Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1919-07-03
CuLLING THE SLACK
Err COW FROM HERD
IN FIRST LACTAT|ON

BBV usa~b
Orono, Me-, July 1.-THE following
suggestions for the sellers OF MILK
was issued today from the ONCE Oh
Charles D. Woods. director OF the
Maine Agricultural Experiment sta-
ton at the University Of Maine:
The culli, 6 of so valuable an AMI
NAL as a COW out of a herd Involves
three questions. What has her pro-
duction been in previous lactations'
what does it cost to keep this COW 1or
one wear and third what reliance can
he placed in the first lactation or
heifer as a measure of her production
in subsequent lactations?
The first and second of these ques-
t;ons are Vi to the dairyman to an
swer for each and every COW "A his
herd through the keeping OF a cost
record for each COW and the returns
from each COW. The third of these
ouestions requires a more extensive
knowledge of cattle records than 1t is
possible for most dairymen to accum-
ulate.
The Maine Agricultural Expert
ment Station in certain of it's cattle
work, has studied large number of
records for the first months OF lac
tation to the end of answering this
third question for pure bred Jersey
cattle. The following statements
are for these pure bred Jersey
cattle. While the figures given will
not be strictly true. the conclusions
drawn can undoubtedly be applied to
other breeds. In each of these rec
ords the level of each cows record IN
the first lactation was determined in
relation to the level in the total milk
production for the first five lactation
periods. 1t was found that the rela-
tive rate of milk production remained
very nearly the same for the total
milks produced by COW in her first
five Yactation periods as it did in her
first lactation. That is, if the heifer
was a high producer in her first lac
tation she also was a high producer
in the total production of her first
lactations. If she was medium pro-
Queer she was only medium pro-
Queer in these lactations. If she was
a poor producer in the first lactatlon
she was also poor producer In all
lactations. Relatively the cows
stayed very close to the plane OF pro-
duction established by their first lac
tation for the total of the other lac
tationS.
These facts justify the dairyman
who is selling milk in culling the
heifers which lose money in their
first year of lactation out of the herd
for they will in all proba ability be
money losers for the rest of their
lives.
AS an example of what this culling
will do for the average yield of milk
in a herd of pure bred Jersey cattle
the following illustration may be Civ
en- as taken from these above men
toned studies.
The herd has had SO cows which
completed lactations of months
each when they were under years
old. The cows during this time were
unaffected by any disease so far as
the veterinarian could detect. The
milk records are consequently those
Of sound, healthy cows. The aver
age milk production of these cows as
heifers was 4100 pounds for the first
months of lactation. The question
may be asked, what was the produc-
ton of the low half and the high half
of this herd for the first S lactations?
Or in other words what would have
duction by culling the low producers
from the herd? The average yearly
production of the low lot was 4.434
pounds, and of the high lot 5.556
pounds for the first 8 months of each
of the lactations. The annual diff
ference in average production of
these groups for the first months
of each lactation was 1,122 pounds
In fact on the average cows in the
high lot produced as much milk as 5
cows in the low lot. 1t required one
fourth more food and one-fourth
more labor to produce an equal
amount of milk from the low produc-
ing half of the herd than from the
high.
The preceding applies to quality OF
milk and not to pounds of butter-fat,
and is strictly applicable only to the
Jersey and related breeds. AS milk
production and butter-fat production
are inherited differently the above
might not be the best guide to the
man who is selling butter-fat as
such. But to the seller of Jersey
milk it is very clear that cutting out
the low producers in their first year
of lactation pays a good profit and
may make the difference between
success and failure. The yield of
butter-fat in the first and subsequent
lactations will be discussed in anoth-
err letter in this series.