FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 197 



in the herd and then eliminating the low-producing cows 

 and raising the heifer calves from the best cows. 



The value of a good bull to increase the profits in a 

 herd during the lifetime of his daughters is not given the 

 consideration it should receive. The fact is that most 

 farmers give this question very little consideration. If 

 this question would receive the consideration it deserves, 

 the practice of using scrub bulls would soon go out of 

 existence. 



A good illustration in the use of a good pure-bred bull 

 to grade up a herd of low producing cows is in the record 

 of the Sub-Station Herd of Minnesota . In 1915 a group of 

 cows of native and mixed blood was purchased as a foun- 

 dation for a herd. The purpose was to demonstrate the 

 possibility and the methods of building up a grade herd 

 under practical farm conditions. 



Complete milk and fat records were kept from the 

 beginning. The average production of the original herd 

 was 196 pounds of fat and 4,666 pounds of milk per cow. 

 Only pure-bred bulls were used in this herd. Thirteen 

 years later the herd averaged 7,184 pounds of milk and 

 358 pounds of fat, an increase of 2,518 pounds of milk and 

 162 pounds of fat. Assuming these cows were milked six 

 years each, the total increase in production per cow for 

 those having the improved blood would be 15,108 pounds 

 of milk and 972 pounds of fat over the average of the 

 original herd. At $2.50 per hundred pounds the additional 

 milk would be worth $377.70. If the 972 pounds of fat 

 were sold at 45 cents a pound the increased income would 

 be $437.40. The additional feed that these improved cows 

 consumed was $95.00 a cow, leaving a net gain of $272.70 

 if the milk was sold at $2.50 per hundred pounds, or 

 $342.40 if the fat was sold at 45 cents a pound. The use 

 of pure-bred bulls in this herd made possible an annual 

 income of $57.06 more per cow for each cow in the herd 

 than would have been realized from the original stock. 



The improvement in this herd has been duplicated 

 wherever a real effort has been made to grade up a herd 

 by the use of good pure-bred sires, both by our Experiment 

 Stations and on practical dairy farms. 



