86 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



much below what I stated. We have a heifer at the College, barely 

 two years old and that heifer is this year going to make 350 pounds 

 of butter fat, and really, her care is ordinary, for the reason that 

 we have not been prepared to give her the best attention. Pure 

 bred cows under the same conditions are going to make between 

 400 and 500 pounds. There is that one thing — there might neces- 

 sarily be some expense necessitated in exchanging these cows for 

 fresh ones; but there are the two methods, the manager can either 

 sell his calves or exchange the dry cows for fresh ones. It is possi- 

 ble that in some instances he would have to pay more for the 

 fresh cow than he gets for the dry. In many instances it will be 

 possible for him to sell that cow for even more than necessary. 



Mr. Reeves : I have found, in my experience, it is quite a prob- 

 lem to get anywhere near as much for the worn out cow; some 

 of them, when they are worn out, they are all gone. 



Mr. Van Pelt: Of course, a person wouldn't dare wear his 

 cows out that way. If she were only a five-year-old cow, then he 

 couldn't expect a second calf; he would only have the first calf, 

 providing he had a springer. Following out that system, she is 

 simply milked as long as she is profitable for the one period of 

 lactation ; then she is sold on the market. 



Question : "Would you recommend selling a 350-pound cow ? 



Mr. Van Pelt : No. Some provision would necessarily be made 

 for raising those calves; but these calves would need to be raised 

 on some other farm, unless the 80-acre farm was farmed more in- 

 tensely than I have figured. So that if you wish to raise those 

 calves, it would be possible to go and raise them on the roughage, 

 and the profits could remain the same, because when you raise these 

 calves, and she reaches the salable age, she is worth all she has 

 cost. In other words, if you sell her at weaning time for $5, that 

 is all the value she is to you at that time. But if you put more 

 money into her and grow her into a mature cow, and she is worth 

 more money; you have got a profit there. 



A Member -. I think in making an estimate on an 80-acre farm, 

 you should raise those calves yourself and take out enough when 

 those are old, and sell them as canners. 



Mr. Van Pelt: That simply would be another way of getting 

 at the figures. 



Question : How about the milking machines ? 



