HOW TO BUILD A HERD OF DAIRY COWS 21 



evening's milk being used in equal quantities to 

 get at the average test; for the evening's milk 

 is generally slightly richer in fat than that of the 

 morning. At the end of each month these record 

 sheets may be pinned together and kept for future 

 reference, but it is far better to enter them into a 

 book kept specially for the purpose, so that if one 

 wishes to refer to any particular cow to see if it is 

 profitable or not one has only to refer to the month 

 he requires to find the yield in butter fat of that 

 cow. Then, when the farmer knows the cost of 

 the feed his cows consume and the amount of the 

 cheque he receives from the creamery for butter 

 fat, he can easily decide which cows are showing a 

 loss, and weed tliem out. 



In weeding out the unprofitable cows the farmer 

 is faced with a difficult problem, for in nearly every 

 case half of his original animals will be found only 

 useful for beef or trek purposes. What, then, is 

 he to do to get better ones ? He cannot have the 

 yearly record of any before he decides to buy, 

 because those who have cows to sell have not kept 

 a record of each animal for a year, or should they 

 have done so, they are too business-like to offer 

 their best ones. It is no good to ask the seller, 

 "Is she a good cow ? " for he will naturally assure 

 you that they are all good. It is little use to see 

 the cow milked, or take a sample away and test it 

 one cannot learn from one milking what that cow 



