Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1917-02-28
KEEP cows RECORD.
VALUE OF CONTRASTING ASSOCIA-
TONS DEMON APP
PEARANCE OFTEN DECEIVES.

fEARANCE OFTEN DECEIEES.
That the appearance Of a dairy COW
can not be depended on to indicate her
production OF milk is illustrated by a
demonstration conducted under the
auspices of the Dairy Division of the
department with herd of nine COWS
at the National Dairy Show held re-
Gently at Springfield, Mass, says the
Weekly News Letter.
A years record Of milk and butter
fat already had been made for all the
COWS Of the herd. During the show
complete records OF production and
feed consumption were kept and in
every case the previous records were
duplicated. Some Of the COWS were
Of poor dairy type, yet were good pro-
ducers; others were OF good dairy
type, yet were poor producers; still
others Of similar appearance had
greatly different records OF the last
named class were Nos. and 8. Many
experienced stockmen selected No. 8
as the better of the two, but the rec
ords showed that for the last year No.
/ s gave 8,445 pounds of milk and 346
Of fat compared with 4,279 pounds of
milk and 1913 of fat for No. 8. This
served as an object lesson to the hun
dreds OF people who daily viewed the
demonstration that good dairy type
is not always associated with large
production and that poor dairy type
does not indicate lack OF large yield?"
What does it cost to keep recOrds?"
was common question OF the, dairy
men. In cow-testing associations.
where the abOve-quoted records were
made, the average charge is $3.50
La month for each COW, and in addi-
ton the board for the tester for one
day each month. With feed, labor, and
live stock so high, it certainly is i'm
perative to eliminate every unneces-
sary expense like the "boarder" or
''robber" COW that fails to pay for
even her feed
In the big room at the dairy show
where the COWS were sanctioned were
several hundred comfortable seats.
Here several times each day we'll
known dairymen from various parts
OF the country talked to the large aud
fences on dairy problems, illustrating
their remarks with the COWS of the
demonstration herd Especial empha-
sis was laid upon the value of records
in economical management
Cooperative bull associations were
carefully described and their many adj
yantages explained That it was pos
sible to have high-class bulls Of the
finest breeding for the use Of dairy
men with only few COWS seemed to
many farmers as too good to be true,
especially when the cost was even less
than in the case Of scrub bulls. In
this connection the charts that illus
trated the condition at Roland Iowa
before and after the organization of a
bull association, elected much inter
est. At that place, for a yearly in
vestment Of $3.50 EACH the members
have the use Of five $24O bulls for 10
years.
On the walls of the demonstration
room were pictures of famous dairy
animals, charts showing results of
record keeping, cts. Adjoining were
skeleton milk or dairy houses, with
the sides only partially finished, to
show the construction; also a model
Of dairy barn and Of silo. In the
milk houses was dairy equipment, and
man in charge answered questions
on dairying and explained the con-
struction of these and all other kinds
of dairy buildings.
At regular periods demonstrations in
the sterilization of milk utensils were
given with the inexpensive farm steril-
izer described IN Farmers Bulletin No.
74S; these demonstrations were we'll
attended.
a There was also keen interest in
every part of the demonstration, as
may be Judged from the fact that about
5000 people listened to lectures and
fully $4,000 viewed the exhibits.