BREEDS OF DAIRY CATTLE 147 



essential. When these can be assured, fill up the stables with high- 

 grade cows and success is yours. Remember that the low producer 

 is a bad investment at any price, but that the cow liberally endowed 

 with dairy capacity is always a powerful factor for good upon the 

 farm. The sire is often much more than half the herd and through 

 his purity of breeding the profitable cow must always be sought. 



Necessity for Testing Each Cow. Common observation teaches 

 us that there is a great difference in the profit derived from the dif- 

 ferent cows of every herd. To the milk producer this difference is 

 obvious in the widely different amounts of milk yielded and in the 

 persistency with which they maintain the production as the lactation 

 period progresses. When scales are not used the amount is gener- 

 ally estimated by the fullness of the pail, but the presence or ab- 

 sence of foam may greatly influence the judgment. Until one has 

 employed the scale in weighing the milk from his cows he cannot 

 realize how far from correct has been his estimate of their annual 

 production. Guessing at the amount of milk given is unsafe and 

 unbusinesslike. It is surprising, though nevertheless true, that the 

 regular milker of any cow in a herd, where the milk is not weighed 

 regularly, can seldom guess within 1,500 or 2,000 pounds of her 

 actual yearly milk production. 



If the amount of milk yielded were the only consideration, it 

 could be readily met by the use of scales. However, in order to ap- 

 proach the true value of a cow, we must know her butter making 

 capacity, and as this is not necessarily in proportion to the amount 

 of milk given, the quantity and quality of the milk for both butter 

 making and direct consumption must be taken into consideration. 

 For this reason the Babcock test should be used in every herd to de- 

 termine each cow's capacity for producing butter fat. Testing the 

 milk at regular intervals will give fairly accurate results. After test- 

 ing numerous herds it has often been observed that cows previously 

 considered of good dairy ability have made poor annual records, 

 while some of which little was expected have done very well. 



The necessity of testing is all the more apparent when we re- 

 flect that the nature of milk makes it impossible to judge by its ap- 

 pearance as to its richness in butter fat. The coloring matter of 

 milk is not necessarily associated with the butter fat, so that the 

 richness of color does not always indicate the proportion of butter 

 fat. Without some accurate means, such as the Babcock test, for de- 

 termining the quality of the milk from each cow, a dairyman can 

 never be sure as to which are his best and which his poorest cows. 

 Until a cow's ability to produce milk and butter fat is approximately 

 known, she has her owner at a disadvantage. (111. Circ. 76.) 



How to Make the Test. The simplest method is to use a spring 

 scale on which to weigh the milk from each cow, and the Babcock 

 test in order to determine its butter fat content. The other ap- 

 paratus necessary to conduct this work consists of a small sample 

 dipper for taking the samples, tin-top pint milk jars for holding the 

 composite samples, corrosive sublimate tablets for preserving the 



