THE DAIRY HERD. 19 



necessary time to make a more reliable test. I 

 know how the average dairyman dreads to un- 

 dertake this work and I offer this as the sim- 

 plest way I know of to get facts that have 

 value, feeling confident that when a dairyman 

 has applied this test he will have become so 

 much interested that he will apply a more 

 thorough one. 



The benefit that a dairyman derives from 

 testing his herd is much greater than one would 

 at first suppose. We will call 200 lbs. of butter 

 annually the line between profit and loss. This 

 will hold good in the Central and most of the 

 Western States. The Eastern States may need 

 to put this line up to 225 lbs, on account of feed 

 being higher. This is a point that every dairy- 

 man must figure out for himself, whether he 

 lives East or West, North or South. 



Comparative profit. — What I wish to bring 

 out is the comparative profit of cows that make 

 250 lbs. and those that make more. The 250-lb. 

 cow leaves 50 lbs. for profit and a 300-lb. cow 

 leaves 100 lbs. for profit, or twice as much ;i,s 

 the 250-lb. cow, and is worth twice as much. 

 The 350-lb. cow is worth three times as much 

 as the 250-lb. cow and six times as much as the 

 225-lb. cow. This is supposing that one cow 

 consumes as much food as the other. This may 

 or may not be tne case, but whether it is or 

 not it does not in any case make an argument 



