340 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



money in ten years to buy another farm of 200 acres (at $100 per 

 acre) and have more than the price of a third such farm to go 

 into family expenses and improvements. But his neighbor, with 

 a herd of eighty cows like No. 2, losing $229 every year and hav- 

 ing to pay out of pocket all the expenses of living would, within 

 the decade, have his farm well plastered with mortgages with the 

 probability of losing it all. Indeed, fully as striking a contrast as 

 this is known to the writer as having actually taken place in a cer- 

 tain dairy neighborhood of Illinois. 



While the contrast between these two cows is striking, it 

 is in accord with the actual facts, and being complete and accurate 

 for a three-year period, and including the feed as well as the milk 

 record, it means a great deal more than a single year's compari- 

 son or a comparison in which it is neceesary to introduce an"i£" 

 or an unmeasured element. Only the feed and butterfat are here 

 considered. It is figured that the calf, the skim milk, and the 

 manure are well worth the labor and the interest on investment, 



It's All Over the State Too. 



A single instance or a few exceptional cases of this kind 

 wouldn't mean much. But the writer knows from actual test- 

 ing of 800 cows in forty different herds that there must be thous- 

 ands of individual contrasts as great or greater than this in the 

 dairy herds of Illinois, and to indicate how widely such differences 

 in production enter into the practical business of dairying, the 

 following additional data is given. 



In eigthteen dairy herds, in one section of Illinois, containing* 

 323 cows of which this station made a full year's individual test 

 and record, there were fifty-two cows, every one of which was 

 as poor or poorer a producer than No. 2 (the highest yielding- 

 only 138 pounds butterfat), and there were forty-three that 

 produced 280 or more pounds butterfat each. 



Fifty Cows Average Only 116 Tbs. Fat. 



The poorest fifty cows in this 323 average only 116 3-5 

 pounds butterfat for the year, while the best fifty averaged 31S> 



