220 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



$35.00 as the average cost per cow, because it corresponds very 

 closely to the actual value of the food consumed as determined 

 from the data collected at the time of testing the herd. In che 

 last column you will see that two cows were kept at an actual loss ; 

 three just about paid their board bill, and five gave a small profit. 

 The total cost of feeding these ten cows for a year was $350, their 

 butter fat was worth $431.20, leaving a profit of $81.20 on the 

 herd for a year's work, or $8.12 per cow. You will also note 

 that cow No. 8 gave a profit of $38.00, the largest amount of any 

 in the herd. Leaving No. 8 out of the herd the return would have 

 been only $5 :02 per cow. If they had all been as good as No. 8. 

 the owner would have realized a profit of $380. instead of $81.20. 

 The second part of the table shows that with the five best cows, at 

 the same cost for maintenance, the total profit would have been 

 nearly as large as with the whole herd. That is if the right 

 cows are removed a smaller herd may be most profitable. With 

 the five cows there is a cost for food of $175, against $350 for the 

 whole herd, and a net profit per cow of $15.74 against $8.12. By 

 reducing the herd the cost of food is reduced one-half and the 

 return per cow increased $7.62. Do we need a better illustra- 

 tion of the benefits to be derived from testing? Is any man so 

 dull that he cannot grasp the importance of these facts ? The 

 owner of this herd could not see his errors until they were pointed 

 out to him in this conclusive manner. 



* TABLE SIX. 



HERD 3. 



Table, Comparing the Production of Seven Cows Which Were Sold, 



with the Production of Those Substituted for Them. 



No. of Date of Test week Lb. Per ct. Lb. B. Year's Record. 



Cow. Freshening, ending. Milk Fat. Fat Milk. B. Fat. 



2 Aug. 16 Dec. 26 81.8 5.0 4.09 



3 Oct. 8 Dec. 26 95.6 4.2 4.01 



4 Oct. 16 Dec. 26 156.1 4.3 6.71 



5 July 20 Dec. 26 90.9 4.6 4.18 



6 June 15 Dec. 26 132.0 4.0 5.28 



7 July 25 Dec. 26 119.6 4.2 5.02 



8 Oct. 5 Dec. 26 116.7 4.2 4.90 



Average 113.24 4.3 4.i 



