Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 201 



sired by a scrub bull, produced 126.3 pounds of butter-fat, and the 

 granddaughter, sired by the same scrub, produced 99.7 pounds of 

 butter-fat. California Gretel, a Toggenburg goat, produced almost as 

 much." 



By going to the same breed each time a sire is selected, the dairy- 

 man soon acquires a herd of very high-grade cows, having only a very 

 small percentage of scrub ancestry. Good grade dairy cows often 

 rival their purebred cousins in production, and many have sold at 

 prices considerably above $200. By using purebred sires, and by 

 weeding out the poor producers and retaining the high-producing cows 

 and their heifer calves, an inferior herd may be revolutionized and made 

 to yield a profit. In this way the dairyman is enabled to raise his 

 standards higher and higher, each year eliminating from his herd those 

 cows which fail to reach the mark. Eventually a herd is built up in 

 which every cow returns a large profit on the feed and care invested 

 in her during the year. 



Good breeding, feeding, and management. — The following records 

 made by the herd of Peder Pedersen and Son in the Benson Cow- 

 Testing Association, Cedar Falls, Iowa, in three consecutive years 

 show what may be accomplished by the use of good sires, the keeping 

 of records, weeding out the poor cows, and by proper feeding and 

 management: 



Average Net income 



Year Average milk per cow butter-fat per cow over 



per cow, lbs. cost of feed 



1911 5,665 pounds 207.7 $22.12 



Largest net income cow in herd 54.22 



1912 7,060 pounds 251.9 53.96 



Largest net income cow in herd 106.30 



1913 9,697.47 pounds 341.98 75.00 



Two largest net income cows, each 144.00 



This herd was made up of grades and a few purebred Holsteins, 

 and the number of cows remained about the same during the three 

 years reported. At the end of the first year it was found that 40 per 

 cent of the cows were unprofitable. They were sent to the butcher, 

 and their places in the herd were taken by two-year-old heifers sired 

 by a purebred sire out of common cows. At the end of the second 

 year, 30 per cent of the cows were "weeded out" and their places taken 

 by two-year-old grade heifers, one purebred cow, and one purebred 

 two-year-old heifer. The end of the third year's work showed that 

 the average milk production had been increased over 71 per cent, the 

 butter-fat 60 per cent, and the average net profit per cow increased 

 from $22.12 to $75.00, or 239 per cent. 



Selection of the dairy bull. — If twenty dairy bulls are brought 

 before a judge recognized as competent, and he is asked to pick out the 



