614 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



where the milk is sold, it is impossible to tell which cow is producing 

 rich milk, and which poor milk. Some men think that they can tell 

 by the appearance of milk whether or not it is rich or poor in butter 

 fat. Within wide limits this is so; but the yellowish color often 

 attributed to the quality of the milk is more often due to the color of 

 the butter fat. The Guernsey breed is famous for the yellow butter it 

 produces. The yellow fat in Guernsey butter gives a decidedly yellowish 

 cast to the milk, and it may well happen that the milk from a Guernsey 

 cow containing only four per cent of fat may look richer than the 

 milk from some other breed containing six per cent of fat. What is 

 true of breeds is also true of individuals, and it is impossible to form 

 a very close estimate of the richness of the milk by its appearance. 



Cows vary in their fat test from a little less than three per cent 

 to a little more than six per cent. A cow giving 6,000 pounds of three- 

 per cent milk is no better than a cow giving but 3,000 pounds per year, 

 but testing six per cent, and neither is worth keeping. Taking the fact 

 of the variation in the per cent of fat in the milk in connection with the 

 variation in the amount of milk produced, and the dairy farmer has a 

 problem concerning the actual value of the cow in question that can not 

 be solved without some systematic work. When neither the amount 

 of milk, nor the per cent of fat, is known, the cow is an extremely 

 suspicious character. How this works out in practice has been demon- 

 strated at this Station, and could likely find good illustrations in every 

 herd in the State. One cow owned 'by the Station never gave more 

 than about fifteen pounds in any one day of her life, but she gave prac- 

 tically the same amount every day in the year, and as this milk gave an 

 average yearly test of more than six per cent it can be figured that she 

 paid for her board, with considerable to spare. On the other hand, 

 the cow already mentioned, gave a large quantity of milk to start with, 

 but went off in her milk very quickly, and at the same time tested 

 below four per cent. Between these two extremes are all sorts of varia- 

 tions and combinations that make it impossible to make an approximate 

 guess at the value of a cow. In view of these facts, what a simple business 

 proposition it is to know what each cow is doing for her owner, and thus 

 prevent any possibility of loss! 



Did the keeping of herd records involve any great amount of expense 

 or labor some excuse might be offered for not undertaking the task; 

 but such is not the case. The actual labor required is very little; in 

 fact, is hardly worth mentioning, considering the results to be obtained. 

 It is very doubtful if there be a herd of cows in Maryland where 

 records are not already kept, where the following of this plan will not, 

 in a single year, pay many times over for all the apparatus and 

 time required by indicating cows that are not paying for their feed. 



Keeping Milk Records. 



The necessary apparatus for keeping a milk record of the amount of 

 milk produced by a cow is a scales for weighing the milk and a ruled 

 sheet of paper on which to enter the weights of the single milkings, 

 called a milk sheet. 



