STATE DAIRY ASSOCIATION. 



283 



Yearly Record of Alfrlda for Two Years and Average Production for that Period. 



Alfrida, the best cow in herd "F," did considerably better in her 

 second year than .she did during the first. At the beginning of her sec- 

 ond year she was officially tested but failed to qualify, making only 11. 9 

 pounds of butter fat in seven consecutive days. Notwithstanding this 

 she gave 11,445 pounds of milk and 389 pounds of butter fat, which 

 made 454 pounds of butter. While Check the year before was officially 

 tested and qualified, making 12.2 pounds of butter fat in seven con- 

 secutive days, yet, she gave, during that year, only 6,812 pounds of milk 

 and m.ade only 215 pounds of butter fat, and 251 pounds of butter. In 

 other words, Alfrida failed to enter the Holstein Friesian Advanced 

 Registry, but produced 4,633 pounds more milk and 174 pounds more 

 butter fat in one year than Check, that entered the Holstein Friesian 

 Advanced Registry. Moreover, Alfrida's average record for the two 

 years is greater by 3,399 pounds of miik and 18 pounds of butter fat. 

 The point is : does one week's record in a whole year, give the true 

 value of a dairy cow? 



It is plain to every thoughtful man that we must be guided by yearly 

 records and place but little, if any, confidence in the weekly test. But 

 we must not stop with one year's record and base our selections upon 

 one's year work. 



While the scales and Babcock test can be of great service in the 

 selection of our dairy animals, they must, however, be used with judg- 

 ment. Dairy cows have their "off years," and this must be considered 

 when the herd is being culled. If we do not bear this fact in mind, we 

 are apt to sell some of the best cows from our herds. The writer has 

 in mind the cow Sweet Briar, of the Minnesota Experiment Station, 

 that produced for ten years an average of 358.07 pounds of butter a 

 year, while in 1898 she produced only 206.62 pounds of butter, but in 

 1899 she m.ade 306.53 pounds and in 1901 370.53 pounds. If the merits 

 of Sweet Briar had been wholly based on the work she did in 1898, 

 she would have been classed as a very ordinary cow, and perhaps sold. 

 The great value of scales and Babcock test lies in their continued use 

 in the dairy herd and not in one year's test. Good heifers usually come 

 from the best dairy cows, but it sometimes happens that a promising 



