12 BULLETIN 603, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ANNUAL CHANGES IN COWS. 
Table VII. — Sales, additions, and casualties affecting herds. 
Average of herds 
on 84 Wisconsin 
farms (25 cows 
per farm). 
Average of herds on 
59 Illinois farms 
(45 cows per 
farm). 
Number. 
Per cent 
of herd. 
Number. 
Per cent 
of herd. 
Added to herd: 
Heifers fresh during year 
5.4 
21.5 
2.8 
3.4 
9.6 
8.0 
22.2 
Total 
6.1 
24.3 
13.0 
30.2 
Removed from herd: 
Cows died 
Cows sold 
.3 
4.4 
1.2 
17.7 
11.2 
1.6 
26.0 
Total 
4.7 
18.9 
11.9 
27.6 
Excess of additions over removals, or herd increase 
1.4 
5.4 
1.1 
2.6 
From Table VII it is seen that a greater percentage of the herds 
were heifers that came fresh during the year on the farms of the 
Wisconsin group than on those of the Illinois group, and that a much 
larger percentage of the herd was bought and sold on the farms of 
the latter than on those of the former State. Many of the cows sold 
from the group of Wisconsin farms were good dairy cows, while 
those sold from the Illinois group of farms were mostly unprofitable 
milk producers. 
The yearly percentage of deaths of dairy cows on 453 farms in 
Lenawee County, Mich., as determined by a farm management survey, 
was 1.7, and on 643 farms in Chester County, Pa., 1.3. These figures 
do not differ much from those for Wisconsin and Illinois groups 
under consideration. The proportion of cows discarded per year on 
the farms investigated in Lenawee County, Mich., was 21.6 per cent, 
and in Chester County, Pa., 23 per cent. These figures are greater 
than those for the Wisconsin group and less than those for the 
Illinois group. From the foregoing figures it is seen that the length 
of time the average cow remains in these herds is 5.3 years for the 
Wisconsin group, 4.6 years for the Michigan group, 4.3 years for 
the Pennsylvania group, and 3.6 years for the Illinois group. 
RELATION OF FARM PRACTICES TO PROFITS. 
INFLUENCE OF KIND OF DAIRY PRODUCTS SOLD ON PROFITS. 
The source of income on the farms in both groups, as previously 
shown in Table IV, is mainly dairy products. Table VIII shows the 
profits of landlord and of tenant in relation to the kind of dairy 
products sold. 
