TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART YIII 835 



Another is Mr. F. H. Scribner, a breeder of Jersej^s. "We have 

 the third one Avith us tonight, Mr. Chas. L. Hill, of Rosendale, Wis., 

 who will talk to you on the "True Measure of the Dairy Cow." 



THE TRUE MEASURE OF A DAIRY COW. 



CHAS. L. HILL, EOSENDAiE, WIS. 



Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention: 



By dairy cow I mean a cow whose owner breeds her for the profit she 

 will produce in the dairy, and net the cow the owner keeps because of 

 the fertility she may add to the farm; for the calf to which she may 

 give birth that may make a good, bad, or indifferent steer; or for 

 the cow that may produce $25.00 worth of beef at the end of her 10 or 

 15 years' existence. 



We speak of cows as dairy cows, beef cows, or dual purpose cows, 

 but the subject assigned for this paper confines us to the discussion of 

 the dairy cow. 



Even a dairy cow may be kept for varying purposes, such as breeding, 

 sale of milk or cream in cities, or for the manufacture of cheese or but- 

 ter and we must value them accordingly. 



If a cow is wanted for the sale of milk where anything goes for qual- 

 ity, most men would think they could easily tell which were their best 

 cows, but if they would weigh each individual cow's milk for a year, and 

 note results they would find that possibly the cow they thought was their 

 best cow on account of large flov,' at first will disappoint them, and some 

 other cow which yielded but half or two-thirds as much per day, when 

 fresh, will have far exceeded the other cow at the year's end. 



The cow owner, who has by carefully weighing of the individual cow's 

 milk determined the milk producing ability of his cows, has taken the 

 first grade step in discovering the difference between good and indifferent 

 dairy cows. 



The opportunities, however, for the sale of milk, regardless of cost 

 are very fast disappearing and some other test of a cow's dairy ability 

 ought to be required. The test at Chicago and Buffalo expositions dem- 

 onstrated that a cheese cow is not only a possibility but an assured fact 

 A great impetus was given the cheese industry when the factories com- 

 menced to pay for the milk by a Babcock test, and now, thaL the recently 

 invented Hart test has made it possible to rapidly determine the total 

 solid in milk it is to be expected that an even more equitable system of 

 paying for the milk for cheese making will be adopted. 



The cow used for the production of commercial cream or butter will be 

 valued in much the same way with the exception that more and more 

 high class cream is being sold in the city for consumption on the table, 

 and for this purpose color of the product makes all the difference in the 

 world in its sale. 



You perhaps noticed that I said a dairy cow might be kept for 

 breeding, and by this I mean a grade dairy cow. While much is being 

 said in the press from time to time of the value of the steer calf 



