Importance of Cow Testing Associations 



The difference in dairy profits is not so much a difference 

 in market advantages as in the handling and manage- 

 ment of the cows. One farmer keeps cows that turn 

 out a quantity of milk that puts the gross returns well 

 above the cost of keeping the cows, while the other's 

 milking herd is giving a supply the value of which is 

 just running along on or near the same line as the cost 

 of production. In the one herd quite frequently are 

 found some cows that are turning in large profits and 

 cows that are barely paying for their keep. The average 

 profit from such a herd will depend entirely on the pro- 

 portion of cows in each class. 



The University of Nebraska, in a bulletin issued re- 

 cently, shows clearly through the results of a cow-testing 

 association in a county of Nebraska, that it is the amount 

 of milk produced by the cow that determines her value 

 and the value of dairying as a business. In part, this 

 bulletin reads : 



The good cow judge can generally tell the difference 

 between cows of high and low productive capacity, but 

 very few judges, if any, can always tell by type or con- 

 formation the cow producing 300 pounds of butter-fat 

 from the one producing only 200 pounds. As a matter 

 of fact, the only accurate way of discovering the un- 

 profitable cow is with the scale and Babcock test. The 

 truthfulness of this statement has been brought out in 

 many instances. The former owner of Jacoba Irene, 

 keeping no records of her production, considered her 

 only an ordinary cow and sold her for an ordinary price. 



127 



