392 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



manner, and their average production for three years was: No. 1, 

 11,390 pounds milk and 404 pounds fat; No. 3, 3,830 pounds milk 

 and 138 pounds fat. 



From the testing of over 1,000 cows in the dairy herds of Illi- 

 nois, it has been proven that this great difference in cows extends 

 to practically every herd in the state. 



Illinois has a million dairy cows. Like men, they do not all 

 travel the same path nor reach the same destination. Whither are 

 they going, and how far, in their service for the dairyman ? Who 

 has stopped to ask, much less to answer, the question? What dif- 

 ference is there in their efficiency? In the profits they leave in the 

 owner's pocket at the close of the year? The dairyman has been 

 in the dark as to the paths his cows take. But under the arc light 

 of the scales and Babcock test the parting of the ways is made 

 plain. Half of all the cows in Illinois take the one or the other of 

 the above paths. 



Extensive investigations by the Illinois Experiment Station in- 

 dicate that a fourth of all the cows in this state follow the left- 

 hand path. That is, they produce no more than the average of 

 1331/2 pounds butter fat per year. That is the average of the lowest 

 fourth of 554 cows in 36 Illinois herds tested a full year by this 

 station. This path is not the "milky way;" it lacks the upward 

 arch, the starry brightness — and the milk. 



At 23 cents a pound for butter fat, these 139 cows make a re- 

 turn of $30.77 to the dairyman. At $30 per year for feed — and 

 who would figure it less — their profit is 77 cents per cow per year. 

 It takes one of these cows four and one-half days to earn one cent 

 profit, or the fun of milking her 45 times to earn the enormous 

 sum of 5 cents. 



But the highest fourth of the 554 cows produce 301 pounds 

 butter fat, which means an income of $69.32 and a clear profit of 

 $31.32 per cow (after taking out $38 for feed). These are the 

 cows taking the right-hand path above. These are certainly the 

 right cows, and the path they take leads right on to the right things 

 for the dairyman — profit, progress, plenty, an attractive home, 

 wider usefulness, higher education for his children, and real enjoy- 

 ment of country life for all the family. And the right dairyman 

 will take great pains to add this kind of cows to his herd. 



The average cow in that right-hand path is worth as much in 

 actual profit to the dairyman as 40§ cows in the left-hand path; 



