PROFITABLE AND UNPROFITABLE COWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4396, 29 June 1901, Page 6 (Supplement)

PROFITABLE AND UNPROFITABLE COWS.

(D. AV. May, in the "American Farmer,") In these days of close competition it tis very necessary for a dairyman to knoiir the producing nature of each individual “of his herd. An unprofitable cow, while causing a loss may wipe out the profits of a “more valuable animal. Some results of the herd records at various experiment stations may prove of value to the butter maker by pointing out errors to be guarded against.At the Ohio station experiments on the production of milk show that with the same food and under the same treatment one “cow may transform into butter an amount of fat equivalent to all that is found in the food. Another may “supplement this with fat previously stored up in the body, and still another may Convert into butter other constituents of the food than its fat, while others may divert the fat of the food into a formation of body fat rather than butter. 1 The Cornell station found that in general the cows consuming the most food produced both milk and fat “at the lowest rate. The Minnesota station states that the best cows the annual butter product of which exceeded forty “per cent, of the live weight, were small or medium in size, although good ones were found among the larger cows. At the Vermont station'usually the cows giving the most milk and butter made it most cheaply, and those giving the “least milk or butter made it at the greatest cost. As a general rule “the cows making the most butter were the most economical producers. The Indiana station calls attention ho the importance of the selection of cows in relation to‘the mammary gland. While constitutional vigour and digestive capacity should always receive first consideration, the breeder of dairy cattle cannot “afford to breed inferior “udders any more than can a breeder of trotters afford to breed slowgaited animals. At the New Jersey “station the best cow paid for her feed and 46.64d0l in addition, to skim milk and manure, while' 5.8d0l represents the "pay received for the poorest cow. There is but little profit derived from a cow that does not produce 2001bs of butter “per year, and the selection of animals for the butter dairy is necessary. The Minnesota station found that the average annual cost of keeping “a dairy cow is 38dol. A herd of cows bred on dairy lines, well fed and carefully handled, will produce on an average 6400 lbs of milk “per year, at a cost of 620 per lOOlbs and 12*0 per lb for butter fat. They will produce on an average 300 lbs of butter fat per year, which is equivalent to 3651bs of butter per cow. ■The average cost of a pound of butter will be lOic, The Ohio, station states that when fed a ration composed of about one-fifth to onefonrth grains and the remainder coarse foods of good quality, “our cows and those of several other stations have produced‘an average of about 3.21bs of butter fat to each lOOlbs of dry matter in the food, ba. sides making a small gain “in live weight. In general, when this rate of _ production of butter fat has “been exceeded, there has been a loss in weight, and when the butter fat lias fallen below this rate “there has been a gain in live weight. Exceptions to this general rule show that *while some cows may return a handsome profit on their food, others may be fed at an factual loss, even when both butter fat and increase of live weight are counted at full value. At the Michigan station, the cost of butter varied with different cows from 5.5 to 16c per lb, and the net profit per year from 6.08d0l to 94.05d01, The cows ‘giving tno greatest net profit were the three cows consuming the most feed. * The Connecticut station at Stoirs advises farmers to make a close study of the individual cows 'of their herds and to reject the unprofitable ones. The value of cows can he easily and cheaply studied by “the use of the Babcock milk test together with daily weighings ot the milk. The Pennsylvania station suggests applying the feed test to each animal, as well 'as the butter test, an “ weeding out those animals that do not make a satisfactory return for the food consumed.