The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-11-07
WASHINGTON COUNTY FARM
BUREAU ASSOCIATION.
Report for Week Ending Nov. 4.


Mileage .......... ....,..,........ $50
While the price Of feeds is soaring into
the clouds it begins to make us farmers
think how II is possible to keep our dairy
herds in operation and on paying basis
at the present prices, As in many cases
the prevention for such situations as this
would have been great deal better than
the cure can possibly be. The first cure
that we naturally turn to is to attempt
to figure a ration from our high priced
/ feeds which will still allow us to pro-
duce milk or butter fat at profit. This
can be done only to a small extent, as all
| feeds have risen in proportion SO that n
mixture that we have been using would
be practically as economical now as it
was before the higher prices. If we had
bought feed on the low prices OF August
and the first of September the solution
would have been easier. At present we
can only watch our production very care
fully and be careful not to feed amounts
OF grain which are not warranted by the
results AT the pail. 1t often costs great
deal more per quart to produce 20 quarts
day than it would to produce only Is
quarts on less feed.
The other prevention method is one
which all thinking farmers are working
on and this is. namely, increasing the
production of the herd as a whole. When
we realize that the average production of
the COWS in the state of Vermont is less
than ITO pounds of butter fat per year
and also that COW must produce go
pounds of butter fat in order to keep on
paving basis, then we will realize how
much there is to do along this line OF
raising the herd production in pounds of
butter fat or pounds OF milk per year.
Our cow testing associations are teaching
this thing very rapidly and those who
are paying attention TO their individual
COW records and trying to build up their
herds are advancing by tremendous
strides towards success. IF we can main
tain herd of cows which will produce
on the average of go pounds of butter
fat we can figure that they are just
about breaking even. If we can, by
breeding, make the same herd three years
later produce an average OF 300 pounds
of butter fat per wear, the 90 per cent
increase is clear gain because it will cost
no more to feed and care for this higher
producing herd than il did to feed and |
care for the poorer one.
The KEY to the situation lies in the Sc
lection OF the bull 1t is often said that |
the sire is half of the herd. It may be !
that this statement is not quite strong
enough. it might better read "A poor sire /
is the whole herd" most striking ex-
ample of this has been brought out in
the last issue OF Hoard's Dairyman. I
wherein are pictured a series of results
of using good sire and a poor one.
Starting with six COWS with an average I
production of $50 pounds of butter fat |
per year, three of them were bred to the
good sire OF known ancestry and produc
ton; the other three were bred to non
lescript sire. The results in figures are
as follows: The three daughters from the
good sire gave an increase in production
over their mothers Of an average of As
pounds of butter fat per year. The three