May, 1933] Efficiency Studies in Dairy Farming 15 



VARIATIONS BETWEEN FARMS 

 IN MILK SOLD PER COW 



Milk sold per cow during the year ending March 31, 1932, was 

 lower than in the two preceding years as shown in Table 1. The 

 amount of grain fed per cow on the average farai, was nearly 600 

 pounds less in 1931-1932 than two years earlier. 



Possibly the reactions of different farmers to the drop in milk prices 

 may have caused greater variations than usual in feeding practices 

 ancl consequently in production. At any rate production ranged from 

 2,330 to 10,445 pounds per cow as shown in Table 4 in which the 

 farms are arrayed according to the pounds of milk sold per cow. 

 Grain per cow varied from 107 pounds on the farm having next to 

 the lowest sales per cow to 2,811 pounds on the farm having the 

 highest sales. 



Some of the differences in production were due to size of cows, 

 butterfat test, age of cows, disease, quality of pasture, quantity of 

 protein fed, and total digestible nutrients; but probably the most im- 

 portant causes were quality of cows and the operator's skill with cat- 

 tle. Thus the 13 farms having the highest production per cow had 

 nearly all Holsteins and an average test of 3.67 per cent butterfat 

 compared with 3.87 and 4.14 per cent for the 13 farms in the medium 

 producing group and the 12 farms in the low producing group, respec- 

 tively. With the higher testing groups went a larger proportion of 

 the small high-testing breeds. 



In spite of the higher test in the second and third groups, the price 

 received per 100 pounds of milk averaged slightly less — $1.91 and 

 $1.89 compared with $1.93 for the first group. 



The highest producing group had a slight advantage in having 74.7 

 per cent of its cows in the most productive age period from 4 to 8 

 years. In the medium and low producing groups, 68.0 and 69.0 per 

 cent of the cows were from four to eight years of age. 



Tuberculosis or abortion affected the production of one herd in each 

 of the first two groups and of three herds in the low producing group. 



Capacity of Cows 



The inherent capacity of the cows, wholly aside from care and feed, 

 cannot be satisfactorily measured. Herd history and a classification 

 of the cows, however, according to apparent capacity to produce may 

 be taken as rough guides. 



The cows were roughly classified* into three groups as to quality: 



(A) Cows of good type, sound and estimated to have capacity to 

 produce 6,000 pounds or more milk (based on 3.7 per cent test) ; 



(B) Fair cows, showing lack of size for the breed and indicating lack 

 of capacity to produce 6,000 pounds; (C) Poor quality animals show- 

 ing lack of capacity, old or with unsound udders or other defects. 



Forty-five per cent of the total on all farms were found in Group A, 

 27 per cent in B and 28 per cent in C. Fifty per cent of all the good 

 cows and 21 per cent of all the poor ones were in the first group of 

 13 farms with high milk production per cow, and only 17 per cent of 



*Mr. George Waugh, Dairy Extension Specialist, classified the individual cows. 



