250 FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



The relative profits from good and poor producers are well shown 

 by trials at the Connecticut (Storrs) Station 4 where for 5 years the 

 cost of feed and the yield of milk and fat for the 5 best and the 5 

 poorest cows in the Station herd were compared. The average annual 

 cost of feed for the best cows was $57.81 per head, over $8 more than 

 for the poorest cows. But the best cows averaged 360 lbs. of butter 

 fat per year and returned $39.67 each over the cost of feed, while the 

 poorest cows averaged 215 lbs. of fat and returned only $7.44 over 

 the cost of the feed. The feed-cost of 1 lb. of fat was 23.6 cents 

 with the poorest cows, and but 16.2 cents with the best ones. The com- 

 parison would be even more striking were it not for the fact that 

 these "poorest cows" were really better producers than the average 

 cows on American farms. For the first two years of the trial the 5 

 poorest cows did not pay for their feed, but by gradual selection the 

 herd was so improved that during the last year the 5 poorest cows 

 returned $17.67, on the average, above the cost of feed. 



Weed out unprofitable cows. — Even in the leading dairy states, 

 probably one-fourth or more of the dairy cows fail to pay for their 

 care and feed, due chiefly to the fact that the owners do not know 

 which return a profit and which are "boarders." Tho good pro- 

 ducers are usually of the dairy type and poor producers are not, even 

 experts are often unable to tell from appearance whether a cow is 

 profitable or not. The only reliable way of finding this out is from 

 records of the actual amount of milk and fat she yields. 



Fortunately, such records may now be easily secured by the use of 

 the milk scales and the Babcock fat test. Knowing the production of 

 each cow and the approximate amount of feed she has consumed in a 

 given period, the dairyman can discard the unprofitable animals, and 

 gradually build up a herd of high producers at small expense by using 

 a bred-for-production sire and keeping all heifer calves from the best 

 cows. By this means the average yield of fat for the herd can be 

 gradually increased year by year, until it is raised to 250 lbs., later 

 to 300 lbs., and then even higher. As good cows sometimes have "off 

 years" in production, animals should not be discarded after a single 

 year's trial if there is good reason to believe they will do better in the 

 future. 



Keeping records of production.— The most satisfactory way to find 

 out the value of each cow is to weigh and record each milking from 

 every animal. This does not require much work, if a convenient 

 spring balance and handy milk sheets for entry of the records are 

 provided. For determining the fat content of the milk, it is sufficient 

 to take a sample covering 3 to 5 days of each month. Reasonably ac- 



* Beach, Conn. (Storrs) Bui. 29. 



