42 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



and is fed a balanced ration. Perhaps as many cows fail 

 to make a profit because they are under fed and get poor 

 care as do because of poor breeding. The use of purebred 

 sires will not do us very much good unless we feed liberally. 

 A large part of the feed consumed by a cow is required for 

 a maintenance ration and whatever she consumes over this 

 amount goes for milk production. The more feed a cow can 

 consume and convert into milk the more economical pro- 

 ducer she will be. Herein lies the difference in the ability 

 of different cows to produce. 



What Breed of Dairy Cows? 



There are five breeds of dairy cows and they all have 

 their strong points as well as their weak ones. If we weed 

 out the low producers and keep only the best ones it will 

 not make very much difference which breed of cows we 

 have. The fact is there is no one best breed of dairy cows. 

 However, in breeding up a herd of dairy cows it is very 

 essential that we stick to one breed if we ever expect to get 

 anywhere. The kind of market we have for our dairy 

 products, the breed we like best as well as the breed that 

 predominates in our community should be the factors which 

 determine the selection of breed. In breeding up a herd it 

 is very necessary that we have a sire at the head of the herd 

 that is backed by high producing ancestors of both sire and 

 dam. A record of production of each individual cow must 

 be kept and in this way the low producing cows can be 

 eliminated from the herd. The daughter of a good sire will 

 exceed their dams in production so that in a few years' time 

 the average production of the herd can be materially in- 

 creased. 



Records of Milk and Butterfat Production of Cows in the 

 Orangeville Cow Test Association. 



Group Milk 



1. 33 Cows 11,032 lbs. 



2. 57 Cows 8,932 lbs. 



3. 87 Cows 7,027 lbs. 



4. 92 Cows 5,074 lbs. 



5. 36 Cows 3,338 lbs. 



Production 



Cost of 



Ret. above 



Fat 



feed 



feed cost 



349.80 lbs. 



$111.10 



$200.04 



294.44 lbs. 



96.79 



156.16 



236.56-lbs. 



85.46 



110.43 



172.69 lbs. 



66.06 



70.64 



114.52 lbs. 



36,16 



29.95 



