94 IOWA DEtPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Q. How many months do you allow a cow to give milk in a year? 



A. A cow ought to give milk ten months. We figure a cow ought to 

 be dry six or eight weeks. I like to see the heifer bred to freshen at 

 twenty-four to twenty-six months, and then have them come fresh an- 

 nually thereafter. The annual lactation period in a cow depends upon 

 habit. If you start a two-year old heifer by milking her about for ten or 

 twelve months and then have her come fresh, she will always want to 

 dry up at the same time, but a cow ought to give milk at least ten 

 months. 



Q. You think two months sufficient time to have them dry before the 

 calf comes? 



A. Yes, I think so. 



Q. But the amount of feed consumed during that period is the same 

 and the cow gives no milk. In making your estimate of the cost do you 

 count those two months in also? 



A. Yes sir; the twelve months is the cost of feeding. 



Q. If a farmer had pure-bred dairy cows, would the advanced registry 

 admit them on those records? 



A. No; only most of our associations now will allow the cow-testing 

 association tester to do the advanced registry work. The Holstein- 

 Fresian association asks that every third test be made by another man, 

 but the Jersey and the Guernsey will allow the regular man to do the 

 work all the way thru. 



Q. What breed of bull did this man have with the cows? 



This man had a Guernsey bull. 



In arriving at the value of the profit that those cows made, what dis- 

 position do you make of the butterfat? 



A. Whatever amount he is getting, wherever he is selling his product. 

 • Q. I live where there is a cheese factory, a creamery and a con- 

 densory, and can sell to either place. As a rule don't you figure the but- 

 ter price on your estimates? 



A. No; we try to get the actual transaction between the man and 

 his cows. So if I am selling my cream to a creamery or you are selling 

 yours to the cheese factory and somebody else to a condensory, what wtr 

 want to know is, how much you made under those conditions. 



Q. As a rule the condensory pays a little more than the cheese factory. 



A. The cows are given credit for the product at this price you are 

 receiving. If you are going to make them comparable from the stand- 

 point of profit, it might make a difference, but we figure that these men 

 are not making the records for their neighbors but from the standpoint 

 of profit, and whether the cows are making money for their owners. 

 When any of these figures are used for the association we always figure 

 them on the uniform basis, so far as butterfat is concerned. 



The purpose of the cow-testing association is to give the owner some 

 basis of selection so that he can find his good cows. If you are going to 

 figure the profit on a calf, it will increase the profit on all of the cows, 

 but to figure the calf complicates the thing and from the standpoint of 

 the cow-testing association that is not the purpose. 



