,397.1 



0,939.7 



1,360.9 



1.36.0 



■SI, 010 25 



101 02 



465 93 



46 59 



350 00 

 35 00 



815 93 

 81 59 



194' 32 

 19 43 



1 17 

 0252 



35 



Record of Best 

 Cow 



Herd 1 



9,478.7 



86 

 0185 



81 



Herd 2 



95 



0205 



56 



Note. — Charge for labor, $22; and for interest aid depreciation, $13 a cow, for one year. 



