SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII. 279 



cow, Queen would lack $3 of paying for her board, while Rose would 

 return a profit of $50.32. At $40 for feed Rose would make a clear profit 

 of $48.32. Queen ' is entirely out of the list of cows worth keeping. 

 There is absolutely no business in keeping her a single day. 



SEVENTY-FOUR AS POOR AS QUEE.V. 



Among the 333 cows of the eighteen Illinois herds were found seventy- 

 four — or 22 per cent — that were as poor as Queen, or poorer, in produc- 

 tion of butter fat. More than every fifth cow of the 333 failed to earn 

 her keep. The average production of these seventy-four was only 126 

 pounds of butter fat — far below that of Queen. 



But in the same general class of excellent producers with Rose were 

 found thirty in this 333 — or 10 per cent — that produced 300 pounds or 

 more butter fat in one year, and the average production of the thirty was 

 342 pounds, meaning an income of $78.76. 



THE MINIMrjt SHOULD BE 225 POUNDS FAT. 



A cow must give two and a half gallons of 4 per cent milk per day for 

 nine months a year to be really worth keeping. 



This means a total of 225 pounds butter fat, an income of about $51.75 

 per year, and a profit of $15 or more in some cases) above the market 

 value of feed. And yet there are a multitude of cows in Illinois dairy 

 herds below this standard. Of the 333 cows in eighteen herds carefully 

 tested by this station, 226 — or over two-thirds — fell below this standard, 

 and the 226 averaged but 164 pounds butter fat for the year — only twelve 

 pounds above Queen. In three of these herds, numbering forty-seven 

 cows, not a single animal came up to this standard. 



DISCOVERED OXLY BY SCALES AND TEST. 



Quite unsuspected these Queens have everywhere honeycombed dairy 

 society. All of them are dead-beats; they will never pay for their board. 

 The more of them a dairyman keeps, the poorer he is. The way to find 

 out — the only sure way — is to weigh and test the milk of each cow. 



cow PATHS THAT LEAD FAR APART. 



Here at the Experiment Station are two other cows, the story of the 

 work of which is worth telling wherever cows are kept. They were 

 brought up alike on the farm and obtained their early education in the 

 same herd of one hundred cows in the Elgin region. Here at the Univer- 

 sity, with the same identical surroundings and equal opportunities, they 

 are drifted far apart in character. 



THREE YEARS' RECORD OF MILK, FAT AND FEED. 



The record is complete for three years, and includes every pound of 

 feed each cow ate, both summer and winter, as well as the weight and 

 test of the milk. 



