31 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Boakd of Agriculture. 



SELECTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE DAIRY 



HERD. 



By Prof. F. S. Coolet, Professor of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural College. 



That the cows of Massachusetts are producing as much as the 

 standard of good husbandry calls for, no well-informed agricult- 

 urist 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 Depart- 

 ment 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 dis- 

 tricts, of 150 pounds of butter per cow per annum, is very near to 

 Alvord's figures for Massachilsetts. 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 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 sura cannot leave a very 

 wide margin of profit. 



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

 ducing 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 con- 



