SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 619 



The sample yearly record is not given as the best possible, or even 

 suitable for all conditions; but it does show how simple such a record 

 can be, and how easily it can be placed in a blank book of almost any 

 description. The necessary ruling for a large herd can be done in an 

 hour's time. 



In the sample given it is intended that all of the cows be placed 

 together on the same or adjoining pages for the same year. The record 

 for each cow is supposed to commence the month that she drops her 

 calf, and it is not at all necessary that the first blank space in each rec- 

 ord be filled with the product of January, or any other particular month 

 of the year. Thus, for instance, if the year is 1904, Cow No. 1 may 

 drop her calf in March, and the record could commence in the first blank 

 space at the top of the column, giving March as the month. Cow No. 

 2 may not drop her calf until August, and this month would be entered 

 in the first blank space at the top of the column, putting the month of 

 August parallel with March, in the record of Cow No. 1. Instead of 

 having the yearly record a record of the performance of each cow from 

 January 1st to December 31st, it is, in reality, the record for a full lac- 

 tation period of every cow that drops her calf in the year given at the 

 head of the page. A good number of the records will necessarily ex- 

 tend into the following year. In this, blank space is allowed for twelve 

 months only. There isn't any doubt but that this will suffice for most 

 cows, and as dairy cows are supposed to drop calves every twelve 

 months at least, this is the length of time on which the value of the 

 animal should be calculated. If the cow ran over the twelve months, 

 as some will when they fail to get with calf, the record should be 

 continued into the next year, making note of the fact at the head of 

 the column. 



Some dairymen naturally want a scheme for keeping track of the 

 amount of milk produced by a cow without some work — 'One that will 

 not require so much time and trouble, as where the milk is weighed and 

 recorded every night and morning. A very satisfactory and fairly ac- 

 curate substitute for this method can be found in weighing the milk 

 once a week, or rather one day in the week, night and morning, Sat- 

 urday or Monday being the day that will be usually selected, for obvious 

 reasons. By getting the sum of the quantities of milk given every 

 weigh day for the year, and multiplying by seven, the number of days 

 in the week, the amount will be sufficiently accurate for all practical, 

 purposes in estimating the value of the cow. This scheme for keeping 

 records is to be recommended to dairymen who feel that for different 

 reasons the weighing of the milk every night and morning in the year 

 is impractical, and there are doubtless many for whom this is true. 

 The blanks to be used for weekly weighings will necessarily be some- 

 what different from the monthly milk sheets, as no monthly record will 

 be practical with this system. 



Two methods by which the records of the weeldy weighings could 

 be kept are available. In one a milk sheet, much like the one used in 

 making daily weighings, could be employed. This sheet could be 

 headed so as to give the date of the first weighing and last weighing 

 entered on the sheet. In the same column of the monthly milk sheet the 



