Page 88

Portieth Annual Report of the
seems io be more interest among the better dairymen than there has
been to this time, so I think I will have a very interesting winter's
work.
DIscJssioXq.
Mr. Glover: A few years ago it was my good fortune to test cattle
for butter fat in Illinois. I directed the work for three years and a hall
on farms in the northern part of Illinois. I had one pure bred herd
that I visited for over three years, and in it was a cow capable of
making only one hundred and fifty pounds of fat per year, and yet
the bulls from that cow were being sold to my knowledge for more
than $100.00 apiece, simply because she was a registered animal.
Now, a great many people used to say to me, "Is it practical to test
cows? Isn't it just a fad? Weren't these positions created just to
give some of you fellows a job?"  What is more practical for a mar
tc know, whether his cow was producing a hundred and fifty pounds
of fat in a year or whether she was producing three hundred and
fifty pounds? What is a practical thing? Is it keeping something
so poor that it won't return the price of the feed it eats? Or is it
rather having some understanding of your own business, knowing
whether that animal is giving you a profit or not? I use this illustration
to show the importance of keeping a good cow; an animal that wil
yield a hundred and fifty-one pounds of fat at present prices is givini
a profit of one pound of fat; the cow that will give you a hundred and
fifty-two pounds of fat is giving you two pounds of profit, and tht
latter is twice as profitable a cow as the former.
The poor cow requires as much stall room as the good one. She
requires for all practical purposes, as much attention. She occupies
a place in the pasture equal to that of the good one, and there is se
little difference in the investment between the good and the poor on'
that we might say we have an equal amount of money invested iI
each. Then why milk a dozen cows when you can get five cows tb
do the same work and bring you the same profit? In that test work'
found a herd of twenty-eight cows that did not return to the farme:
as much as he put into them in actual expense, to say nothing 0
hard work, and another farmer nearby, with the same soil, the sawl
climate, selling to the same creamery, was getting a nice income ove
and above his feed from six cows. In other words the six cows yielder
their owner a profit of around $300.00 while the other man with 2
cows had to pay something for keeping them. I will admit that ther
is hardly a cow so poor that she does not pay her way upon the fare