298 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



in the same herd, or that can easily be obtained at a reasonable price, will 

 pay fifty cents a bushel or even more for the grain they consume. The 

 difference in price which individual cows are paying for their grain is not so 

 apparent as the difference at the elevators, but it is none the less actual and 

 affects the pocket-book just as surely in the end. 



Every dairyman should have a profitable standard of production for his 

 cows, and any mature cow that does not come up to this standard should be 

 disposed of at once. What this profitable standard is, each must determine 

 for himself, as it will depend upon the cost of feed and the care and the 

 value of the product in that particular locality. This standard should be 

 gradually raised each year by weeding out the poorest cows and breeding 

 only from the best. The only way this can be done intelligently is by keep- 

 ing a record of each individual cow. Generally speaking, cows can not be 

 kept at a profit in the central west that do not produce the equivalent of 250 

 pounds of butter annually. 



KEEPING RECORDS OF INDIVIDUAL COWS. 



To determine exactly what a cow produces in a year, every milking must 

 be weighed and sampled, but if the herd is given a one-week test every three 

 months it will give approximately correct results which will be of the great- 

 est value. All the apparatus necessary for this purpose is a spring balance^ 

 as many common glass fruit jars as there are cows in ihe herd, and a four- 

 bottle'Babcock milk tester. The latter can be purchased from any creamery 

 supply house for five dollars. A set of directions accompanies the tester and 

 by following these any intelligent person can operate the test. The milk 

 may be weighed on any scale but a spring balance is most convenient. The 

 scale should be so adjusted that it will balance the empty milk pail with the 

 hand at zero. The weight of the milk may then be read directly from the 

 scale without subtracting the weight of the pail and may be quickly re- 

 corded opposite the cow's name on the milk sheet provided for the purpose 

 and placed on the wall convenient to the scale. A sample should then be 

 taken by means of a small dipper holding about two tablespoonfulls and 

 placed in the jar bearing the cow's name or number. A cartridge shell of 

 the proper size, with a wire attached for a handle, makes a very convenient 

 dipper for this purpose. If things are conveniently arranged this can all be 

 accomplished very quickly. To prevent the milk from souring until the end 

 of the week, to each glass jar should be added as much pulverized potassium 

 bi-chromate as will lie on a one cent piece. Potassium bi-chromate may be 

 obtained at any drug store, and, although a rank poison, is one of the best 

 preservatives to use for this purpose for the reason that it imparts a lemon 

 color to the milk, thus making it easy of detection and obviating the possible 

 mistake of feeding it to calves or pigs. 



At the end of the week the composite samples in the jars are tested with 

 the Babcock milk test to determine the per cent of butter fat. This gives the 

 average amount of butter fat contained in each cow's milk for the week. 

 The total weight of the milk for the week, multiplied by the per cent of but- 

 ter fat, gives the total butter fat produced by that cow for the week. 



