20 N. H. Agr. Experiment Station [Bulletin 275 



this situation and regularly sell six or more animals a year to south- 

 ern New England buyers. 



In these few herds the best cows were usually held somewhat longer 

 than others, yet ordinarily were sold before they had depreciated in 

 value due to age. The operator occasionally had to plan his sales 

 somewhat in accordance with the demands of the buyer, but would 

 attempt to reseiwe his best young stock. One or more promising young 

 cows were sometimes sold in order to move three or four older cows 

 in the same deal. One operator had on hand at the close of the year, 

 14 three-year olds, 3 four-year olds, 3 five-year olds, 12 six-year olds 

 and 2 eight-year olds. The average age was 4.8 years. In the next 

 year his effort would be to move 10 or more of the older cows. 



At the other extreme are dairj-men who are raising about the same 

 proportion of heifers, yet Somehow use up, wear out and depreciate 

 their cows so that the return from livestock is small. The cows they 

 sell arc usually discards and bring little money. In a few instances, 

 in spite of a normal proi)ortion of heifers to cows, the herd was main- 

 tained at a definite size with considerable difficulty. 



To study the situation in some detail, the net income* from live- 

 stock was estimated on a per cow basis for each farm, and then the 

 farms were arrayed in three groups in the order of this net increase. 

 (Table 5.) The net increase per cow for the three groups averaged 

 $24.77, $9.91 and —$2.15, respectively. The average total net increase 

 from livestock per fann for the three groups was $645, $251 and —$20, 

 respectively. There was an average of 27, 25 and 21 cows, respec- 

 tively, in the high, medium, and low groups. 



Of the 13 fanners in Group 1, six had followed a definite policy of 

 raising good heifers and selling good sound cows. Five other opera- 

 tors had increased their inventory by having a number of heifers ready 

 to freshen. The older cows were sound, but only a few had been sold 

 at.the close of this study. On two farms of the group a number of 

 mature sound cows were sold soon after the study began and were re- 

 placed by purchased heifei*s. In these cases, the net increase from 

 stock was at the expense of milk returns. 



In the third group only 11 cows were sold as sound cows as com- 

 pared to 83 in the first group. In the first group 23 per cent of the 

 total number of cows on hand were sold as sound cows at an average 

 of $84 per cow, and 10 per cent were sold as discards at an average 

 of $33. In Group 3 on the other hand only four per cent of the total 

 number of cows on hand were sold as sound cows and 21 per cent 

 went as discards. 



The ratio of heifers to cows was .5 to 1.0 in the first group, .41 to 

 1.0 in the second and .4 to 1.0 in the third. The first group was thus 

 canying .09 more heifers per cow than the second group and .10 

 more than the third. 



The young stock in the first group consumed on the average 273 

 pounds of grain per year; in the second 2G8 pounds; and in the third 

 114 pounds, or in money value, $4.37, $4.29 and $1.82 per head. The 



*The net increase in livestock is calculated by adding the sales to the value of 

 livestock at the end of the year, and subtracting from this sura the value of live- 

 stock at the beginning of the year and the purchases. 



