PRODUCING MARKET MILK IN EASTERN NEBRASKA. 3 



used wherever they would express the results more accurately. The 

 weighted average was obtained by weighting each item according to 

 its relative importance. 



DESCRIPTION OF HERDS. 



During the first year records were obtained on 21 herds contain- 

 ing a total of 268.2 cows, with an average yearly production of 

 5,806 pounds of milk testing 3.6 per cent butterfat. The second 

 year's study included 226.5 cows in 17 herds, with an average yearly 

 production of 5,843 pounds of milk and an average butterfat test of 

 3.7 per cent. Though most of the herds consisted of grade Holstein 

 cows, there were a number of herds in which the Jersey and Guernsey 

 breeds were well represented. The size of the herd was determined 

 by the number of cows in the herd for 12 "cow-months." Cow- 

 month is a term used to express the record of a cow in the herd for 

 one month. 



During the first winter, 43.6 calves were dropped for each 100 

 cows in the herds, and in summer the ratio was 42.5 calves. During 

 the second winter 58.7 calves were born for each 100 cows kept, and 

 in the second summer 44.2 calves were born. The total of 102.9 

 calves for each 100 cows for the year may appear excessive, but it is 

 due to the fact that out of the 276 cows in the herd sometime during 

 the year 49 were heifers that entered the herd when they freshened. 

 Though in some cases these cows were in the herd only a few months, 

 the herd was credited with their calves. Thus the herd recei\ed 

 credit for the whole calf, whereas the dam was in the herd only a part 

 of the year and was counted only as a proportionate fraction of 1. 

 In this way the percentage of calves was materially affected. Com- 

 bining the results for the two years, we have a total of 494.7 cows 

 giving birth to 463 calves; or for every 100 cows there were 93.6 

 calves, 43 of these coming in the summer season and 50.6 in the winter 

 season. 



REQUIREMENTS FOR PRODUCING MILK. 



The feed requirements are expressed in pounds, and labor in hours, 

 in order to eliminate the effect of fluctuating prices. Tliis method of 

 presenting the facts makes it possible to use the figures for some 

 time to come. 



During the war many of the farmers in this section concentrated 

 their efforts on raising grain, which forced dairying to occupy a second- 

 ary place. The high price of concentrates caused the dairymen to 

 feed less grain, with the result that the production of the cows was 

 less than it would have been under heavier feeding. 



This fact is brought out by the record of a cow named ''Prohibi- 

 tion." This cow was so named because she was always dry; at 



