ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XI 625 



BALANCE SHEET. 



Dr. 



Cr. 



Bal. 



Value of inventory January 1, 1910 



Interest at 6 per cent on capital invested, as represented by 



value of inventory above 



Expenditures during 1910 



Value of inventory January 1, 1911 



Receipts during 1910 



Total 



Balance. 



§ 317.30 



20.84 

 273.70 



431.40 

 368.77 



$ 641.84 



$ 800.17 



$ 158.33 



Approved : 



James Wilson, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 

 Washington, D. C, January 26, 1911. 



COW-TESTING ASSOCIATIONS. 



HEL1IER RABILD, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

 ORIGIN. 



The cow-testing movement in connection with dairying originated in 

 Denmark and was a direct result of necessity. That little country 

 during the latter part of the nineteenth century passed through a finan- 

 cial crisis, the result of which was a reorganization of agricultural activ- 

 ity. Destructive and expensive wars had drained the resources of the 

 country and increased the national debt, and the farmer, upon whom fell 

 the burden of taxation, was forced to follow that system of agriculture 

 which promised the highest possible returns. Beef production had be- 

 come unprofitable by reason of increased land values and discrimination 

 in foreign markets. The good standing of Danish butter and the prices 

 paid for it on the English market gave promise that dairying, if properly 

 developed, might furnish a good source of revenue, and this industry, 

 which previously had been carried on in an indifferent way, began to 

 assume greater importance. It received a great stimulus by the organiza- 

 tion of a few co-operative creameries, the first of which was organized 

 in the year 1882. The cows on the farms had not been selected for dairy 

 purposes, the average production of butter per cow in 1884 being only 

 112 pounds a year, and the farmer soon learned that more productive 

 cows were an absolute necessity if he would derive any profit from the 

 business. Some importations of dairy cattle of foreign breeds were made. 

 These importations, however, brought, in many cases, disappointment and 

 loss and were soon discontinued, and the farmers began, by studying the 

 individuality of their native cows, to breed a strain of cattle which were 

 especially suited for dairy purposes. 



The cow testing movement began in 1892, when State Counselor B. Bog- 

 gild, at a meeting of the Kildebrond creamery patrons in July of that year, 

 40 



