31 



We make superficial selections. A heavy flow when fresh is too 

 often accepted as evidence of value, and three or four months' 

 idleness at the end of the year are overlooked. In the majority of 

 herds of twelve, where individual daily records are not kept, the 

 loss caused by non-profitable cows may easily be reckoned at 

 twenty-five per cent. That is, the range of production is so wide 

 that, unless closely watched, one-quarter of the herd becomes a 

 burden upon the pocket-book of the owner by dragging the total 

 production below what it would otherwise be. No man can figure 

 this loss or fix responsibility upon given animals save by the daily 

 use of the scales and the careful record of each cow's production. 



Milk making claims the attention of a large per cent of the 

 farmers of New England. At two cents per quart, or practically 

 one dollar per hundred pounds, the variations in the average herd 

 are so wide as to astonish him who has not applied the individual 

 test. This price means fifty dollars income from a cow producing 

 five thousand pounds, and leaves little profit. It means eighty 

 dollars for her mate, yielding eight thousand pounds yearly, — a 

 good profit. The variations in many herds not selected by the 

 scales range from thirty-five hundred to eight thousand pounds per 

 cow, and the owner in such a case would be better off if he did a 

 smaller business. To carry the illustration further, let us suppose 

 that eight cows yield from six to eight thousand pounds of milk 

 yearly, with an average of seven thousand. They would return 

 seventy dollars per head, a total of five hundred and sixty dollars ; 

 also that the other four range from thirty-five hundred to five thou- 

 sand, — an average of four thousand, — and we have as the total 

 of the twelve cows seven hundred and twenty dollars, or an average 

 of sixty dollars per head. Had the weeding process been applied 

 and six thousand pounds established as the minimum, the profit 

 would have been one hundred and twenty dollars more than at the 

 present, for, be it remembered, these higher figures deal with profit 

 entirely. If it costs fifty dollars per head to keep a cow, we have 

 in one case a net balance over cost of keep of one hundred and 

 twenty dollars and in the other of two hundred and forty. Sup- 

 posing the four cows are removed from the herd and the production 

 of the eight would return one hundred and sixty dollars net profit, 

 and the owner is richer by forty dollars than with the twelve. This 

 is a supposable case, but in a large number of herds as wide vari- 

 ations will be found and as great a per cent of cows not yielding 

 enough to pay the bills for hay, grain, pasturage and ensilage. 



The scales and record for three hundred and sixty-five days form 

 the only reliable test, and the story these tell must be final with 

 him who makes milk for market. 



