336 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 June, 1919. 



The dairy cow is a more efficient machine than the steam engine. 

 A cow producing 1 lb. of btitter-fat a day uses about 47 per cent, of her 

 food for the support of her body, 24 per cent, in the work of converting 

 food nutrients into milk, and actually yields in her milk 29 per cent, of 

 the digestible nutrients in her feed. 



Herd testing, scientific breeding, and expert feeding may result in 

 the evolution of a race of " super-cows," which will be as efficient in the 

 conversion of nutrients into milk, compared with ordinary cows, as the 

 Diesel engine is to the ordinary steam engine in efficiency. It is pro- 

 bable that if careful records were made of the production of cows in 

 Victoria, we would find that one-third! of the dairy cattle do not pay for 

 their feed and labour expended on them, one-third would pay expenses, 

 while the remaining one-third would be found to yield the profits that 

 accrue to the dairy industry. If this be true, then the dairyman of 

 Victoria would be better off if one-third of the cows — representing the 

 unprofitable section — were slaughtered to-morrow. Herd testing is 

 the medium by means of which the weeding-out process can be effected. 



Barn for Experimental Feeding of Dairy ill ,u u ±uwa Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. 



Those who are interested in Victoria's dairy welfare should exert every 

 ounce of strength to. see that Cow Testing Associations, properly coo- 

 ducted, are organized without delay, and that the present system of herd 

 testing for pure-bred herds is extended. 



Dairy Education. 



The people of the United States are interested in all forms of educa- 

 tion, but on none do they spend money more freely than on agricultural 

 education. They hold that an efficient system of education is a necessity 

 for national progress. They contend, too, that money wisely spent on 

 agricultural education is a national investment, which is repaid to the 

 country many times over in the form of increased material prosperity. 



Americans have the reputation of being a business-like and practical 

 nation, requiring a dollar's worth of result for every dollar of expendi- 

 ture. Yet, on agricultural education, investigation, and extension work,. 



