Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-11-04

feeding. The official testers, who are
usually graduates of the Agricultural
College, are able to help the farmers In
figuring out rations and in many in
stances changes have been made whereby
the cost of the feed has been reduced and
the production increased. The members
themselves are getting interested in the
question of feeds and feeding They be-
gin to realize, when they have the rec
ords, that it means dollars to them all
along the line. They are taking some
good dairy papers ana studying some of
the best books on Feeds and Feeding
and the results are more siIos and more
home grown feeds.
The third and perhaps most important
benefit is better cows, by selection and
better care; and right here I do not
think l can do better than to quote
from the papers read at our annual
dairy meeting last December by two
members of COW test associations, Mr.. A.
E. Hodges of Fairfield, member of the
waterville association and Mr.. W. w.
Abbott of Waterford, member of the
Norway and Waterford association.
Mr.. Hodges states: II used to keep the
tester up nights, every time he came,
holding long talks with him. asking him
how this one and that one handled their
cows and getting hold of some of the
things he had learned at the College of
Agriculture, and, in short, considering
each COW separately and trying to find
out what 1 must do with her.
Now, what Is the result? I have
doubled the value of my herd and in
creased the net profit per COW so per cent.
How? l sold all that were not paying a
fair profit and made up my mind not to
keep COW the second year that did not
pay $50 year net. One COW whose best
year was 5000 pounds of milk and 800
pounds of fat, I increased to 11,000
pounds of milk and 453 pounds of fat.
Several that had never given over 35
pounds of milk in a day / sent up to 60,
65 and 70 pounds per day. Now did it
through the COW test association, by
learning better ways of feeding and car
Ing for my stock, and In no other way.
I'VE have a little meeting over in our
association once every month, when the
members get together, and the Depart
ment sees to 1t that we have one or two
first-class men to talk to us on dairy
and other farm matters, and right there
Is where have gained help for a large
part of the improvement 1 have made.
The College of Agriculture is brought to
my door every single month.
1--WE members talk over our problems
and exchange our best ideas with each
other and get out of the old ruts.
Through these meetings 1 have learned
much about the whole business of farm
| ing; how to care for the cows, how to
produce better feed for them and more of
It at less cost; to improve my land; to
care better for my horses; to make a
little profit out of few hogs and to raise
calves in such way that they will make
| profitable dairy cows.
| II don't want you to think that / have
| become an expert dairyman in is months.
but do know that the COW test associa-
ton has given me big boost in the right
direction. 1 have heard several farmers
say, oh, that is all right enough for the
man who has plenty of money and can
afford to hire young man to putter
around testing his cows
81 am speaking from the standpoint of
man heavily in debt, who is trying to
win out, and also to bring up his family
to have the advantages that belong to a
farmers family, and l know that if
live 20 years, the money that 1t costs me
to belong to this association will return
to me many times. I know that l shall
be thousands of dollars better off because
of what am learning through this assoc
ciation.''
Mr.. Hodges says: 1.-The greatest help,
possibly, of the COW testing work, is en-
abling US to tell our good cows from our
poor ones, so that we can get rid of the
poor ones and keep the best. We can
guess which our best ones are, but we
cannot always guess right. One of our
members found at the close of a years
work that the COW which he had eonsid-
cred his poorest one was in reality MAX
ing the greatest profit; while his
best one as he thought. because she pro-
duced large quantity of milk, was max
ing the least profit. 1t is not the amount
of milk COW gives, unless we are sell
ing milk, that we should look at, but the
profit she makes.
Another important item in our work is
knowing the cost of feed and the amount
returned by the cow above what is ex-
pended on her feed. If a COW produces
large amount of butter fat and we have
70 give it all back to her in her feed,
what are we making out of the transae-
+ ton?
mo small advantage of this work is
the meetings where we get together,
compare notes, talk over the dairy bust
ness and listen to a good speaker from
the Department
"One of the greatest helps in this work.
to my mind. perhaps because 1 am par
ticularly interested in that, Is the assis-
lance it gives us in the breeding of our
dairy animals. 1t Is the only way TO
breed intelligently, with any degree of
certainty as to what the result will be-
We are thus enabled to look back for
generations, keeping and breeding only
our best cows that have the power to
transmit their good qualities
Finally, there is no question but what
the farmer who belongs to cow test as
ISOLATION, who studies his records, his
feed rations, the results of breeding. and
keeps only his best cows, breeding them
to still better sires, will steadily improve
his herd Good COWS nav and nav well