16 N. H. Agricultural Experiment Station [Bulletin 302 



the state, 47 of which were purebreds. These cows originated from 

 Wisconsin, Vermont, Canada and Massachusetts. Only two of the 

 cows purchased from out of the state were low producers or proved to 

 be otherwise unsatisfactory, compared with one out of every 10 cows 

 bought locally. Dissatisfactions over cows purchased from local deal- 

 ers were proportionately greater than in the case of cows purchased from 

 local farmers. Low production was the most frequent complaint and 

 udder trouble next. Only two cows were found to possess udder defects 

 immediately following the time of purchase, but eight others developed 

 it before the end of the period covered by this survey. Other dissat- 

 isfactions were failure to breed, low test milk, bad temperament and 

 lameness. Only eight of the 261 cows were known to be blood tested 

 for Bang's disease before purchase. 



Quality of Cows Being Sold. Detailed information was obtained for 

 each cow sold for the purpose of evaluating it in terms of its qualifica- 

 tions for the purpose for which it was sold, and to determine as far as 

 possible the better sources of good cows for those who might find it to 

 their economic advantage to purchase replacements. Because of the 

 nature of the questions the records were critically scrutinized and many 

 discarded because of omissions and obvious inconsistencies. Separate 

 tabulations for each cow sold were then made of the remaining records 

 which included 297 of the 388 cows sold for slaughter and 375 of the 

 414 sold for production. 



Each farmer was requested to give for each cow sold the main reason 

 why he disposed of her. It is to be assumed that these reasons do not 

 over-emphasize the sale of poor quality cows for productive purposes 

 but more likely underestimate it. Each cow sold for production was 

 classified on the basis of these reasons according to whether or not the 

 reasons suggested that she was worthy of being retained for continued 

 production. It is recognized that any sale for good reason might also 

 be a matter of culling because the seller in many cases would dispose of 

 his poorest cows. However, there is nothing contained in the good 

 reasons which would suggest that a cow was being misrepresented or 

 unjustly sold as a producer. 



On the basis of this classification only 62 per cent of the 375 cows sold 

 for production were sold for good reason (Table 10). This agrees fair- 

 ly well with the farmers ' estimate that 60 per cent of all purchased cows 

 were satisfactory. Ninety-three per cent of those sold by farmers who 

 make it a part of their business to raise cows to sell were apparently 

 rightly sold compared with only 40 per cent for farmers who raise 

 heifers only for replacements. The average price received was $15 

 greater for the former group, at least partially accounted for by the 

 fact that 36 per cent were purebreds compared with only 22 per cent 

 for those who raise heifers only for replacements, and partially because 

 they were better cows and make better sales. Cows sold from farms 

 where they raised them for the purpose of sale in addition to replace- 

 ments were more than one year younger ; they had a longer lactation 

 period, and production was apparently somewhat greater than cows sold 

 from herds supplied with fewer young heifers. The final appraisal can- 

 not rest with factors which concern the last lactation period. Many 



