177 Eleventh Annual Report. 



FEEDING DAIRY COWS. 



On June 17th six two year old heifers were purchased. They 

 were selected from a herd of thirty with an eye to their future 

 usefulness as dairy cows. A complete record of their milk and 

 butter production is being kept. At present this herd is being 

 used in a trial intended to show the comparative efficiency of feed- 

 ing green alfalfa by pasturing and soiling. Incidental to the ex- 

 perimental feeding work with dairy cows, experiments in methods 

 of handling milk are being carried on. 



COMPARATIVE PROFITS IN DAIRYING. 



Between three and four hundred ranchmen in Salt River valley 

 milk cows and sell the product at a creamery. The product thus 

 disposed of is weighed and tested in such a way that the cash re- 

 turns per cow may be exactly calculated. This is to the advan- 

 tage of the dairymen, but few of them appreciate this opportunity 

 to calculate gains and, what is more important, compare results. 

 This condition of affairs is illustrated by the fact that in some 

 cases the monthly checks hardly cover the cost of feeding the 

 cows. That the available facts concerning the comparative pro- 

 fits in dairying, as carried on under conditions existing in Salt 

 River valley, may begotten together and presented in such form 

 as to be of instructional value, the writer is, by the help of the 

 creamery managers, keeping a record of the number of cows milked, 

 the pounds of milk and butter fat produced, and the cash received 

 for the same each month, by all the patrons of the three leading 

 creameries of the valley. 



TESTING' INDIVIDUAL COWS. 



When the writer took up his work in connection with the 

 Experiment Station there was no herd of dairy cows at his com- 

 mand for experimental use. Upon investigation it was found that 

 no ranchman in the valley, so far as could be learned, was keep- 

 ing a record of the amount of milk and butter fat given by the 

 different cows of his herd. It seemed expedient, therefore, to en- 

 ter upon a line of work that would demonstrate the importance of 



