300 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



fl.OO worth of milk from one cow, while in the same herd another 

 will produce more than |2.00 worth of milk. 



In Denmark, associations have been formed in which the farmers 

 cooperate in employing a man to test their cows, weigh, feed and 

 secure this information for them. Michigan is the first state in 

 this country to organize Cow Testing Associations, and Canada is 

 following in the same lead. Is it not time for our Pennsylvania 

 Dairymen to take hold of this matter? I shall be glad to render any 

 assistance in my power in the establishment of such associations. I 

 believe our creamery managers could well afford to give consider- 

 able attention to the organizing of Cow Testing Associations among 

 their patrons. 



Having established the fact to his own satisfaction, that his cows 

 are not as good as he wants, how shall he get better ones? It is im- 

 possible and impracticable for most men to sell the herds they have 

 and try to buy better ones. The best plan is to raise them for this 

 purpose. He should procure a sire whose dam has a yearly record 

 for creditable production, if the breeder can show yearly records for 

 several of the sire's female ancestors, this is the best guarantee which 

 the buyer can get, that the offsprings of this sire will be large pro- 

 ducers. From such a sire as this, and those cows in his herd which 

 have made good records, he should save the heifer calves, using them 

 to replace the poorest cows in his herd. 



It is unnecessary to say that the unproductive cow should be got- 

 ten rid of at the earliest possible moment. Yet I have known men 

 to keep a cow to convert |32.00 or .|33.00 worth of feed into manure, 

 and produce only .f25.00 or $28.00 worth of milk. Since manure is 

 usually valued sufficiently high to pay for the labor and care of milk- 

 ing, it is hard to figure any profit in this transaction. 



If a number of farmers in the same community will use sires of 

 one breed, the time will come when each having a few heifers to sell, 

 a buyer can procure in a community a carload, thus enabling the 

 farmer to secure more for his heifers than he could possibly have done 

 for one or two if they must be shipped by themselves. I believe this 

 "community of interest" should receive more attention from the 

 farmers in a neighborhood than it does, and lastly the profits will 

 be materially increased if the quality of the product is maintained 

 at its highest, indeed rarely has the market more of the "first" or 

 "extra quality" be it cows, butter, milk, corn, or even men, than 

 the demand, yet there is much of the time an over supply of the next 

 grade lower, and it is quoted as "a drug on the market" or "slow 

 sale." 



Uniformity of product from week to week is of vital importance. 

 If the public can depend on a brand of goods always being the same, 

 it does much to insure a steady demand and insures a premium above 

 market quotations. 



A Member: I would like to ask the Professor if he has had any 

 experience with the milking machine? 



PROF. VAN NORMAN: Personally, no. I saw the American 

 machine at the Chicago Dairy Show, and I saw the Burrell machine 

 where they were milking some sixty cows. So far as I have seen it, 

 I believe that the milking machine is about where the automobile 

 was several years ago. I believe they will be improved and that 



