422 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI 



state milk record, which formerly stood at 26,300 pounds, has been 

 beaten by two cows in the same herd. O. L. Hamer, Waterloo, with 

 the great cow, White Beauty Concordia, and her half-sister has won 

 this new honor. White Beauty completed her year with a production 

 of 28,495.7 pounds of milk containing 1,107 pounds butter. These 

 records are all the more creditable when we consider that they were 

 made not by an experienced feeder or by one of our largest and best 

 equipped farms, but by a practical farmer. 



The Guernsey and Jersey breeders have both made remarkable 

 strides. Possibly from the standpoint of state records made, the 

 Sherman Nursery Company, at Charles City, holds the largest place 

 in the limelight. Two state records have already been broken by 

 cows owned in this herd. Brown Lady's Little Jewel is the new 

 junior four-year-old champion. She produced in one year 12,290 

 pounds of milk containing 655.17 pounds butterfat. The other Sher- 

 man farm champion is the junior two-year-old heifer, Raleighs 

 Torono's Lady, with a year's production of 10,237 pounds milk con- 

 taining 563.5 pounds butterfat. 



Still more important, in my opinion, is the information contained 

 in the annual Iowa Cow Test Association report recently issued by 

 the extension department at the Iowa State College. It must be re- 

 membered that these records are made with just common farm care 

 with twice a day milking, so that extreme production is not to be ex- 

 pected. Five herds in the state averaged over 400 pounds of butter- 

 fat per cow for the year. This production is two and one-half times 

 as much as the average herd production in Iowa. These herds aver- 

 aged $80.00 to $100.00 profit per cow above feed cost. Of the 322 

 herds tested, 62 herds averaged 270 pounds of butterfat per cow. 



The foregoing statements are made to give just a little indication 

 of the trend of dairying in the state. The interest has been growing 

 by leaps, but we have discouraged rather than encouraged this rapid 

 change, believing that too large a percentage of these beginners 

 would lose rather than gain. A much more permanent and feasible 

 plan and one that is urged at all times is to feed the present herd 

 more efficiently so as to make possible maximum production; test 

 production of present herds in order to discard the unprofitable or 

 boarder cows; and then select more carefully, breed for production 

 dairy sires. 



