286 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



take the moderate factor of three years' usefulness, then 

 a cow must pay 331 per cent depreciation on her cost an- 

 nually. Adding this to the interest, we have 40 per cent, 

 in round numbers. Upon this basis a cow is worth the sum 

 above her beef value on which the profits over her keeping 

 will pay 40 per cent. In other words, the value of a cow 

 is two and a half times her annual profit, added to what she 

 is worth for beef. To illustrate the working of this method : 

 An average cow costs $30 for annual maintenance, interest 

 and taxes. Her product is worth $30. She earns no profit, 

 and is worth her beef value, say $25. A better cow costs 

 $35 for annual maintenance, interest and taxes. Her prod- 

 uct is worth $41, of which $6 is profit. Two and one-half 

 times this profit, added to $25, her beef value, is $40, which 

 is the value in this case. No one doubts but that the cow 

 which earns her owner $6 a year profit is worth $40 to him 

 as quickly as the cow which earns no profit is worth $25. 

 This is, however, a very conservative statement. If we 

 apply our basis of valuation to some of the better and rarer 

 cows, we shall be more strongly impressed with the desira- 

 bility of keeping that kind of stock. While the average 

 cow produces only 1,400 quarts of milk a year, or 130 

 pounds of butter, herds are occasionally met with in which 

 the annual product is 3,000 quarts of milk, or 300 pounds 

 of butter. The cost of feeding in such herds is somewhat 

 more, and very accurate accounts place it at about $50 per 

 cow. Three thousand quarts of milk at 2\ cents is worth 

 $67.50, making a profit of $17.50. Adding two and one- 

 half times this profit to the l)eef value, we shall get $68.75 

 as the dairy value of such cows. 



The writer has found even better herds than this, — herds 

 that would average 4,000 quarts of milk, in which the best 

 individual gave 5,000 quarts or more. A 5,000 quart cow 

 yields a product worth $112.50. If her keeping costs $75, 

 the profit amounts to $37.50, and on the foregoing l)asis her 

 value is $118.75. There is no doubt but that these high 

 values for the best cows are real values. The profits re- 

 ceived easily justify the payment of such sums for such 

 cows. More than that, if such cows continue their produc- 

 tion for more than three years, there is a very handsome 



