CHAPTER XII. 

 VARIATIONS IN THE USEFULNESS OF DAIRY COWS. 



The census of 1910 showed that the average cow kept for 

 milk production averaged 3,113.2 pounds of milk per year. If 

 this milk tested four per cent, fat, each cow produced 124.5 

 pounds of butter-fat. Assuming that average butter contains 

 85 per cent, of butter-fat, the average American dairy cow is 

 found to have had 146.5 pounds of butter to her credit. Rather 

 it was a discredit. It is generally agreed by dairymen that an 

 annual production of at least 200 pounds of butter is necessary 

 to pay for feed, labor, taxes, insurance, and interest on the 

 investment in keeping one cow. The average dairy cow in the 

 United States in 1919 was estimated to be worth $78.24. The 

 cow that yields 200 pounds of butter in a year is not worth more 

 than that, if as much. If the 250-pound cow gives 50 pounds 

 for profit, or $20, she will pay 10 per cent, interest on $200. If 

 the 200-pound cow is worth $75, the 250-pound cow is worth 

 $275, the 400-pound cow is worth $875, and the few exceptional 

 cows that produce enough butter-fat in a year to make 1000 

 pounds of butter are each worth $3,275. These figures might 

 be further increased by including the values of the calves pro- 

 duced by each class of cows. As a matter of fact, however, 

 cows yielding 200 pounds of butter or less are not worth any- 

 thing as dairy cows, but only what they will bring for beef, 

 and the 250-pound cow will not bring $275, yet she may pay 

 a reasonable per cent, of interest on that sum. These figures 

 are valuable only as indications of the wide variations in the 

 usefulness of dairy cows. It is estimated that one-fourth of 

 the cows in the entire country kept for milk do not pay for the 

 cost of keeping, and nearly one-fourth more fail to yield an 

 annual profit. 



The following tables are compiled from the results of the 

 classic tests of purebred dairy cows at the Pan-American and 

 Louisiana-Purchase expositions. These tables are presented to 

 show variations in the profitableness of different individuals 

 rather than of different breeds: 



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