TESTED DAIRY ANIMALS MINNESOTA. 263 



have the disposition or heredity to convert her food into meat, she will, 

 if carefully handled and well fed, be a good milker. She may not be a large 

 butter producer, because that depends upon the quality of her milk which 

 is a matter of heredity, and' no person has yet been able to tell by the 

 mere inspection or handling of an animal what that quality may be; but if 

 she is spare in conformation, and a good feeder, she may be safely selected 

 as a profitable cow. 



The cows of this type have, in all careful and impartial trials, covering 

 several years, shown their great superiority in the dairy, irrespective of breed. 

 It is with cows, very much as with horses. Now and then one can find a 

 blocky, heavy-boned horse that has the elements of speed in him, but he 

 soon gets out of wind and is distanced in the race. So a cow of beef heredity 

 and form, may, for a short time, do creditable dairy work, but she has thus 

 far failed to show staying qualities. To show the comparative usefulness 

 of these two types we again refer to the Minnesota tables covering 20 yearly 

 records of each type with the following averages: 



Lbs. Lbs. 

 Milk. Butter. 



Dairy type cows 7876 430 



General purpose cows 6035 295 



In favor of dairy type 1841 135 



Valuing the skim milk at 15 cents per 100 pounds, and allowing one- 

 eighth of the milk for cream, there is an excess of $2.42 in favor of the 



dairy type cow for skim milk, and 

 allowing 16 cents net for butter, the 

 1351bs. that the dairy type cows gave 

 over that given by beefy cows, amounts 

 to $21.65, making a total of $24.07 

 as. the amount the dairy cow earn > an- 

 W* nually over and above the yearly earn- 

 ings of the dual purpose cow. 



It is, however, recognized that the 

 average farmer, or even the average 

 creamery patron, does not make dairv- 



FAIRY A MEDIUM DAIRY COW. 



ing a specialty, and that farmers and 



creamery patrons have, as a rule, common cows of mixed breeding. It is a 

 question whether the special dairy cow would give as large returns under 

 the care ordinarily bestowed upon cows, as they have made under the care 

 of dairy specialists; be that as it may, the cows of the creamery patron, as 

 a rule, are common cows, and he is interested, or should be, in their possi- 

 bilities. The records referred to show that the common cow under proper 

 care will give, on an average, 6035 pounds of milk and 295 pounds of butter 

 per year, while statistics show that the average yield of the cows of the 



