2 BULLETIN 1071, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ing were given. The computations in this' bulletin are based on the 
records of these cows. Cost of feed and price of product are based 
on actual figures as given by the testers on the individual cow record 
sheets 
INFLUENCE OF SEASON OF FRESHENING. 
In Table 1 the records of the cows on test 12 months in 64 cow- 
testing associations are grouped according to the season when the 
cows freshened. 
Table 1. — Date of freshening, by seasons, loith average yearly feed and produc- 
tion records, per coir. 
Season. 
Number 
of cows. 
Milk 
produc- 
tion. 
Butter- 
fat pro- 
duction. 
Cost of 
roughage. 
Cost of 
grain. 
Cost of 
feed. 
Income 
over 
cost of 
feed. 
Spring (March, April, and May). 
Summer (June, July, and 
3,196 
1,328 
2,862 
3,484 
Pounds. 
5,842 
5,941 
6,6S9 
6,439 
Pounds. 
236 
236 
268 
258 
S37.51 
37.62 
38.94 
37.65 
S19.22 
22.48 
28.45 
25.51 
$56. 73 
60.10 
67.39 
63.16 
S70. 73 
66.59 
Fall (September, October, and 
November) 
76.65 
Winter (December, January, 
and Februarv) 
75.66 
Total and averages 
10,870 
6,269 
252 
37.95 
24.06 
62.01 
73.36 
The cows that freshened in the fall months ranked highest in 
average yearly production of milk and butterfat, in cost of feed and 
in income over cost of feed. In all these points, the cows that 
freshened in the winter ranked second. Of the 10,870 cows, 6,316 
freshened in the fall and winter and 4,524 freshened in the spring and 
summer. On an average the cows that freshened in the spring pro- 
duced the least milk and those that freshened in the summer produced 
the least income over cost of feed. Care and quality of cows are big 
factors in determining production and income, but the large number 
of records in each group would tend to prevent great variation among 
group averages due to such causes. 
Fewer cows freshened in the summer than at any other season. 
This may have been due partly to a belief among dairymen that it 
pays better to have cows freshen at some other time of year, a belief 
that seems to be supported generally by the records. It is also true 
that the season of freshening can not always be controlled. The feci 
bill, especially the amount spent on grain, was lowest for the cow-, 
that freshened in the spring. This was doubtless because the long pas- 
ture period, when little grain was fed, came during the early par: 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 eveo 
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. 
