92 HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN CATTLE. 



the rules for admission to the Advanced Registry, and must be entered in 

 that registry. The amount offered to any one cow not to exceed $50 ; and then 

 the prizes to decrease in amount in ratio to such records. Such prizes to be 

 offered for various ages, as in Advanced Registry rules." 



This prize list brought out from the Holstein-Friesian camp thirty-five cows 

 and heifers that were officially tested and entered for prize competition. Of this 

 number ten were two-year-old heifers, ten were three and four years old and 

 the remaining fifteen were from five to eleven years old. 



For the purpose of further ascertaining for his own satisfaction as a 

 dairyman and breeder the actual value of a fair type of the Holstein-Friesian 

 cow, the writer has spared no pains to secure an accurate statement of the 

 amount, kind and cost of food consumed by each animal in this test, over the 

 age of three years, incidentally demonstrating to the dairy public that the large 

 black-and-white cow is not only capable of producing a large amount of milk 

 and butter, but that she is capable of doing it profitably and economically, so 

 much so that the following table, showing results of the test, demonstrates 

 conclusively again the oft-repeated statement of those owners of Holstein- 

 Friesian cattle who are business dairymen, that had the Holstein cow been in 

 the Columbian tests she would have been an outstanding winner, when 

 comparing the amount of butter produced, the cost of its production, and the 

 net profit. 



In making the calculations of this table, the cost of production was figured 

 on the basis of its actual food cost when purchased, or at its market value if 

 raised upon the farm owned by the competitor. In some cases the cost of the 

 different foods consumed by the Holsteins exceeds that fed at the Chicago test, 

 and vice versa, but as a whole the prices average about the same. My purpose, 

 however, is not to assume the same cost of feed as established by Chief 

 Buchanan for the Chicago test, but I have ascertained from the different 

 breeders having animals in the Advanced Registry test, the actual food cost of 

 producing the results, so that we know exactly what each cow earned for her 

 owner during the week under test. 



It is but fair to state that the entire number of animals mentioned in this 

 list represent only six breeding establishments of America, and that there are 

 many other herds from which animals could have been selected that would 

 have been expected to produce records of the same excellent character. 



It will be noticed the following list contains but twenty-five animals of the 

 thirty-five tested, the ten two-year-old heifers being omitted so there may be a 

 more direct comparison with the twenty-five fully mature cows (Jerseys) in 

 the dairy test at Chicago. There were sixty-four mature Jersey cows, selected 

 as the best representatives of that breed, sent to the Jersey barn at Chicago, 

 and of this number at least forty-seven calved in their new quarters, which, 

 more than anything else, makes a cow feel at home among new and unusual 

 surroundings. From the above number the final twenty-five cows were 

 selected to enter the ninety days' test, hence it appears that the twenty-five 

 Jerseys reached nearer the very best producers of the breed than do the twen- 

 ty-five Holstein cows, from the fact that of the twenty-five Holsteins ten were 

 only three and four years old. Many of the leading herds were not represented, 

 and many were tested when it was convenient for the different experiment 

 stations to send a man to supervise the tests. It is, therefore, a question 

 whether there was a Holstein animal tested when actually at her best. On the 

 other hand, the Jerseys were most of them in the fifteen, ninety and thirty 

 days' tests, and we find greater latitude to select from the results of their every- 

 day performance yields of a more extraordinary character. In short, the week 

 each Holstein was tested, she may or may not have been at her best. 



At Chicago the butter was credited to the cows at from forty to fifty cents 

 per pound, and, for the purpose of comparison, in this table the butter of the 

 Holsteins is credited at the lowest Chicago test price of forty cents per pound. 

 I desire here to venture an opinion that a test conducted on a basis of fictitious 

 and ridiculously high prices for the product is not a test of greatest value to the 

 average well-to-do dairyman, because not one in 100 can find a market at forty 

 to fifty cents per pound for butter. However, if fair for one breed to assume 

 such a value for its product, it is fair for others, and there can be no compar- 

 ison otherwise. In this table will also be found a column showing "net profit 

 with butter at twenty-five cents per pound," which will give our readers a 

 practical view of the worth of the Holstein cows when brought down to attain- 

 able prices. 



