FARM EQUIPMENT 97 



tion must be given to the efficiency of cows if the farmer would 

 secure high profits. 



Throughout the past century the presence of cheap grazing 

 lands resulted in the most careless use of land and feed in the 

 beef cattle industry, but the recent movement has been the 

 same as that in hog production. The beef animals are being pro- 

 duced in a shorter period which usually means greater effi- 

 ciency in terms of land and feed. The baby-beef industry is 

 the result of this movement for reducing the length of time re- 

 quired to produce a steer. This usually means more intensive 

 culture and probably small gross returns per hour of human 

 effort put into the business, but it provides labor for many more 

 hours in the year and greatly increases the returns per unit of 

 land. 



Equipments of all kinds vary in capacity and efficiency. 

 This is true of horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs. In each class 

 there is a variation in the amount of feed and labor demanded 

 by the different animals, or their capacity; there is also a 

 wide range in the product per unit of input, that is in their 

 efficiency. There has been a tendency for experimental feeders 

 to confuse digestive efficiency and economic efficiency. This 

 has led some people to believe that all differences in dairy 

 cows, for example, are differences in capacity. The table on 

 the following page based upon the results of the Wisconsin dairy 

 cow competition, 1909-1911, throws light upon the question of 

 differences in the economic efficiency of dairy cows. 



It is believed that this table helps to establish the idea that 

 being a " good feeder," however desirable this quality in a 

 cow, is not the only qualification of a dairy cow. In the above 

 table the cow which ranked second in the amount of feed con- 

 sumed ranked twenty-fifth in product per unit of feed. 



The range in efficiency of the 26 cows in the herd from which 

 these figures were taken was from 1.44 to 2.46. When all of 

 the 398 cows in the competition are compared the variation is 

 much greater, varying from .92 to 2.71. It should be recognized, 

 however, that when cows on different farms are compared, the 

 differences may be due in part to differences in the efficiency 



