102 Cooperation in Agriculture 



tor, the annual records of milk and butter-fat production 

 are computed. 



"The general plan of operation is to list all cows of 

 desirable conformation and bred along milking lines. 

 Using the yearly records of production as a basis of selec- 

 tion, all cows that do not milk profitably are discarded. 

 All cows listed are bred to sires owned by the Experiment 

 Station. These have been selected from herds that have 

 been systematically bred and selected for a combination 

 of profitable dairy production and a desirable conforma- 

 tion from the beef standpoint. That is, they are the 

 produce of dams that have yearly records of from 10,000 

 to 18,000 pounds of milk and 400 to 600 pounds of butter- 

 fat, and combined with this the ability to lay on flesh 

 when dry and attain weights from 1400 to 1600 pounds 

 when in good flesh. What the breeding power of these 

 sires will be, cannot be foretold at present. The two 

 crops of calves on the circuit are a promising-looking 

 lot. 



"All heifer calves from approved dams are raised and 

 will be tried out at the pail when they come into milk. 

 The bull calves are raised to 8 to 10 months of age, when 

 they will be divided into three classes : reserved, approved, 

 and rej ected. All of those rej ected will be sold for slaughter, 

 those approved will be sold to breeders in the usual way, 

 and those reserved will be kept for use on the circuit. 

 The sires reserved for the circuit may be offered for sale 

 to other members of the association, used to supply the 

 new herds taken into the circuit, sold to outside breeders 

 with options to repurchase, or 'farmed' out to approved 

 breeders until needed on the circuit. In this way all of 



