NEED OF IMPROVEMENT 41 
RELATIVE Fat-PRODUCING POWERS OF 1200 Cows FoR ONE YEAR 
Butter fat Number below] Per cent below|Number above| Per cent above Average 
50 lb. 2 I— 1198 99 + 219 |b. 
100 |b. ay 2 1176 98 222 |b. 
150 lb. 194 16 + 1006 84— 238 Ib. 
200 Ib. 490 3r- 710 50 + 263 Ib. 
250 |b. 837 70 — 363 30 + 302 Ib. 
300 lb. 1065 89 — 135 ir + 353 Ib. 
350 lb. 1140 95 60 5 394 |b. 
400 |b. 1178 98 + 22 2- 438 Ib. 
450 lb. 1194 99 + 6 I— 477 |b. 
500 lb. 1199 I 539 lb. 
These tables should be read as follows: In the first table, 10 
cows, or I per cent of the whole, gave less than 2000 pounds 
of milk; and I190, or 99 per cent, gave more than 2000 
pounds, the average of these being 5554 pounds, and so on 
for other values. 
Some comments on these facts are significant. The average 
production of these 1200 cows was 5521 pounds of milk, and 
219 pounds of butter fat. The best one fourth were able to pro- 
duce an average of 7813 pounds of milk and 312 pounds of 
butter fat per year, while the poorest one fourth were able to 
produce on the average only 3435 pounds of milk and 137 pounds 
of fat ; that is to say, waiving all questions of food consumption, 
the poorest one fourth produced but something over 43 per cent 
as much milk and fat as did the best one fourth. 
A series of publications from the department shows exhaus- 
tively the meaning of these facts. Some of these were published 
before the entire number of records were in, but the relation 
between the good and the poor cow was substantially the same. 
Some individuals better than others. One of the most strik- 
ing facts in the above herd tests is the wonderful difference in 
efficiency of individual cows, even of the same age and breed. 
Thus they ranged all the way from less than 2000 pounds of 
