NEED OF IMPROVEMENT 43 



A number of significant facts appear in this table. The herd 

 which furnished Nos. 83 and 84 was evidently a good herd, for 

 they were both good cows, though one was bought for a poor 

 cow. While the two differ widely in total production, they differ 

 almost correspondingly in food consumption, and the ratios for 

 fat production were close together. 



On the other hand, Nos. 85, 86, though coming from the 

 same herd, betray wide differences. The good cow, No. 85, was 

 more than twice as efficient as her mate, No. 86, whether we 

 consider fat or milk. 



Nos. 93 and 94, coming from the same herd, were both me- 

 dium cows, which goes far to show that the herdsman's estimate 

 of his cows is frequently far from correct. 



The very low producing power of No. 98 is remarkable, re- 

 quiring 2.88 pounds of nutrient for a pound of milk, and over 

 78 pounds of nutrient for a pound of fat, — not quite one quarter 

 the efficiency of No. 83. 



The very high efficiency of two of these cows is noticeable, 

 being more than five times that of the poorest cow mentioned 

 before, and more than twice the efficiency of the poorer cows in 

 the permanent herd. 



In addition to the above, some especially good individuals 

 have been pitted for a long time against others of inferior 

 ability. For example, Rose and Nora 1 consumed within a year 

 almost exactly the same amount of the same kind of feed, the 

 difference being less than 5 per cent. They were both rela- 

 tively heavy feeders, each consuming something over 6000 

 pounds of digestible nutrients. Rose produced 564.82 pounds 

 of fat, and Nora 298.64, a ratio of 1.9 to 1. When we remem- 

 ber that Nora, the poorer cow, was not a poor cow at all, but 

 that she belongs with the best fourth of the 1 200 tested in the 



1 The story of Rose and Queen, the latter another and a really poor cow, 

 has been entertainingly told in Circular ioj of the dairy department of the 

 University of Illinois, which has issued also Circular 118, Cows z/x. Cows, deal- 

 ing with the difference in efficiency of cows, and its meaning to the profits of 

 dairying and the cost of dairy products to the consumer. 



