STATE DAIRY ASSOCIATION. 2/3 



satisfied with this. We went to the dairy milk sheet. Here we found 

 our pretty cow giving thirty pounds of milk per day, and the fat one 

 only ten pounds. But how long had each been in milk? The thirty 

 pound cow only three months, while the ten pound cow had been milking 

 one even year. That puts another face on the matter. Yet we were not 

 satisfied. We did what every business dairyman should do — tested the 

 milk of each cow for butter fat. Result: Our pretty cow tested only 

 2 per cent, while the fat one tested 7.4 per cent. Which has been doing 

 the more work ? Let us see : 



Pretty cow, 30 lbs. x 2 per cent = .6 lbs. of butter fat per day. 



Fat cow, 10 lbs. X 7.4 per cent = ,74 lbs. butter fat per day. 

 And that after she had been working one year against the other three 

 months. When the 2 per cent cow freshens again she may raise the test 

 to 2.5 per cent, or even 2.6 per cent, but it is very doubtful if she ever 

 reaches even 3 per cent. 



THE QUESTION OF BREED. 



Mr. Mallory — If I am going into the dairy business what breed will 

 secure the best dairy cows in my herd? 



Mr. Washburn — A live question, which must be answered by the 

 farmer or dairyman himself, largely according to the kind of dairying he 

 is going into. I honestly believe that a man cannot afford to keep Jer- 

 seys if he must sell his milk in town at the same price per quart that the 

 Holstein man is receiving for his. Also the man who has only Holsteins 

 in his dairy is likely to hear complaints from his customers on account 

 of poor milk. A herd composed of one-fourth or one-third Jersey 01 

 Jersey grades and the remainder Holstein or Holstein grades is pretty 

 sure to supply milk of a good quality. 



If the cream is to be sent to a creamery where it is paid for by the 

 butter fat test, or if butter is made on the farm, the question is, "'Which 

 breed of dairy cows, Ayrshire, Guernsey, Holstein or Jersey will produce 

 butter fat the most cheaply? This is a much disputed point, and one 

 v/hich, in my opinion, will remain such for a long time to come. As you 

 have seen pure dairy bred cows vary greatly in their powers to produce, 

 and the powers of their managers to make them produce varies even 

 more greatly. Naturally then, any test with a limited number of cows, 

 for a limited number of days is very likely to include such personal 

 qualities of cow or man or both, tending one way or the other to such 

 an extent that the broader qualities of the breeds, as breeds, are less 

 distinctly shown than one could wish. 



A-18 



