Vermont Dairymen's Association. 145 



which for ten years had been under careful observation by the 

 Station as to milk and butter yields, using, of course, the Ayrshire 

 score card. The outcome was essentially as follows : 



30 mature cows scoring 90 or more ; 6478 pounds of milk, 321 

 lbs. butter. 



20 mature cows scoring 88-89 ! 6263 pounds milk, 286 lbs. 

 butter. 



12 mature cows scoring 80-87; 5^99 pounds milk, 286 lbs. 

 butter. 



Again the relationship of udder conformation — be it well 

 balanced, ill balanced, funnel shaped, deficient in any respect, etc. 

 — to the milk and butter yield was similarly studied by one of 

 our senior students usina: the Station herd with results as fol- 

 lows : Thirty- four cows were surveyed and their records for 

 from one to eight years averaged. Five with finely balanced 

 udders averaged 5725 pounds of milk, eighteen with fairly well 

 balanced glands 5377 pounds and eleven with ill balanced udders 

 5219 pounds milk. The butter yields were 342, 333 and 324 

 pounds respectively. Four out of five cows with well balanced 

 udders made more butter than did the average of the eighteen 

 which had but fairly well balanced udders, or the average of the 

 eleven with poorly balanced glands. They also made more than 

 did the average of the herd for twelve years, 324 pounds. Per 

 contra, eight out of the eleven cows with poorly balanced udders 

 made less butter than did the average of the five who were thus 

 well built or of the eighteen whose glands were fairly well built; 

 and their records were all, moreover, below the twelve year 

 average of 324 pounds. 



These determinations were made with cows far above the 

 average in productive capacity. It seems fair to assume that had 

 inferior or average cows been under survey, the results would 

 have been even more pronounced. But it all goes to show that 

 the upgrading of a herd by breeding is likely to be a slow process. 

 If intelligence is used, however, the progress taken in the gross, 

 though slow, is likely to be fairly certain, provided that cross 

 breeding is not practiced. This procedure generally results less 

 favorably than does mating with inbreeds. 



STOCK FEEDING, 



The feeding proposition is a less difficult one to encompass. 

 The results of experimental trial are more quickly apparent and 

 errors of judgment are less costly. Many cows give inadequate 

 milk flows because they are of beef build, placing the food as 

 their ancestry has willed it, on their ribs instead of in the pail, 

 pthers on the contrary have failed simply because they have not 



