EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 589 



Improvement fourth year 7.11 



Improvement fifth year 6.77 



Improvement sixth year 6.45 



Improvement for six years $13. 8j 



The total increased income of a cow over her dam by having a good 

 sire is therefore $43.85. 



In an ordinary dairy herd of thirty-five to forty cows an average of 

 seventeen heifers per year should be obtained, and twelve of these should 

 be worth raising, making it easily possible for a bull to earn twelve times 

 $43.85, or $526 per year. This would amount to $1,578 in the three years 

 that a bull is ordinarily kept in service. 



Cost of providing every heifer one good parent: 



Pure bred. Scrub. 



Cost of sire $150.00 | 30.00 



Interest, three years, 5 per cent 22. lO 4.50 



Cost of keeping three years 100.00 100. CO 



Risk, three years , 50.00 10.00 



Total expense, three years $322.50 $144.50 



Value at end of three years 100.00 30.00 



$222.50 $1U.50 



114.50 



Extra cost good sire, three years $108.00 



Extra cost good sire, one year aiS-OO 



Extra cost good sire, one daughter 3.00 



Considering the male calves as worth no more than if sired by a scrub, 

 it would then cost $36 to provide one good pure-bred parent for the twelve 

 heifer calves which are raised each year, or $3 per heifer. Where else 

 can such an investment be found? Thj'ee -dollars expended brings in an 

 average return of over $7 per year for six years, or $43.85 in all. This 

 makes a clear addition of $43.85 to the income of each daughter, or a net 

 profit of $40.85 and of $1,470 for thirty-six daughters in the three years. 

 Here is nearly 1,000 per cent profit on the investment. The original cost 

 of the good sire looks very small beside the $1,470. It really pays, as 

 nothing else on the farm pays, to put $150 into the right kind of a dairy 

 sire that will return practically ten times $150 within three years. 



An examination of details will show these estimates to be conservative. 

 There is plenty of margin left for failures and unfavorable conditions. 

 One thousand pounds of milk per year is a conservative estimate of the 

 improvement of the daughter's production to credit to a good sire, but 

 the details of figuring it may be varied to suit conditions in different 

 herds and different localities. One hundred and fifty dollars is certainly 

 a liberal allowance for the purchase of a pure-bred sire, and results here 

 named are based upon having a first-class animal at the head of a herd. 

 A herd of only thirty-five or forty cows is taken for illustration, while a 

 vigorous sire properly fed and exercised is sufficient for a herd of forty-five 

 to fifty cows, providing he is not allowed to run with them. There is 

 another distinct improvement of the good sire's daughter besides her 

 milk production; it is the improvement of her b^cod or breeding, as the 

 result of which her daughters will he better milk producers. This blood 



