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^A4^HEN John Derrer and his 

 ^.y ^^ family moved on their 175 

 ff (f acre farm east of Mt. Car- 

 roll 20 years ago, he had come to the 

 conclusion that dairying along with 

 hogs is the surest way to pay for land. 

 So he sold off his red cows, attended 

 the Holstein sale at Dixon and came 

 home with two purebred heifers which 

 cost him $420. 



Those were the first and last females 

 Derrer ever purchased. Today he has 

 a herd of 57 registered Holstein cows 

 and heifers in addition to bulls, has 

 held two sales at his farm, sold numer- 

 ous animals privately and last fall con- 

 signed several of the topnotch animals 

 sold in the state Holstein sales at De- 

 Kalb. All are descendants of the two 

 original heifers. 



In every excellent herd there is usual- 

 ly an outstanding dam or sire whose 

 progeny have played a leading part in 

 its success. Lady Luck probably has 

 something to do with the Derrers se- 

 lecting a couple of good foundation 

 heifers, for a short time after their pur- 

 chase, a plain looking little heifer calf 

 was born. Given the imposing name 



How the Derrers 

 Built A Top Notch 

 Herd From Two 

 Purebred Heifers 



of Zerma Pabst Q>rnucopia, this heifer 

 not only proved to be an excellent 

 milker but a great breeder as well. To- 

 day Zerma is 13 years old and has the 

 distinction of delivering ten Uve heifer 

 calves which became distinguished 

 members of the Derrers Holstein fam- 

 ily. Her 334 day record as a ten year 

 old was 15,913 lbs. of milk and 560.5 

 lbs. of fat. 



Zerma, coupled with the Derrer's un- 

 compromising insistence on buying bet- 

 ter bulls than they could afford are 

 two reasons for their success with 

 Holsteins. Membership in the Carroll 

 County Dairy Herd Improvement As- 

 sociation is another reason. Organized 

 by the Farm Bureau, the cow testing 

 association stimulated the interest of 



JOHN DERRER & SON 

 "study their hard books faithiully.' 



the entire family and revealed to Mr. 

 Derrer and his two stalwart sons, Rus- 

 sell and John Jr., the vast difference 

 in yield and profit between a low and 

 a high producing cow. The Derrers 

 study their herd books faithfully using 

 them as their never-faiUng guide in 

 weeding, breeding and feeding for 

 more profitable production. 



By 1933-34 the herd average had 

 mounted to 11,925 pounds of milk 

 and 425 pounds of fat per cow. Many 

 of the best cows are in the coveted 500 

 pound fat class, and one last year 

 produced 18,436 lbs. of milk and 686.2 

 lbs. of fat with a return over feed cost 

 of $192.65 in 365 days. 



CONTENTED COWS DO WELL 

 *77 averaged $89.46 over feed cost last year.' 



lOHN JR. 

 "the heiier became 

 his cow." 



ANOTHER HERD GROWING . . . 

 and all out oi a top-notch herd sire. 



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