10 
BULLETIN 763, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Topics for study. — To build up a herd of cows intelligently and to 
eliminate those that are not paying their way, it is necessary to keep 
adequate records of produc- 
tion, feeding, and breeding. 
A simple piece of home work 
under direction may be devel- 
oped so that the farm children 
may have valuable problems 
and at the same time obtain 
results that will be useful to 
the parents. Such a plan will 
establish a point of contact 
between school, home, and the 
child. 
The equipment for weighing 
is simple, consisting of a spring 
balance reading in tenths of 
pounds (fig. 5), costing $3 to 
$5 if bought new, and a series 
of record sheets, which may be 
ruled by the pupil himself. 
What cows are being tested in 
the district ? State the advan- 
tages of a milk record. How 
often should the milk be 
weighed 1 
Practical exercises. — Encour- 
age the pupils to adopt the 
practice of weighing daily the 
milk of each cow. A contest 
in milk production will stimu- 
late interest. Duplicates of the 
record sheets may be posted 
side by side in the schoolroom, 
where the pupils will have 
an opportunity of comparing 
records. 
Illustrative material. — Cop- 
ies of milk records of the best 
dairy cows may be "obtained 
and posted in the classroom for 
inspection. The records made 
by the pupils may be compared 
fig. 5.-outfit for weighing milk. with these records. 
Charts showing a comparison between the records of these champion 
cows and the best cows of the district may be made by the pupils. 
