FIFTIETH ANNUAL CONVENTION 17 



came during the early part of the lactation period. The 

 total cost of feed, however, was not low enough to give the 

 cows that freshened in the spring first or even second place 

 in yearly income over cost of feed. If cost of labor were to 

 be included, the figures would doubtless be even more 

 favorable to fall and early winter freshening, on account of 

 the scarcity and high cost of labor in some districts during 

 the summer months.. 



Value of Products. 



Table 2, which is derived from a tabulation of the rec- 

 ords of the 64 associations, shows how many times the cows 

 that freshened each season ranked first, second, third and 

 fourth in average yearly price received for milk or butterfat 

 produced by the cows that freshened within that season, 



TABLE 2. — Seasons when cows freshened ranked according to average 

 price of butterfat or milk. 



Number of times ranked 

 Season of freshening First Second Third Fourth 



Spring 12 11 14 27 



Summer 36 14 9 3 



Fall 39 18 5 2 



Winter 12 20 26 6 



The figures do not refer to the price received for the 

 product at any season of the year, but to the average price 

 received during the entire year for the product produced 

 by cows that freshened at a certain season. 



There were two associations in which no cows fresh- 

 ened in summer. This accounts for the summer ranks add- 

 ing up to only 62. 



As there were ties for first place in some associations, 

 the total number of times the four seasons received first 

 place is greater than the number of associations compared. 

 The table shows that in average price received for butterfat 

 produced during the year, fall freshening ranked first 39 

 times; summer, 36; winter, 12; and spring, 12. The cows 

 that freshened in the fall may not have freshened at the 

 time of year when prices were highest, but they produced 

 most of their milk at the time of year when prices were 

 highest. 



