The Bulletin. 95 



Cost Per Pound Profit for Every Dollar 



of Butter, in hiveited in Feed. 



Cents. 



Guernseys 9.31 



Jerseys 9.48 



French Canadians 9.76 



Polled Jerseys 9.S0 



Ayrshires 9.S1 



Red Polled 10.27 



Holsteins 10.93 



Brown Swiss 11.14 



Shorthorns 12.10 



Dutch Belt 13.27 



In the scoring of butter she again led all other breeds, with a total of 96.34. 

 the Jersey coming next with 95.80. In color she scored 14.97 out of a possible 

 15. As an outcome of these public tests the Advanced Register was started to 

 demonstrate the individual capacity of the Guernsey cow for a full j-ear. 

 Reference to this work will be made later. 



In the matter of cow-testing associations we are behind the times. The 

 first that we know anything about was organized in Denmark in 1895. At that 

 time Denmark averaged 112 pounds butter per cow. Five to six hundred cow- 

 testing associations have changed that to 224 pounds butter per cow. To-day 

 there are over 1,700 cow-testing associations in Europe alone. The first to be 

 organizetl in the United States was in 1905, and we now have 81, 'where we 

 ought to have a thousand. 



As the number increases, and we learn to care for and feed our cattle in a 

 proper manner, and conduct our dairy as we should, our profits will increase 

 proportionally, and we shall help decrease the cost of living, and add our mite 

 toward solving the great problem of to-day. We are robbing our families by 

 spending our labor and money in feeding a lot of scrub cows who do not pay 

 their board. Kill and eat the scrub, thus adding to our beef supply and 

 reducing the cost to consumers, while putting money in the farmer's pocket. 

 Instead of milking 20 cows. 10 of whom do not pay for th&ir feed, milk half as 

 many and make more money. For every dollar that the consumer pays for 

 food the farmer gets less than one-half. Blame the middleman as much as 

 we may, the farmer is not wholly guiltless in the manner of conducting busi- 

 ness at /n'.s' end. 



Wisconsin is famed the country over as a great dairy State, yet the average 

 Wisconsin cow produces less than 200 pounds of commercial butter a year, or 

 just a little over the cost of her feed. In the Wisconsin Dairy Cow Competi- 

 tion the first prize herd averaged 16.044 pounds milk and nearly 600 pounds 

 butter-fat. Two-thirds of all the cows produced over 400 pounds butter-fat. 

 One cow yielded a profit of $1.54.44 for the year, while the average for the 395 

 cows was $62.85. Holsteins produced the largest return per cow. but the 

 Guernsey produced more butter-fat for every unit of feed consumed, which 

 proved them to be the most economical producers. Inside breed lines the 

 larger cows gave the largest net returns; 448 pure-bred and 55 grade cows 

 were entered. 



Many items of Interest to dairymen and those contemplating entering the 

 field aiid are undecided as to the breed to start with, can be gleaned from the 

 results of this test. 



We note that one group of 10 cov/s made an average of 630.60 pounds butter- 

 fat: one group of 10 cows made an average of 3.53.20 pounds butter-fat. 

 Farther, that the net returns from the first group was $103.01 per cow; the 

 net returns from the second group was $39.24 per cow. In other words, it is 

 the cow that makes the largest amount of butter-fat that gives the greatest net 

 returns. In every case the net returns are in direct proportion to the produc- 

 tion of butter-fat. Furthermore, the largest cows make the greatest net 

 returns, not onlv as individuals, but in groups of 10. 



This cow contest, open to all grades of any breed, gave some very valuable 

 data regarding the prepotency of the Guernsey bull, and the superiority of the 

 Guernsey grades. The 24 grade Guernseys in that competition averaged 



