156 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AORTCULTURE. 



proportion of the cows do not produce enough to pay for their feed 

 at market prices. By better selection of cows and better methods of 

 feeding it is jiossible (o increase considerably the average production, 

 which would mean not only the placing of dairy farming on a profit- 

 able basis but a more plentiful supply of an important class of food 

 products. Work in this direction has been carried on for several 

 years, and the results are becoming apparent. 



DAIRYING IN THE SOUTH AND FAB WEST. 



Field work for the development and improvement of dairy farming 

 was begun in 1905 with a survey of conditions in the South. That 

 section then had scarcely any dairying, but stood in urgent need of 

 its beneficial effects. Cooperative relations were entered into with 

 State authorities and field work has been carried on in Alabama, 

 Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 

 Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, Louisiana, and Texas. The people 

 and authorities of the States have become very much interested and 

 are now bearing a large part of the expenses of the work. Dairying 

 has now come to be of considerable importance. \Vlierever one farmer 

 has been induced to adopt improved equipment and methods the influ- 

 ence of his example has spread in all the surrounding community. 



In 1910 similar work was taken up in the Far "West in regions 

 where dairying is an entirely new business — beef cattle, sheep, and 

 wheat growing having hitherto received the chief consideration. 

 Field men are at work in Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota, and Utah. 



COW-TESTING ASSOCIATIONS. 



Cow-testing associations, or cooperative clubs for recording the 

 feed and production of the individual cows, are an important means 

 of bringing about increased production of milk and butter fat, and 

 for the past five years work has been carried on for the promotion of 

 these associations. The associations organized number 118, of which 

 97 are active, with 39,000 cows tested yearly. The records of a Michi- 

 gan association show that in four years there has been a marked 

 increase in the average production of milk and butter fat per cow, 

 while the average annual profit has been practically doubled. 



Another promising line of work just started is the organization of 

 bull associations, or clubs for the cooperative purchase and use of 

 carefully selected purebred bulls, with a view to improving the 

 breeding of dair^^ herds. 



Much investigational work has been conducted with barns, silos, 

 and feeds. The introduction of the popular concrete silo is largely 

 the work of the Dairy Division. 



