SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART VII. 281 



2.5 cows PER can; 6.4 cows per can. 



In one locality of Illinois the speaker found a remarkable contrast 

 between two dairy herds. In one, forty-five cows produced eighteen cans 

 (eight gallons each) of milk per day — two and one-half cows per can. In 

 the other, thirty-four cows yielded five and one-third cans — 6.4 cows per 

 can. 



DIFFERENCE IN PROFIT OF $46 PER COW. 



At 51.15 per 100 pounds for milk the cows in one herd would average 

 an income of $88.50 and a profit of $48.50 per year, after paying $40 for 

 feed. While the poorer hei'd averaged an income of $34.50 and a pi'ofit 

 of $2.50, after paying $32 for feed. Here is a difference in profit of $46 

 per cow. 



$1,000 FROM 400 cows; $1,000 from 21 cows. 



A man must have 400 of these poor producers to clear $1,000 per year, 

 but he could make the same money with twenty-one cows like those of the 

 best herd. 



DIFFERENCE OF $16.59 PER COW I>f TWELVE WHOLE HERDS. 



Eighteen dairy herds in another part of the State were tested by this 

 station. For one year the average production of the best six herds was 

 280. 5 pounds of butter fat per cow, and of the poorest six herds, 172.7 

 pounds. At 23 cents per pound for butter fat the best six herds made an 

 income of $64.51 and a profit of $24.51 per cow, after deducting $40 for 

 feed. The poorest six herds. made an income of $39.72 and a profit of 

 $7.92 per cow after paying $32 for feed. Here is an average difference of 

 $16.59. In a herd of fifty this would amount to $829.50. Every cow in 

 the best six herds averaged more profit than three cows of the poorest 

 six herds. 



THE ECONOMICAL COURSE. 



A study of these herds shows that the economical thing to do is to 

 sell the poor cows to the butcher as fast as they can be replaced with 

 better producers. The greatest practical difficulty is in discovering 

 which cows are poor and how poor they are. This is quite easily done — • 

 in just one way — by weighing and testing the milk of each cow often 

 enough throughout the milking period to get a fair estimate of her worth. 



WHEN THE cows COME HOME. 



The actual relation of the cow and the herd to the clear money that 

 the dai/ynT'an gets out of the business, is as a rule, neither known or 

 suspected by the man depending on this occupation for a living. Very 

 few dairymen even set down the payments received for milk and the items 

 of money paid out for the whole herd, to say nothing of the individual 

 cow's record or estimating the cost of feed. 



