ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 143 



been given, it is perhaps well to state the basis upon which the profit or 

 loss was calculated. The value of the product that ',he cow yielded was 

 based upon the amount of butter fat that she made, a.id the market price 

 of butter fat at the time. 



The value of the skim milk, the value of the calf, and the value of the 

 manure produced by the cow were not credited to her, while on the other 

 hand the cow was not debted with the amount of labor expended in her 

 care nor the amount of feed she consumed when dry. The cow was sim- 

 ply credited with the amount of butter fat she produced, and charged for 

 feed consumed when she was giving milk. The calf will usually pay for 

 the cow's board when dry and the skim milk for the labor it takes to 

 care for her. This method of calculation is, perhaps, a little unjust to 

 some cows, for it is possible to have two cows yield the same amount of 

 butter fat and one give a profit and the other a loss. If, for example, one 

 milks ten months and the other but six months in the year to yield equal 

 amounts of butter fat, which sometimes happens, one cow is charged with 

 ten months' feed and the^other with only six months.' 



Red Bird, in herd " B," and Duchess, in herd " C," are examples of 

 this kind. Red Bird milked ten months and charged $1.28 for her board, 

 and Duchess milked six months and gave a profit of $9.16, and each 

 yielded the same amount of butter fat. 



The rations for the cows were not weighed each day. A number of 

 dishes of meal was weighed in order to get the average amount of feed 

 that the measure held and the number of dishes that each cow received a 

 day was recorded. Cut and shredded corn stover and ensilage were esti- 

 mated in the same manner. The hay was also weighed at different times. 



Report of Hsrd " A." 



Herd " A " was composed of natives, grade Shorthorns, grade Jerseys, 

 and grade Holsteins. The average weight cf each cow was 1,000 pounds. 

 The herd was not bred for dairy purpose:. Moreover, they neither 

 showed dairy form nor capabilities of giving large flows of milk, nor 

 producing large amounts of butter fat. Nearly every cow showed some 

 signs of disorder. They were not in a thrifty condition. A number of 



