336 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



from the dual purpose cow, not nearly enough attention is paid to 

 the real value of the heifer calf from the grade dairy cow, and this is 

 bound to become an increasing profit from a good dairy herd, and the de- 

 mand for grade cows of the strictly dairy breeds at this time far exceeds 

 the supply, and is constantly growing. 



Buyers of cows are scouring the East, Wisconsin, Illinois, and other 

 sections of the country that are known as having good grade dairy cows 

 and the prices paid vary from $50.00 to $110.00 each in car load lots. 

 The grade heifer at six months to eighteen months old brings from $20.00 

 to $75.00 each, and with a less cost to raise, show as large or larger profit 

 than the steer raised from a dual purpose cow. 



There is one other value of a dairy cow to which I wish to call your 

 attention on which I think much too little stress is laid and that is her 

 ability to "stay on the job." In every cow herd the owner will point out, 

 with pride, some cow, calling her perhaps "Old Nell" or "Bobtail," tell- 

 ing you that she is fourteen to twenty years old as the case may be, has 

 produced a calf every year; required very little veterinary attention; 

 and always fills the pail when called on. 



This question of constitution, longevity, or whatever it may be, de- 

 serves our study and attention that we may produce cows that will not 

 only perform well for a year or two, but will keep at it for a long term 

 of years, and reproduces herself as well, in her daughters. 



I have in mind one cow that produced a living calf and milked well at 

 twenty-five years of age. I had on my own farm a cow that made 428 

 pounds of fat at fifteen years of age, while most cows would have, much 

 earlier than that, been consigned to the junk shop. 



Now for a little history of the attempts to measure the value of the 

 production of a cow: Within my memory, the only answer you could 

 get from anyone as to the value of any cow would be something like this. 

 "She gives twenty quarts a day," "She fills a twelve quart pail morning 

 and evening," or if the owner only owned one cow he might say, "We use 

 all the milk and cream we want in a family of eight, have butter for our 

 own table and supply butter to five or ten other families," this latter 

 varying according to how big a liar the owner was. 



I have been much amused on a recent trip to the Island of Guernsey 

 in endeavoring to find out from the Islanders something about the pro- 

 duction of their cows, and the reply always is, "Oh, she gives about eight 

 pots a day," and after inquiring I find a "pot" is equal to about two and 

 one-half quarts. 



In those days practically no attention was paid to the persistency of a 

 cow's milking and so actually, very little was known of the merits of 

 cows. To show you how little idea even the owner had of the actual daily 

 milk production of his own cows I might illustrate by this little incident: 

 Several years ago a Wisconsin farmer published some so-called rec- 

 ords of his cows. He said, "I have been testing several of my cows for 

 the past week. No. 1 averaged 75 pounds and milk testing 5.6 per cent; 

 No. 2 (a two-year-old) averaged 48 pounds, milk testing 5.8 per cent; 

 while No. 3 averaged 52 pounds, milk testing 5.2 per cent. (I have used 

 numbers in the place of the names he gave for the cows.) 



