Improvement of Missouri Herds, 



367 



Question: How much more profitable are the best ten cows 

 yielding 336 pounds of butter fat per cow per year than the ten 

 poorest yielding only 144 pounds of butter fat per cow per year? 



About $30,000,000 worth of dairy products are annually pro- 

 duced in the State (Illinois). The amount can easily be doubled 

 with the same number of cows if the dairymen will give their 

 business the attention it deserves. 



The net profit from the cows of Missouri could easily be 

 doubled in the next ten years. 



MEASURING THE COW'S VALUE. 



Testing Daily Not Necessary — Although it would be a little 

 more accurate to weigh the cow's milk every morning and every 

 night throughout the year and test it as often as once a week, such 

 a procedure is too expensive to be of practical value on the farm. 

 If the cow's milk be weighed and sampled for three days about 

 the middle of each month, and the milk given by the cow for that 

 month be estimated as ten times the quantity given in these three 

 days, and then the test obtained from the composite sample of 

 three days' accumulation be accepted as the test for the month, 

 the results at the end of the year will be about 96 per cent, perfect. 

 That is as close as the farmer need work. 



Composite Samples — Pint Mason fruit jars are excellent for 

 preserving these composite samples. Prepare one jar for each cow 

 to be tested, label each jar with the number of the cow, then add to 

 each jar a corrosive sublimate tablet, such as are obtainable from 

 creamery supply houses. The poison in these tablets kills all bac- 



Sprlng balance for weighing mllli. 

 (Courtesy Blanlte & Hauk, St. Louis.) 



