POINT OF VIEW ON LIVE-STOCK PROBLEMS 219 



minute per cow per milking, or practically one minute 

 per cow per day. If the milk is weighed every day, this 

 would amount to about 6 hours per year. This time 

 would be worth from $1 to $1.20. This cost is usually 

 more than made up in the gain made by selling a single 

 poor cow. From one-tenth to over half of the herd are. 

 likely to be found to be resulting in a loss. 



141. Short methods of weighing milk. There are a 

 number of short methods of weighing milk that are 

 sufficiently accurate for ordinary purposes. 



Probably the best method, if milk is not weighed every 

 day, is to weigh it on the first three days of every month, or 

 on three consecutive days at any other time in the month. 

 J. L. Hills of Vermont 1 examined 579 yearly milk 

 records and found that this method gave results within 4 

 per cent of the true yearly production in 98 cases out of 100. 



Some of the other short methods tha t are more or less 

 used are to weigh the milk one day per month, one day 

 each week, or every seventh week. Any one of the short 

 methods will give results that are accurate enough to be 

 of great service in determining which cows to discard. 



142. Butter-fat tests. If one is selling milk to cities, the 

 weight of the milk may be all that is necessary, but even 

 then, some knowledge of the per cent of fat in the milk of 

 each cow is desirable. If butter or cream is sold, or if milk 

 is sold on a butter-fat test, it is just as important to know 

 the per cent of fat in each cow's milk as to know the 

 amount of milk given. The milk from each cow may be 

 tested once a month or every other month, or each cow may 

 be tested in the third, fifth, and seventh months after calv- 

 ing. Any of these methods will give fairly accurate results. 

 The test every month is, of course, the most accurate. 



Vermont, Bulletin 128, p. 62. 



