464 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



cents per pound, and returned $2.66 for every dollar's worth of feed con- 

 sumed. We sold the three poorest cows and replaced them with three 

 heifers, two of our own raising, the third being the yearling heifer 

 bought last year (she is a pure bred). 



This is the third year for us in the association. Three months passed 

 and we are doing better than ever. Our best cow, for the three months, 

 has given 7,584 pounds of milk, 261.0 pounds of butter-fat, and $70.30 in 

 net profit. She has produced butter-fat for 10 cents per pound, and re- 

 turned $3.50 for every dollar's worth of feed consumed. She will give 

 close around 600 pounds of butter-fat for the year, and better than $150 

 in net profit. Our lowest cow has given 1,356 pounds of milk, 47.1 

 pounds of butter-fat, and $7.40 net profit. She has given $1.70 for every 

 dollar's worth of feed consumed, and as she is a fine li£ifer, due to freshen 

 with her second calf October 1st, she will make a good record before 

 the end of the year. Herd average for three months, 3,388 pounds of 

 milk, 117.0 pounds of butter-fat, and about $23.10 net profit. We expect 

 this year to have our poorest cow give about $38 net profit, and to raise 

 our herd average above 300 pounds of butter-fat, and $70 net profit. 



GREAT BEXEFITS IN CO-OPERATION. 



If we had not been in the testing association, we should have been 

 standing today but very little better than when we started. One man is 

 pushing another along, and every time the tester is here, I always ask to 

 look over the records in the evening. Then you can see how other people 

 are feeding and what it cost them to produce a pound of butter-fat. It is 

 not enough to get high producers. What counts in our pockets are high 

 but economical producers, cows that can consume a large amount of feed, 

 cows of capacity to transform this feed into butter-fat as economically as 

 possible and return the largest profit. We are all after the dollars and 

 cents, and the only way to get them out of a dairy herd is to be in a 

 testing association. Buy your feed as cheaply as possible, which can 

 only be done by the association buying its cottonseed meal, oil meal, 

 alfalfa and so forth, in carload lots. Balance your ration the cheapest it 

 can be done, feed well, and take good care of your cows. Keep exact 

 hours, both in feeding and milking, and be kind to the cows, for they 

 will pay it all back with better 'interest than any bank will give, and 

 that kind of a cow will not go to the butcher. 



Everything in this country is organized except we farmers. Start 

 with the testing association, get better herds, earn more dollars and cents, 

 buy your feed together. You save from $3 to $5 per ton by buying direct, 

 and in the fall you can figure how much it takes for the winter. 



Once every month this testing association has a meeting that goes from 

 one farm to another, and we take our good wives along. The meeting 

 is set for 11:00 a. m., and we take a picnic lunch. At 12 noon we sit 

 down to the lunch arranged by our wives. After lunch we men go out 

 and look over the stock while the tables are cleared, and then our wives 

 join us; after having looked over the farm, we sit down, either in the 

 house or outside, and talk about everything and all kinds of work on the 

 farm. At 4:00 p. m. everybody leaves for home. 



