96 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Off. Doc. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL COW. 



The ruling factor in the success of the dairy industry is the 

 producing quality of the average cow. Failure to conceive this fact 

 and to give it due attention means the failure of the system, and a 

 corresponding privation of the entire population. In 1899, the aver- 

 age Pennsylvania milch cow produced olG gallons of milk. In this 

 respect the different localities of the State showed wide differences. 

 The highest average yield was in Montgomery county, namely, 619 

 gallons; whereas, in Fulton, Huntingdon, Potter and Sullivan coun- 

 ties it was less than 4.j0 gallons. There was no close relation be- 

 tween the producing value of the average cow and the average size 

 of the farm herds in the several counties. 



These figures for the yield of the average cow afford room for 

 serious reflection on the part of the economist, and even more on 

 the part of the dairy farmer, because they show the room for and 

 imperative need of the improvement of the average cow, an im- 

 provement that can be gained only by the unremitting application 

 of the highest skill to the breeding, feeding and care of the indi- 

 vidual cow, and this means a degree of attention to the qualities 

 of the individual member of the herd that slie has never received. 



IMPROVEMENT OF OFFSPRING. 



Stop one moment to consider the fact that the average bull kept 

 on the Pennsylvania farm in 1899 was valued at only $23. How^ 

 can we secure in the succeeding generations of milch cows the de- 

 sired producing qualities if we persist in inflicting upon them a 

 transmission of one-half blood from sires of so low worth. 



COST OF MILK PRODUCTION. 



There are few satisfactory balance sheets of receipts and ex- 

 penditures available for a study of the profits of the industry in 

 Pennsylvania; but the few accurately compiled statements at hand 

 grimly admonish us of the need for attention to the individual cow. 

 Parker and Cooper, in a recently published investigation of the 

 cost of producing Minnesota farm products, state the cost of main- 

 tenance and the total net value of product per cow for a large 

 number of Minnesota herds, as follows: 



Co«t. 



Grain, 



Roughage 



Pasture , 



Labor, 



Interest on Investment, 



Total cost 



Value of product; total. 

 Value of product; net. 



txi 

 to 



$4,371 

 7.598 

 4.120 



11.623 

 1.297 



$29,009 



28.860 

 —.149 



