126 COWS KEPT AT A LOSS 



and at the same time returns the largest possible con- 

 servation of fertility to the land itself. What, then, is the 

 answer? 



First, the cow must be a satisfactory dairy animal. 

 Second, the manner of the farm management must be 

 such as to get a maximum of the best food possible out 

 of the soil to use as raw material for the cow machine 

 to produce milk from. 



Here hinges the question of dairy pre-eminence. The 

 state whose farmers learn best to produce the most valu- 

 able and effective feeding materials from their land, and 

 who learn how to build their dairies up with the best 

 possible dairy cows, will lead the world in the excellence, 

 the volume, and the value of its dairy products. Den- 

 mark is the shining example of the entire world, and in 

 Denmark the key to the result is the cow-testing asso- 

 ciations. 



For in dairying, as in fruit culture, the ultimate profit 

 depends upon the profit of each individual, cow, or tree, 

 or vine. The value of a dairy herd is measured not by its 

 best member in her best month, but by the average of all 

 its members for twelve months, and this average is pulled 

 down by its poorest member, as much as it is raised by its 

 best, and there is no way known to know just what each 

 cow is doing but by actual test. Without fear of success- 

 ful contradiction it can be asserted that the dairy expert 

 does not exist who can tell the best cow in a herd except 

 by the scales and the Babcock tester, nor the value of a 

 cow without an experience covering months. 



This is a plea for the organization of cow-testing asso- 

 ciations based upon actual experience which has come 

 under the observation of the writer. First of all, why an 

 association — why not individual testing? The only rea- 

 son is because the average individual will not start and 

 continue the test, and it must be thorough and complete 

 to mean anything. 



