22 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



It will be seen'thattliereisagreat variation in the cost of producing 

 a hundred pounds of milk. With one it cost 28.83 cents, while another 

 charged 52.54 cents. But the one that produced it at least cost was a 

 Holstein that gave milk containing only 2.51 per cent fat, which could 

 not be sold in our state because it contained nearly 1 per cent below the 

 minimum allowed by law, while the Jersey grade that charged 52.54 

 cents was farrow and was therefore not under normal conditions. The 

 Holsteins, on the average, charged less to produce a given quantity than 

 did any of the other breeds. The Guernseys also rank high as milk pro- 

 ducers, and especially is this the case when quanity is taken into ac- 

 count. The Shorthorns, as a breed, are not economical milk producers, 

 and it is only now and then that one is found to be an exception to this 

 rule, and then it will be found that they are not typical shorthorns in con- 

 formation. If a cow of this breed proves satisfactory, both at the pail 

 and churn, it will be found that she is roomy in body and light in her 

 quarters, though the contrary may be shown by getting them in high 

 condition before they come in or after the completion of a year of good 

 work. But if their physical condition* is shown when they have advanced 

 to about; the middle of their period of lacatation, it will invariably reveal 

 a cow of fair dairy form. 



Returning to the record of the herd for the year 1895, we see that the 

 average cost to maintain a cow that year was $23.47, the yield of milk 

 ranged from 4,794 pounds to 12,525, and averaged 7,418.6, and that the 

 average cost to produce a hundred pounds of milk was 38.38 cents. Both 

 the yield from the herd during the year and the cost of production were 

 very satisfactory. The ration fed from the beginning of the year until 

 the cows were turned to pasture was bran 6 parts, barley 4, corn 3, oil 

 meal 1, timothy 16, and beets 10; but a portion of the herd received wheat 

 ill place of barley, pound for pound, and for a time the whole herd re- 

 ceived bran 6, wheat 7, and oil meal 1 for the concentrates. 



