VERMONT DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 121 



THE LARGER PER CENT OF PROFIT. 



By W. D. Hoard, Editor Hoard's Dairyman, 

 Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. 



Two years ago in figuring- up the difference in the profits 

 of two patrons of the Hoard creameries, I was particularly 

 struck with what was to me a new view of the relation be- 

 tween gross return and per cent of profit. 



One patron received for the year S65.68 per cow in cash from 

 a herd averaging nineteen cows. Another received S35 per 

 cow. Both had skim milk returned to them. It cost the first 

 man $35 per head to keep his cows, per year ; it cost the sec- 

 ond man S30 per year to keep his cows. The first man re- 

 ceived S30 in excess of the cost of keeping, the second man 

 received $5. The gross receipts of the first man were not quite 

 100 per cent more per cow than the first, but his profits were 

 600 per cent greater. 



What were the causes that lead to this difference? The 

 difference was in the men. The owner of the best herd was 

 a student of the dairy business, the dairy cow and dairy liter- 

 ature. He kept his mind open to the reception of the best 

 ideas he could get. He bred and fed the best cows he could 

 get. His herd was of his own rearing. 



The second man did not believe in any of the ideas practiced 

 by the first man, did not believe in his kind of cows, his kind 

 of care, feed or anything else. 



The first man made 60 per cent more profit than the other. 

 Was this not worth striving for ? Is there not also a g-ood 

 deal more pleasure, saying nothing of the profit, for the first 

 man in the business than the second ? It is the per cent of 

 profit not gross returns, that tells the true story. 



Here is another illustration of the fact that it pays a hand- 

 some profit to strive to improve in our understanding concern- 

 ing the management of cows. In a creamery near my home, 

 while looking over the returns of the patrons for the month of 

 May last, I was struck with the lesson they taught. Taking 

 fifteen of them as an illustration, we find these wide dfferen- 

 ces of profit: 



No. 1 delivered 9,552 pounds of milk ; yield in butter 4.71 ; 

 dividend. 63 cents per 100 of milk. Average dividend of the 

 creamery for that month. 61 cents per 100. 



No. 2 delivered 17.270 pounds of milk; yield in butter. 4.78; 

 dividend, (A cents per 100. 



