Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-06-20
Building Up a Dairy Herd

" ~ a Ddiiy AtttN
We should start any building on
good foundation. Too often those
who begin dairy improvement are adj
vised to start with high-priced, pure
bred stock; TO do so is almost always
to guarantee a failure from the start.
Pure-breds should be purchased only
by those who have first succeeded
with them.
Any farmer who has herd Of cows
is certain to have one or more as
good for foundation animals as any
he can buy, but only careful system
of feeding and wedding will determine
which ones they are.
Only a small proportion of cows are
fed so they can produce anywhere
near their maximum yield. Before
condemning a cow she should be fed
for an entire year an abundance of a
well-balanced ration. Having done
this you are ready to weed out the
improbable cows. But this can be
done intelligently only by careful
weighing and testing the milk from
each cow for an entire milking period.
While it will not be necessary to
weigh the milk of every milking to
get a record approximately correct as
an estimate of the cows yield, still
any dairyman who has tried it will
testify that the weighing of the milk
of each individual COW every milking
pays enormous returns for the time
it takes.
Every mixer takes an interest and
pride in keeping up the yield of the
COW he milks. Such weighing will
also often fortell any ailment or trou-
bic with the cows or call the owner'c
| % 80 ohnrforrn of tho fAaH
when the cows show more than a
normal shrinkage.
| 1t does not take as long to weigh
and record weight of milk as one
would think. Ten seconds, twice a
day, will be the average time requir-
ed to weigh a cows mess and record
it on the sheet. This is equal to
three cows a minute or ter minutes
day for herd of thirty cows.
While 25-cent spring balance will
to the work accurately enough, a
regular milk scale made for this pur-
pose and costing $3.50 to $500 will
be found the cheapest in the long run.
This scale is divided into pounds and
tenths Of pounds and weighs up to
thirty pounds.
The owner who first weighs the
milk of his Individual cows for a year
is in for a great surprise in their rela-
! tive yields. Some cows that never
gave large daily yield, and there
| fore are not considered of the best,
will, because they are persistent milk
ers, be almost certain TO lead the herd
for the year.
Testing the Milk
While weighing the milk is the first
great step in wedding out the poor
cows, it is only one step. Once each
month each cows milk should be test
ed by the Babcock test. About the
middle of the month, small sample
of the milk, from both morning and
evening milkings, should be placed in
pint fruit jar with closed top. This
dipper made especially for the pur-
pose, and holding an ounce or two,
sample being dipped from the milk
pail as soon as the milking Is done.
An inexpensive Babcock tester can be
bought that will test two samples at
time and do the work as well as a
larger and more expensive machine.
In any herd of five cows or more
would advise the purchase Of the best
cast-iron twelve-bottle tester to be
had. With the rules sent with every
machine, whether large or small, any
person of average intelligence can
make an accurate test from the sam
Piles saved in the fruit Jar. The weight
Of the milk given for the month,
multiplied by the per cent of fat
shown by the test, will give the yield
of butterfat for the month for each
COW, and at the end Of the year the