78 



BULLETIN 341, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



many heifers a year as they have cows. The remainder of the needed 

 animals are obtained by purchase. The herds can not be. materially 

 improved as long as this practice continues; but, as already stated, 

 the prices which it is now necessary to pay for cows in this region 

 are becoming so high that farmers are beginning to raise a larger 

 proportion of their cows. This is perhaps fortunate, for it gives a 

 better chance to improve the quality of the herds. 



Because of the large proportion of cows bought, there is consid- 

 erable mixture of breeds in this region, much more so than would 

 ordinarily be the case where farmers raise their cows. When the 

 practice of raising cows again becomes common, as it seems to bid 

 fair to do, it is important that particular attention be given to the 

 matter of breeds, and more especially to securing bulls from the best 

 producing cows. Every dairy farmer in this region should get 

 firmly fixed in mind the idea that improvement in the producing 

 capacity of cows means increased profits, provided, of course, the 

 ordinary dairy farmer does not have to pay exorbitant prices for the 

 right kind of breeding stock. 



The facts given in Table XLIV emphasize strongly the point here 

 under consideration. In this table those farmers who secured $50 

 or less income per cow are divided into three groups, according to 

 the number of cows in the herds. With cows of this quality, or 

 rather lack of quality, the larger the herd the less the profit. 



Table XLIV. — Relation of receipts per cow anal number of cows to labor in- 

 come on commercial dairy owner farms, Chester County. 



Receipts per cow. 



Number of 

 cows per 100 

 crop acres. 



Number 

 of farms. 



Average 

 number 

 of cows. 



Average 

 income 

 per cow. 



Labor 

 income. 



Adjusted 



labor 

 income, 

 per cent. 





f 1 to 16.9... . 

 •U7 to 22.9.... 

 [23 to 28.9. . . . 



f 1 to 16.9... . 

 J17to22.9.... 

 123 to 28.9.... 

 129 plus 



14 

 20 

 11 



15 



7 



14 



23 



13.7 

 19.5 

 26.8 



11.2 

 19.9 

 25.4 

 40.1 



43.1 

 41.2 

 45.3 



137.5 



119.7 

 119.3 

 125.8 



405 

 369 



258 



1,090 

 1,426 

 1,566 

 1,723 



52 

 46 



100 plus 



32 



112 

 182 





184 

 197 



The last part of the table refers to those farmers who secured 

 incomes per cow in excess of $100 per annum. Here, as the herds 

 increase in size, the labor income increases rapidly. This merely 

 goes to show that very poor cows do not pay, while high-grade cows 

 are quite profitable under the conditions prevailing in this area. 



COMBINED EFFECT OF YIELD PER ACRE AND INCOME PER COW. 



Table XLV shows the combined effect of yield per acre and in- 

 come per cow. Thirty-four farms have incomes of $60 or less per 

 cow and a crop index of 90 or less. Their average labor income is 



