688 BOARD OF AGRIOULTtJEE. 



the one that had the best showing gave, 8,949 pounds of milk and made 

 472 pounds of butter, while the poorest cow produced only 1,482 pounds 

 of milk, which yielded but 68 pounds of butter. The average production 

 of butter of seven of the herds was only 202 pounds a year, and 1 don't 

 see how there is any money of importance in it for us if we can't beat 

 that sort of record. So I propose to find out what our cows are doing." 



It wasn't long before the whole family had begun to study the daily 

 milk sheet. The days crept by, and the milk record grew more and more 

 interesting. Finally John proposed buying a Babcock fat testing machine, 

 and testing the milk of the individual cows for butter-fat content. They 

 had tfested the herd milk at the creamery, but this was not enough. 

 This innovation came in more easily. The fascinating and suggestive 

 work of the scales was emphasized by the Babcock. The months rolled 

 by, and all the time John was investigating and thinking. Bill Brown, 

 their nearest neighbor, didn't take any stock in such foolishness, and he 

 knew the Winslow family would land in the poorhouse yet. He was 

 just waiting for that joyful day, when he might say, "I told you so." 



You remember that John learned something of dairy and beef type 

 when In college. After he gi-aduated, Prof. Haecker, of the Minnesota 

 Experiment Station wrote a bulletin which contained a record of his 

 researches on dairy cattle, in which he showed that cows of the dairy 

 type had a special value over the other sort. This bulletin laid on the 

 dining room table, and the old gentleman picked it up and began to 

 glance over its contents. There were some pictures in it, and these caught 

 his eye. They represented cows of different types. Then he began to 

 look over the contents of the bulletin. Finally he said, "John, just look 

 here. You know you have talked to me about this farm business with 

 cows, but it never struck me as amounting to much. But this man 

 Haecker seems to have a 'pretty good bit of evidence here that there is 

 some meat in the cocoanut. He has been feeding some cows out there 

 at the Minnesota Station, and he kept a record of every bit of food they 

 ate and of all the milk each cow made and of the butter fat in her milk. 

 My, but that was a big job though. Now, he has divided up his "herd 

 into those with dairy tyiie and those of general purpose type, and this 

 is what he shows ihey have done. Tie had 20 yearlj' records for each 

 class. The dairy type cows produced an average of 7,87G pounds of milk 

 and 430 pounds of butter. The general purpose type produced an average 

 of G,035 pounds of milk and 295 pounds of butter. In this book here, 

 he says, that by valuing the skim milk at 15 cents per hundred and 

 allowing one-eighth the milk for cream, there is an excess of $2.42 in 

 favor of the dairy type cow for skim milk, and allowing IG cents 

 for butter, the 135 pounds gain of the butter of this type gives a further 

 gain of $21.(V^. Adding this to the $2.42 gives a total of $24.07 in favor 

 of daily over general purpose type. He also found that the fatter the 

 cows were, or the less belly they had, the less money there was in them. 

 Guess we'd better look into that, John." 



