No. 4.] THE DAIRY HERD. :>11 



SELECTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE DAIRY HERD. 



BY PROF. F. S. COOLEY, PROFESSOR OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRY- 

 ING, MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



That the cows of Massachusetts are producing as much as 

 the standard of o;ood husbandry calls for, no well-informed 

 agriculturist would be optimistic enough to assert. A glance 

 at a few facts in regard to milk and butter production will be 

 suggestive to any one interested in the matter. According 

 to Maj. Henry E. Alvord, chief of the dairy division of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, the average cow 

 gives about 3,000 pounds of milk, yielding 125 to 130 

 pounds of butter per annum. Dr. J. B. Lindsey's estimate, 

 after a canvass of representative creamery districts, of 150 

 pounds of butter per cow per annum, is very near to Alvord's 

 figures for Massachusetts. In my own canvass, during the 

 summer of 1899, of all the creameries in the State, 175 

 pounds of butter per cow was found to be the average annual 

 yield. This would indicate the milk flow to be about 1,700 

 quarts, worth $42.50, at 21/2 cents a quart. One hundred 

 and seventy-five pounds of butter at 22 cents per pound 

 would amount to $38.50, and, adding the price of 1,500 

 quarts of skim-milk, worth % cent per quart, we would 

 have $43.50 as the value of the butter and skim-milk. It 

 is doubtful whether $43.50 will pay for a year's keep of a 

 cow at average prices ; certain is it that such a sum cannot 

 leave a very wide margin of profit. 



Cows are to be found that are better than the average, — 

 producing 400 to 500 pounds of butter and 8,000 to 12,000 

 pounds of milk in a year. At the foregoing price for milk, 

 such cows return $100 to $150 per year for feed consumed. 

 The extra feed consumed will hardly be in proportion to the 

 gain in product, so that with increased capacity comes 



