Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-08
THE COLLEGE COW

II N VIEW of the fact that the Amer
lean National Live Stock associ-
~ ton was in session in Los Angeles,
the triumphant evolution of the Col
lege Cow, to which Golfers calls at
tention, is unusually interesting. I'm
til we are faced by the figures repre-
senting the worlds economical gain
from the work of scientific expert
menters, it is perhaps difficult to es-
innate in their true relation and pro-
portion to modern social conditions
such men as our own Luther Burbank
Geniuses like Mr. Burbank, who have
| chosen to specialize and to concentrate
| their marvellous energies on natural
subjects, and to devote their lives to
| an improvement of the known rather
than to a study of the unknown, have
added so much to the worlds efficiency,
have made the world so much easier
and better to live in, and have i'm
parted SO much security to the outlook
by giving definite assurance of the
| continued productivity and prosperity
of the planet, that to compare their
services with those of the various
"magnates'' and "billionaires" who are
before the public were to show most
singular lack of ability to distinguish
between the true and the false.
True human progress is illustrated
by the College Cow, and not by
| corners on Wall street or by the latest
improvement in dynamite guns. Since
he -
scientific training, since the skill and
learning of. man have been applied to
the task of increasing her productivity
| and usefulness, new era in the histo-
ry of dairy farming has been begun.
The scientific farmers of the future,
with their fountain cattle, will look
back with pity. perhaps even with con-
tempt, at the dribbling little mixers
of the pre-scientific days of dairies.
Various colleges of agriculture can
boast of record cows, and of course
| the facts that several colleges can
make the boast, and that similar meth
DDS produce similar results wherever
and in whatever case applied, establish
| clearly the truth that these record
COWS are scientific successes and not
accidental marvels.
| By studying the literature issued by
the colleges which have added bovicul-
| ture to their other courses, all owners
of milch cows can profit. The Illinois
college made a years test of 554 cows
in thirty-six herds, and found that the
| lowest One-fourth in the list Q39 cowsy
gave an annual average yield of only
| 133 pounds of butter fat apiece. The
| highest one-fourth produced 301
| pounds. This product at % cents a
pound-the aevrage Elgin price for
! showed the years gross receipts for the
| low class cow to be only $30.77, and for
| the high class $6932. The average an
nuaI cost of keeping each of these
! cows was not less than $50. At this
rate the low-grade cows paid profit
Of only a cents each for the year. To
clinch this lesson the college issued
bulletins showing that twenty-five
cows of the high class would pay as
large a profit as 1921 of the low class;
and that to make a profit of 81 a day
farmer would have to keep a herd
of 474 of the low-class cows. The state
Of Illinois supports 250,00O pauper COWS,
at an annual loss to the state of $5,-
100000
In order to show what may be done
with a COW cultivated and developed ac-
cording to the college method the rec
ord of a college COW, Johanna, of the
Holstein breed, is given. This animal
is the property of w. J. Gillette, Rosen-
dale, Wis. The test was made by the
Wisconsin College of Agriculture in
1906. Her milk yield for 365 days was
27, 1925 pounds, which produced 99s.26
pounds of butter fat, equal to 1247.S3
pounds of butter. Her best days pro-
duction of milk was 1O6 pounds (about
So quarts), and of butter 5.74 pounds.