Bridgeton pioneer., 1915-07-22
Advice from State Expert.
ment Station.
BEST COWS PAY
GOOD Herds Built Up Give the
Results That Are Most
Profitable.

In the lower counties of the State, who
lave been facing the problem of MAX
ing their herds pay better profits,
have found lots to interest them in
the evolution of a pure-bred herd of
dairy cows from what was originally
q collection of grade animals by the
gradual elimination of inferior stock
during the last three years in the
dairy department of the New Jersey
agricultural experiment station at
New Brunswick.
Some of the dairymen in Salem and
| Cumberland counties have built up
! splendid herds during recent years,
and there are some especially fine
specimens of Holsteins to be found in
| that region. Other farmers. however.
have followed the practice of buyin
COWS OF no certain breed from time
to time, keeping them only as long as
they supply milk and then selling
them again. By these methods they
never get anywhere in the building up
of herd, the dairy experts say.
1 Much of the same conditions as
are met with on the ordinary farm
were found by Mr.. Cook, the dairy
husbandman at the state experiment
lstatson, when he started to build up
the herd in 1912. The herd had been
4 fdecimated by the ravages of tubercu-
iosis, and consisted of sixteen pure
bred animals and eight grades. The
purebreds represented the four dairy
breeds-Holstein, Jersey. Guernsey
and Ayrshire.
Sixteen Holstein cows were pur-
chased between 1912 and 1915, at a to-
tai cost of $177O, an average of a lit
tie more than $1o0 a head. These
were all grade animals, which later
showed an average production of
= about 5000 pounds of milk per year.
Besides these COWS, four grade Guern-
seys were purchased at a cost of $310,
lone purebred Ayrshire at $3.50, three
lpure-bred Jerseys at $500 and one
shorthorn grade at $100. At the pres
ent time the herd consists of eighty
. five animals, and the natural money
gain in the herd, not including the
+ valuation of the purchased cows, in
, two years was $2971.
Mr.. Cook, the dairy husbandman
e follows a policy of raising all heifer
D calves until they freshen, with the
idea that when the capacity of the
dairy barn is reached the elimination
of interior animals and poor produc-
ers is to begin. He hopes that event
ually the herd will consist entirely of
pure-bred animals, except what grades
may be kept for demonstration work.
At the present time the herd contains
. one pure-bred bull for each of the
J four dairy breeds represented.
The dairy husbandman at the ex-
!; perimental farm says that the most
detrimental practice indulged in on
the average dairy farm is without
doubt the common one of buying cows
when they freshen and disposing of
them as soon as they are dry. The
dairyman by this method often drops
from $25 to $35 in cash in the differ
ence between cost and selling price.
In addition to this financial loss, he
never gets anywhere in the matter
of building up his herd. He cannot
have the same pride in his stock when
he is constantly getting in new and
untried animals, nor is there any in
centive to excel in any particular.
Add to all this the danger of intro
ducing such diseases as tuberculosis,
contagious abortion or white scours
by the bringing in Of new animals
from time to time, and no further ar
guments in favor of the stations poll
cy of raising it's own animals should
be necessary"