The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1912-05-02
Keeping Dairy Herd Records

from ueIu OF ualIg COWS uepenlB
upon the net profit from each indiyi.
dual COW; as the production Of the
whole herd depends upon the produc.
tion Of the individual cows. Cows are
not kept on the farms Of progressive
up-to-date farmers primarily for me
profit 70 be derived The well bred,
carefully selected and cared for COW
has proven herself to be a reliable
source OF revenue and a profit maker
on the farm in converting the pasture
grasses and coarser folders and hay
into ready cash in the form Of milk,
cream and butter. Her capacity 10 do
this depends upon her capacity to
consume a large amount OF food, to
digest 1t and assimilate into the blood
a large amount Of food nutrients
which II contains Then her profit
ableness as a dairy COW will depend
upon whether these food nutrients
carried into the blood are used in
producing more body flesh as with
the beef animal or is elaborated into
milk In the udder as with the true
dairy COW. With some COWS nutrients
are used neither for beef making or
COW making and thus are wasted and
we have the scrub or no purpose COW.
In nearly every herd OF COWS where
but little attention mas been given to
the production OF milk by the indivi-
dual cows there is to be found all
three of these classes of cows. Too
often there are too many OF those
whose purpose in life is not to con-
vert their food into milk. The beef
COW never was a profitable dairy COW;
the scrub is never profitable either
| for beef or milk and the true dairy
COW in such herd where the genert
average production only is considered
does not show up for what she is
really worth. 1t is not until the pro-
| duction of each individual COW is
given consideration that the real
worthlessness of the poorest cows will
/ be found out and the real values Of
the best cows learned.
The owner of the COW keeps a rec
ord OF the weight OF milk produced
at every milking each month On
two successive days each month a
person selected by the State Expert
ment Station is present and weighs
the milk Immediately after it is
MIXED and takes sample of the
milk for determination OF butter fat.
He sees that the milk is thoroughly
mixed before taking the sample. This
person makes a separate test of each
milking for butter fat. In this way
the production of butter fat for the
two days is computed. The last milk
ing must occur As hours after the first.
The first is not counted In the two.
day or 4S-hour test
1t is a question whether for just
general results on the farm IL Is neces-
sary to weigh the milk at every milk
ing in the month. BY many the two
day test is taken as an average for
the month and the approximate pro-
duction for the month is obtained by
multiplying the two-day record by Is
to get the record for thirty days or a
month II the two-day test is made
on about the same days of each month
this method of obtaining the herd rec
ord is very accurate. Some even
claim that a one-day record is suffi-
ciently accurate to use for the aver
age production for the month. How
ever, this may be, 1t is certain that
the longer the test the more accurate
would the results be. The following
simple method of making the monthly
records is recommended by the writer.
Dairy herd records are best obtained
by weighing Ton a spring balance) the
milk produced by each COW in the
dairy herd for six consecutive milk
ings each month (preferably on the
same date each MONTH. From each
cows milk a sample OF milk is taken
and placed in her sample jar, "a sep
arate sample jar being used for each
cow.
The milk should be thoroughly
mixed before taking the sample.
The samples taken at the six milk
ings Of each COW will give a compos-
ite sample OF her milk, and when
tested for butter fat will give the
average test of her milk. The milk
produced by each COW during the
three days multiplied by ten gives her
approximate production for the month.
Her approximate production multi
piled by her test would give the ap'
proximate production butter fat.
Twelve consecutive monthly reports
will give her yearly production.
The advantages Of keeping dairy
herd records are indicated in the
early part of this article. There is
some extra time and labor required
to obtain them and the profitable part
of 1t is not usually understood until
after records have been kept for a
year or more. That dairy herd record
work will in time be in almost uni.
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