SIXTH AN^'UAL YEAR BOOK — PART V. 375 



while those facts are still fresh in your mind, I want you to 

 bring to your memory the fact that that cow. which was kept 

 on the college farm and produced only 128 lbs. of butter, 'fed 

 on dairy ration, a ration that was produced as cheaply or more 

 cheaply than any farmer in Iowa can produce his feeds, that 

 cow produced almost exactly the same amount of butter that 

 the cows that are producing milk and sending their milk to the 

 creameries are producing in twelve months for the state of 

 Iowa. In other words, the average production of the cows 

 of Iowa is something like 128 lbs. I think there is a big object 

 lesson in that statement. That is the poorest cow you ever fed, 

 if I remember, Professor? That is the only cow you ever fed 

 that did not produce a profit? 



Prof. Curtiss : We have had some others but I simply 

 brought this along as an illustration of a common cow. 



Mr. Wentworth : It is almost the exact average of what 

 the cows of Iowa have been doing in the last ten years in this 

 state. It seems to me that this is the saving grace they have to 

 draw from the professor's remarks. That type is almost the 

 exact duplicate of what we have had in Iowa for the last ten 

 years. 



Mr. Anderson : Prof. Curtiss stated that his unprofitable 

 cow produced butter at a rate of i8c. per pound. What was 

 the cost of production of butter from the best cow? 



Prof. Curtiss : I failed to get that in all cases but I have 

 it here in most cases. One of the best of the Shorthorn breed 

 produced butter at an average cost of 6.2 cts. per pound. That 

 cow would have made a net profit from her milk alone of over 

 $80 after paying all expense of feed consumed and allowing for 

 the expense of labor in caring for her, and giving her no credit 

 for her calf. Being a pure bred animal, I think it would not be 

 fair to take it into account, giving full value for breeding pur- 

 poses, but leaving the calf out that cow would have made a 

 net profit of $80 on her milk alone. However this was a year 

 of comparatively low priced feeds, but she has never failed to 

 make a net profit of $40 or more on her milk alone. We have 



