The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1908-08-05
SHOULD TEST EVERY COW.
Success in Dairying Depends on Farmer
Knowing His Cows.

A writer in well known dairy
journal says in substance, that the
average farmer. is misled by his
creamery report. He sees that his
creamery is paying top-notch price
for butterfat, and he beams with
pleasure over the prosperity of the
dairy industry in his neighborhood.
However, a good price for butterfat
simply indicates what the creamery
is doing. 1t does not indicate at all
what the farmer himself is doing.
For instance it does not indicate the
number of poor cows the farmer is
keeping at an actual loss; it does not
indicate the farmers lack of knowl-
edge IN the care and feeding of the
cows SO as to get the best results.
In other words the success of the
creamery does not indicate in any
way the failure or the success of the
farmer in getting a handsome profit
from every COW he feeds. There is
a good deal in this thought for
study. The farmer may be getting
a top notch price for the butterfat
he does deliver to the creamery, but
what about the cost of producing
that butterfat? That's the point.
Real success in the dairy business is
dependent upon actual knowledge
by the farmer of what every COW in
his herd is doing in the way of pro-
ducing butterfat. Unless he knows
what each cow is doing, he is manag-
ing his dairy farm on the guess work
basis and no business has yet pros
pereG in any certain or continuous
way that was managed that way.
The proper method is of course a
regular and careful system of cow
testing. The farmer can do this
himself or he can help organized COW
testing association among the farm
ers of his immediate neighborhood
in which all the dairymen in his
community chip in to pay the small
expense necessary to have the test
ing done regularly and correctly.
An instance of cow testing is re-
ported from Lake Mills, Iowa. The
creamery buttermaker undertook to
test all the herds of his patrons.
For year he kept the records of
1877 herds. How he was able to do
this amount of work in addition to
running the creamery is not report
ed, but anyway he did the work. He
found only three herds in which the
average butterfat per COW exceeded
200 pounds while in 81 herds the aver
age production was less than 100
pounds per year. The best herd
produced 262 pounds of butterfat
per cow, and returned to the owner
the sum of $79.14 per COW. The
poorest herd returned only an aver
age of 50 pounds of butterfat per
cow and returned to the owner an
average of 1928 per animal. The
difference each owner received per
COW was $685.. Figuring the cost
Of caring for the 242 pound butter
fat cow at $50 per year, and S25 per
year for 38-pound COW, it will be
found that the first COW charged"
her owner III cents to produce one
pound of butterfat while the other
COW charged COZ cents per pound.
The last farmer would have been
considerably better off had he knock
ed his herd in the head on the first
of January and not posed through
the year as dairy farmer. These
illustrations are authentic and re-
ported by reliable people. They are
extreme, however, but they show
the advantage to the farmer of
knowing without guessing just what
each cow of his herd is doing Glen
coe Enterprise.
Morton Enterprise: w. H. Castle.