186 BETTER DAIRY FARMING 



should check up on the weights of the feed occasionally to make 

 sure that he is actually feeding what he thinks he is. 



The calculation of the value of the milk and the cost of the feed 

 will require some arithmetic. In fact, the dairyman who starts 

 to keep his own records should have more detailed directions than 

 we have space to give him here. His Farm Bureau Agent will be 

 glad to help him get started or put him in touch with some other 

 farmer who has had experience. 



The man who keeps his own records will get more benefit from 

 them than where they are kept through an association. He will 

 gain a better knowledge of his animals and after taking the trouble 

 to get the records he will be sure to make the maximum use of 

 them in improving his herd. Unfortunately, few dairymen will go 

 to the necessary trouble. Either they think the process is too 

 complicated to try, or else they start but do not stick at it. Thus, 

 most of the records are actually kept through cow-testing associa- 

 tions, where the figures are all set down in a book, so the farmer can 

 see at a glance just what should be done to improve the herd. Un- 

 fortunately, some farmers fail to open the book. 



310. Dairy improvement clubs. — There was recently de- 

 veloped in Wisconsin a plan for general herd improvement through 

 organizations called "Neighborhood Breed Clubs"; somewhat 

 similar organizations have been started in New York State under 

 the name of Dairy Improvement Clubs. These organizations are 

 in their infancy and one cannot predict how successful they will be 

 or how they may be changed. In these clubs as organized in New 

 York State, a group of farmers weigh their own milk, keep their 

 own feed records and have their milk tested for fat at intervals 

 of three or four months at a local creamery. Once in two months 

 the farmers bring their records to a group meeting where a repre- 

 sentative of the State College goes over the records with them and 

 makes recommendations. Under this plan there is a group stimulus 

 to urge the farmer to keep his own records. The method of keeping 

 them and of making the necessary calculations is explained to him. 

 He receives specific recommendations from an expert as to how to 

 improve his herd on the basis of his records. Further, he has a 



