Dairy Herd Records. 



307 



best herds in the Territory, and yet two cows failed to pay the re- 

 quisite thirty-two dollars. 



COMPARISON OF METHODS. 



Certain writers on dairy subjects have suggested various 

 short cut methods of keeping so-called dairy herd records. It has 

 been stated, for example, that an average of the samples taken at 

 the end of six weeks and of six months after calving would be 

 fairly representative of the milk for the whole year, and that a 



Cow No 3. Record: 8726 Pounds of Milk. 319 Pounds of Butter Fat. 



sample taken toward the end of the fourth month would be the 

 same. In cases where the comparison could be made, the writer 

 has compared the average per cent of fat for the year with that of 

 the two week period about the end of the fourth month, as sug- 

 gested, and he found that in several cases the difference was as 

 high as one half of one per cent, and in one case eight-tenths 

 of one per cent, making a calculated difference in the year's re- 

 turn of a cow of from thirty to fifty pounds of fat. The writer 



