576 



EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4 GEORGE V., A. 19H 



The cows were fresh in the spring of 1912 and went dry in winter, freshening 

 early in January, February and March. For the months of April and May it was 

 not possible to obtain a record of the fat, but from the first of June a sample has 

 been taken from every milking, and accurate records kept. 



In the months of November and December, a small amount of milk was obtained 

 in proportion to the amount of feed used, thus the cost of one hundred pounds of 

 milk and of one pound of butter fat is somewhat high. At this stage, the cows were 

 going dry or were dry and bodily flesh was being stored. If credit were given during 

 the succeeding months and if products of* such were averaged with the month of 

 lowest production, the cost would be much more uniform than as shown in the 

 following table: — 



Feed Cost of 100 Pounds of Milk and 1 Pound of Fat by Months. 



Month. 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August 



September . 

 October . . . 

 November. 

 December . 

 January . . . 

 February . . 

 March . . . 



Number of cows — 23. 

 Average weight of cows — 1,183-6 pounds. 

 Average milk per cow — 7,606-68 (12 months). 

 Average fat per cow — 204-15 (10 months). 



The above figures represent a total of the entire number of cows in the herd. 

 From the herd, ten cows were selected, five of which appeared this year to be the 

 most profitable and five of which appeared to be the least profitable. The milk was 

 figured at 18 cents per gallon and the fat at 50 cents per pound. The difference in 

 the two sets of cows is shown by the amount of fat produced. There is a difference 

 in the amount of food consumed by each of these lots, since each cow was fed as nearly 

 as possible according to her production. If they had all been given the same amount 

 of food the results would vary greatly and the least profitable cows would have been 

 many times less profitable. 



The following table will illustrate this without further comment: — 



Comparative results of the five most profitable and the five least profitable cows. 



