Wyoming County's Dairy Improvement Associations . 61 



newly organized associations taken up the register-of-merit work 

 as outlined by the state, and have already entered a number of 

 cows for the meritorious list. 



In each of our associations we have made a strong local organi- 

 zation by securing strong, capable, successful dairymen for officers 

 and directors, and placing all the responsibility possible on them. 

 We have used great care in selecting the best possible type of 

 young men for the position of testers — young men who are not 

 only efficient in their work, but who also possess leadership qual- 

 ities. Perhaps in no way have the associations served the dairy- 

 men to better purpose than in pointing out to them the relation of 

 cost of milk production to the price they receive for the product. 

 The summaries show conclusively that a herd of average cows are 

 in many cases a money-losing proposition. We have cost-accounted 

 over 100 herds. As a result of this work the farmer is learning to 

 apply to his business the same principles that other business men 

 apply to theirs. 



It has been shown that in the average herds of four associations 

 in Wyoming County, eliminating pure-bred and low-producing 

 herds, the average cost of producing 100 pounds of milk is $1.37. 

 This low cost has been made possible for the following reasons: 



1. Alfalfa was generally grown. 



2. Nearly all farms used silage. 



3. All owners of these herds were members of cow-testing asso- 

 ciations — some for more than one year — and had discarded the 

 unprofitable cows. 



4. Small losses by death in herds. 



5. Low feed costs compared with other counties, not only because 

 freight rates were less than in the eastern part of the state, but 

 because some of the dairymen took advantage of the market and 

 bought in large quantities. 



The relation indicated between the cost of milk production 

 and the price received could not have been established had it not 

 been for the cow-testing associations. Not only have we proven 

 the need of improvement of the dairy herd, but we have also' shown 

 conclusively that the producer of milk of high quality must be 

 paid a price that warrants the cost of producing it. 



The cow-testing association turns the X-rays of common sense on 

 the dairy business as no other agency can do. 



