<5 2 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



little hay were fed in uncertain amounts, and apparently with no definite 

 plan. At one farm no money was spent for feed during the year, but 

 the corn and oats were raised at home supplied all the grain the cows 

 received, except that some oats were exchanged for bran to give the cows 

 a variety of feed. 



Although there was quite' a- contrast in the feeding and management 

 at the different farms, the method of weighing and testing the milk of 

 each cow was the same in each case. 



These tests are of course of more value to the owners of the herds 

 tested than to anyone else, but Siome illustrations of general interest 

 may be drawn from them. 



The cows on one farm were tested for three years. The average re- 

 ceipts per cow in 1898, from the creamery, were $36.30; in 1900, $39.20; 

 and in 1901, $38.92. In 1898, seven of the twelve cows produced less than 

 the average of the herd; in 1900 seven of the eleven were below the aver- 

 age, and in 1901, there were six cows under the average production of the 

 herd. The figures do not show much indication that the owner has prof- 

 ited by the tests. The cows that did not produce enough milk to pay a 

 profit on their feed were kept in the herd for three years, and five 

 other cows produced less than $30.00 worth of butter in a year. 



The annual production of the mature cows during the three years 

 shows that the poor cows did not improve from year to year, but con- 

 tinued to give less milk than required to pay for the feed consumed. 

 The one good cow was equally persistent in doing well. The creamery 

 value of her milk for three years was $200.00. This is $110.00 more than 

 the cost of her feed when we take $30.00 per year as the value of a cow's 

 feed. The butter produced by the ether five cows tested for three years 

 amounted to only $114.00 more than the cost of their feed during the same 

 time. The milk of one cow, therefore, paid the owner within four dollars 

 as much profit in three years, as the milk of five cows in the same herd 

 for the same length of time. 



In another herd, the excess of butter over cost of feed of two cows 



