EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS 



203 



when cows are scarce. Again rejecting the yields of 102 and 111, the average pro- 

 duction of fat per cow for the twelve months was 259.91, equivalent to 304.89 

 pounds of butter. 



The largest yield of milk was given by 87, viz.. 10,310 lbs.; the next 90, witli 

 9,135.5 lbs. to her credit; 91, 98, 104, 106 and 107 each gave over 8,000 pounds. In 

 fat yield 87 again takes tlie lead, with 344.14 pounds to her credit in 44 weeks and 

 the period of lactation not yet complete. Other cows giving over three hundred 

 pounds of fat are 96, 98 and lOG. With none of these cows was the period of 

 lactation complete. Eleven cows out of the tweuty-nine purchased, rejecting of 

 course 102 and 111, gave less than 257.15 pounds of fat. On the other hand, number 

 87 gave more than fourteen pounas of butter per week both on the last week in 

 January and tihe middle week of February, and 90 gave 14.74 pounds of buttei- in 

 the second week of May. A fact still more significant is that 116 gave 12.7 pounds 

 of fat the first full week of her milking period, and yet during the whole of that 

 period, lasting thirty-three weeks, gave out 214.80 pounds. Although on the start she 

 promised by her appearance, as well as by her yield for a single week, to be one 

 of the best cows in the lot, she rapidly declined and was dried off at the end of the 

 thirty-third week. She is another illustration of the danger of estimating the value 

 of a cow from a week's test alone. 



COWS GIVING LESS THAN 300 POUNDS OF BUTTER IN THE YEAR. 



In iher full milking period of sixty-three weeks number 18 gave 451.25 pounds of 

 fat, number 39, 318.39 pounds and number 91. 321.87 pounds of fat, or 526.46 

 pounds, 371.45 pounds, and 375.51 pounds of butter respectively. 



No reason is apparent why the herd of cows the history of which is given in 

 this bulletin may not be supposed to fairly repi-esent the average cows of southern 

 Michigan, as far as their breeding and treatment prior to their coming to the 

 College is concerned. If their yields have exceeded the average of the cows in 

 the herds of Michigan dairymen, it is largely because the treatment accorded them 

 has been uniformly good. Tliey have not been pampered and overfed for part of 

 the season and neglected for the remainder. They have had a reasonably warm, 

 well ventilated barn to protect them from the storms of winter. They have had 

 succulent food whenever removed from pasture, and when, by drouth, the fields 

 have been made bare, some forage crop ihas been provided to tide them over to the 

 winter feeding. The cows have not been chased, worried nor ill treated. The high 

 average vield of the herd is to be attributed to the combination of these factors. 



