274 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



There is probabl}- no breed of cows in the world that will, with good 

 care, produce butter fat any more cheaply than the Jersey ; but if a man 

 cannot control his temper, or his hired man, or if he does not like this 

 naturally nervous, intelligent little breed, he would undoubtedly do better 

 with the less sensitive Holsteins. Again, if good abundant pasture can- 

 not be secured, if the cows are compelled to ramble long distances over 

 rough land, it is quite probable that either the Ayrshire or Brown Swiss 

 will do better than either Jersey or Holstein. Under ideal conditions of 

 feed and management the Holsteins and the Jerseys as economical pro- 

 ducers are just about a draw. 



THE FARMER'S DAIRY COW. 



(lion. A. J. Glover, Associate Editor "Hoard's Dairyman," Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.) 



For over three years the Departn:ent of Dairy Husbandry of the 

 University of Ilhnois has been conducting field work among the dairy- 

 men of the State. A number of them were persuaded to weigh and sam- 

 ple each mess of milk a sufficient number of times during the year so 

 that the performance of each cow could be estimated with a considerable 

 degree of accuracy. It has been demonstrated by a number of our ex- 

 periment stations that many cows arc kept in the dairy at a very small 

 profit, and some at an actual loss. In order to determine the facts and 

 to lead the dairymen to realize their full force and meaning a man was 

 sent into the field to persuade a number of them to keep a record of every 

 cow in their herds. While this paper gives no facts new to science, yet 

 it presents a line of work on which we have but little data and it brings 

 the farmers face to face with the facts that exist upon their dwn farms. 

 It shows thein that some herds arc kept at a good profit, some at a 

 small profit and others at an actual loss. 



HOW THE FARM TEST WAS MADE. 



The farmers who took up this work were required to weigh and 

 sample the milk from each cow in the herd every seventh week for 

 fourteen consecutive milkings. After each cow was milked the milk was 

 poured into a weighing pail, weighed and the weight recorded on a milk 

 sheet directly under the cow's name. A small sample of milk is then taken 

 with a sample dipper or a milk thief and put into the sample bottles. 

 Corrosive sublimate tablets were used to preserve the samples of milk. 

 Instructions were given to each man to shake the composite samples each 

 day so as to mix the fresh samples with the rest of the milk and keep 



