ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 395 



other nations. In Holland and the Jersey and Guernsey Islands we find 

 the land selling from $500.00 to $1,500 an acre. We at once inquire what 

 makes this land so valuable and what kind of farming can bring the owner 

 a profit. Investigations show that these are the greatest dairy sections of 

 the world. Iowa land has in many places reached the $200.00 mark, which 

 means that the successful farmer must abandon the slipshod methods and 

 take up intensive farming in a business-like way. 



In order to meet this growing demand for dairy products the farmer 

 must do one of two things. He must either double the number of cows 

 he milks or he must double the production of each animal. If he doubles 

 the number of cows he will necessarily have to double the food consumed. 

 But let us consider for a moment which is the better plan to follow. 



The average cow at present in Iowa is producing less than 150 pounds 

 of butterfat, which is barely enough to pay for the food and in many 

 instances she is an actual loss to her owner financially, excluding the 

 work of milking and caring for her. It at once becomes evident that the 

 only practical way to meet the demand for these products is to double the 

 production of each cow. Of course this will require a great deal of work 

 on the part of the breeder, but it can undoubtedly be accomplished. The 

 first thing for the farmer to do, who is interested in improving his dairy 

 herd, is to purchase a scale and Babcock tester. These can be secured of 

 any creamery supply company at a nominal cost and on the average farm 

 will pay for themselves many times over the first year. However, before 

 one attempts to test his own herd he should become thoroughly familiar 

 with the operation of the test. The fat test of milk like all other tests is 

 worse than nothing if the operator is not competent. Therefore directions 

 for milk testing should be secured from the experiment station and studied 

 very carefully, or better yet one of the boys should be sent to the two 

 weeks short course in dairying at the Iowa State College the first of 

 January. After having thorough knowledge of the test it is time to be- 

 gin the work of weighing and testing the milk from each cow as often as 

 possible during the year or month and computing the pounds of fat. The 

 question as to how often a cow should be tested depends upon the time 

 the farmer has to devote to this work. However, each cow should be 

 tested once each month and the oftener the better. The test should last 

 about two days each time and the milk accurately weighed at each milk- 

 ing. It is also important to have the cow's milked dry the milking pre- 

 ceding the day that the test begins. Along with this record of the number 

 of pounds of milk and butterfat produced should be kept a feeding record. 

 Many cows seem to give large quantities of milk with fairly high tests, 

 but not all of these are economical producers. By economical pro- 

 ducers I mean cows whose products sold exceed the cost of feed by a good 

 margin. We often find a fairly high producing cow which does not pay 

 for her feed. The feeding record should be kept and compared to the milk 

 flow from time to time. If the flow goes down when certain feeds are 

 fed the ration should be changed in such a way as to make the maximum 

 flow of milk in the most economical manner. The best dairymen find that 

 the cows in their herds vary a great deal. Some cows produce large quan- 



