HOW TO BUILD A HERD OF DAIRY COWS 19 



daily yield from each cow is carefully noted it is 

 impossible to make a profitable selection of a good 

 cow. If he keeps a milk and butter-fat record the 

 farmer finds out which are profitable and which are 

 not. In many instances half the herd has been 

 found (when the milk yield has been recorded for 

 one year and the Babcock butter-fat test taken) to 

 be unprofitable. This means a direct loss in feed, 

 money, time, and energy. 



The average output of milk and butter fat per 

 cow in South Africa is amazingly poor and not 

 what it might be. This is because so many scrub 

 cows are kept. These scrub cows are impossible 

 to detect unless a system of weighing the milk, 

 keeping a record for a year, and using the Babcock 

 Tester be carried out. It is not altogether possible 

 to estimate the real value of a cow by merely 

 looking at the udder. Even the very best of 

 experts are often deceived, for it is well known that 

 the milk produced by some of our best-looking 

 cows is very poor in butter fat. 



Daily milk records also help to discover any 

 variation in the yield, and cause the owner to look 

 to the animal as the source of the shrinkage. Either 

 the animal may be sick or the " boys " not milking 

 properly. Milk records will make one observant of 

 those details which make all the difference between 

 profit and loss. From a money-making point of 

 view it is well worth while, then, to keep records. 



