338 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



its object accomplished, as it is designed to show, in the most 

 striking manner possible, the difference between good and poor 

 herds for the purpose of making money. 



To illustrate the use of Table 1 and to show what is the trou- 

 ble with many of the dairymen, and how the difficulty may be 

 remedied, the profit, based upon the actual production of five 

 herds which have been tested for an entire year by this depart- 

 ment, has been figured out according to Table 1. 



The following tables are not merely a lot of cow records, but 

 the results in black faced type are interpretations of cow records 

 in terms of profit and loss. The results speak largely for them- 

 selves, but a brief discussion follows each herd. 



While there are only three unprofitable cows in this herd, 

 such a small number of those on the profitable side of the 

 account net so small a return that the average for the entire herd 

 — $11.18 — is far below the returns that should be expected from 

 a god dairy herd. Just six cows of this herd return the profit 

 that should be expected of a good dairy cow. No cow producing 

 less than $16 profit a year should be retained. Had this herd 

 consisted of 10 cows like the best one, the owner would have 

 made more profit than with the present herd of 24 cows, and had 

 the whole herd been as good as the best individual, the profit 

 would have been practically $710, or nearly three times as much 

 as that actually received. Such a change would be a stroke of 

 business worth while. 



Herd No. 2 is composed largely of grade cows, of which but 

 six had a predominance of dairy blood. Its most striking fea- 

 ture is that the entire herd of 34 cows brought in a profit of only 

 $65, or an average of $1.91 per cow, whereas had the owner dis- 

 posed of the 15 cows which lost him money, he would have made 

 over $166, and would not only have been relieved of all the labor 

 of raising the feed, housing, feeding and milking 15 cows, but 

 would also have increased his actual profits by over $101. To 

 meet this loss it required more than the profit of the first 15 cows 

 * on the credit side of the account. In other words, he milked 30 



