TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 175 



The half-blood daughters, carrying 50 per cent, of improved 

 breeding, showed an increase of 52 per cent, in butter-fat pro- 

 duction as compared to their scrub dams. The granddaugh- 

 ters, carrying 75 per cent, of improved breeding, showed an 

 increase of 109 per cent, in butter-fat production as compared 

 to their scrub grandams. In other words, the production of 

 this herd was doubled in two generations through the use of 

 good dairy sires. 



By going to the same breed each time a sire is selected, 

 the dairyman soon acquires a herd of very high-grade cows, 

 having only a very small percentage of scrub ancestry. Good 

 grade dairy cows often rival their purebred cousins in produc- 

 tion, and many have sold at prices considerably above $200. 

 By using purebred sires, and by weeding out the poor producers 

 and retaining the high-producing cows and their heifer calves, 

 an inferior herd may be revolutionized and made to yield a profit. 

 In this way the dairyman is enabled to raise his standards higher 

 and higher, each year eliminating from his herd those cows 

 which fail to reach the mark. Eventually a herd is built up 

 in which every cow returns a large profit on the feed and care 

 invested in her during the year. 



The following records made by the herd of Peder Peder- 

 sen & Son in the Benson Cow Testing Association, Cedar Falls, 

 Iowa, in three consecutive years show what may be accom- 

 plished by the use of good sires, the keeping of records, weeding 

 out the poor cows, and by proper feeding and management: 



Average Net income 



Average milk per cow butter-fat per cow over 



per cow, Ibs. cost of feed 



1911 5665 pounds 207.7 $22.12 



Largest net income cow in herd 54 . 22 



1912 7060 pounds 251.9 53.96 



Largest net income cow in herd 106.30 



1913 9697. 47 pounds , 341.98 75.00 



Two largest net income cows, each 144. 00 



This herd was made up of grades and a few purebred Hoi- 

 steins, and the number of cows remained about the same during 

 the three years reported. At the end of the first year it was 

 found that 40 per cent, of the cows were unprofitable. They 

 were sent to the butcher, and their places in the herd were taken 

 by two-year-old heifers sired by a purebred sire out of common 

 cows. At the end of the second year, 30 per cent, of the cows 



