740 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



tically 250 pounds of butter fat. But suppose a cow gives you only 

 3,600 pounds of milk, which is about the average for the cows of the 

 country, even if this contains 5 per cent, fat the chances are that 

 you are losing money. Even the best cow experts cannot tell by 

 the looks of a cow what quantity or quality of milk she will give. A 

 thousand pounds of milk in her annual yield one way or the other 

 may determine between profit and loss. Again, many cows go dry 

 a month or six weeks longer than they should. This often puts 

 them on the unprotit list. Many cows leave worthless heifers in the 

 herd which continue to eat up the profits and keep the dairyman lrom 

 having some of the luxuries of life which every man in the dairy 

 business and every kind of business ought to enjoy. So we see 

 every dairyman ought to look to the future as well as the present 

 and to build up his herd on a solid foundation. 



Everything in these days is measured by its capacity for work, 

 or, in the case of the cow, by her production. A man is paid, or 

 ought to be paid, for his ability to work, either with brain or muscle. 

 The value of a trotting horse is measured by his record. The value* 

 of a dairy cow depends upon her capacity to produce milk or butter. 

 That is her actual value, but is that the basis on which she is valued 

 in our dairy herds as you see them through the country? Strange 

 as it may seem, most dairymen have no basis — old Brindle or Spot, 

 while they may not pay their keep, have been in the herd so long 

 that they have become old friends and their owner loathes to part 

 with them. If we are dairying for fun, all well and good, but if we 

 are conducting it as a business it is time the dairymen used business 

 methods. It is not enough to know that a cow gives a pailfull 

 of milk, when she is fresh ; we want to know what she produces in a 

 year. Dairymen have a good goal to work for in the record of the 

 Guernsey cow, Yeksa 'Sunbeam, who produced an equvalent of 1,000 

 pounds of butter in one year, from 14,020 pounds of milk. This 

 record was the result of careful work in breeding, feeding and all 

 that pertains to the health and comfort of a cow. 



COW TEST ASSOCIATIONS. 



I want to endorse the idea of establishing Cow Test Associations. 

 The first in this country which was organized in Newaygo county, 

 Mich., September 2Gth, has now adopted a constitution and by-laws 

 and began work October 15th. Other states should fall into line. 

 These associations cannot fail to be strong agents in improving the 

 milk production of the herds of the country. The various associa- 

 tions should get together and adopt uniform systems of keeping 

 records so that ready comparison can be made of the production of 

 the herds in different sections of the country. This will naturally 

 result in competition for highest records and a desire on the part of 

 each association to make a reputation for the section of country 

 they represent. 



The plan is practically this: 15 or 20 dairymen form an association 

 and pay one dollar for each cow per year to help defray the ex- 

 penses of the test, hire a competent person to do the work, board 

 and lodge the official tester while at their farm, say once in two 

 weeks, buy all the necessary apparatus and make all arrangements 

 to have the work carried on accurately and systematically. The 

 tester visits each farm regularly, weighs and tests the milk from each 



