CHAPTER XXII 

 HERD IMPROVEMENT 



Keeping records of individual production is essential to profit- 

 able dairying. Not only are such records essential for economical 

 feeding but also for eliminating from the herd the cows that are not 

 producing enough to pay for their feed. It has been repeatedly 

 shown that in herds where no records are kept, 25 per cent to 50 

 per cent of the animals are not producing enough milk to pay for 

 their feed and care. They are an actual loss to the farmer every 

 day he keeps them, yet such animals may stay in the herd for 

 years. It is a surprising thing that such animals are found even 

 in herds which as a whole are showing a good profit. This is 

 because even the observing and experienced dairyman will fre- 

 quently fail to discriminate between a profitable and unprofitable 

 animal, unless he has some record of their production. 



305. Production records. — Many farmers do not keep any 

 production records because of the trouble and expense. It is a lot 

 more expensive to keep several animals at a loss. The dairyman 

 who will keep such records and act on them to get rid of his poor 

 producers will save the cost many times over. 



The records that are needed are the amount of milk produced, 

 its fat content and the amount of feed eaten. From these records 

 the dairyman can tell whether a given cow produced milk of 

 sufficient value to pay for her feed and give him a fair return for 

 hfs labor. These records may be kept by the dairyman himself or 

 through some organization like a cow-testing association. 



It will be easier to explain how these records are kept by first 

 showing how it is done in an association. 



306. Cow-testing associations. — A cow-testing association is 

 made up of a group of farmers who employ an agent to make tests 

 and keep records for them. This man visits each herd at least once 

 a month, makes a record of the day's milk produced by each cow 

 and determines its fat content. From these figures the amount of 



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