The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1922-11-10
10 You Need a Cow-Tesiing Ass,na

De You Need Cow-Testing Ass'n7
Mr.. Farmer, you may have some
cows in your herd that are not paying
you for their feed and care. You may
think you have no poor cows, but you
do not know until yu have had their
milk weighed and tested. The low
producing herd of $50 to 200 pounds
If fat takes nearly as much feed and
labor and the same amount of barn
room as the herd producing twice as
much fat and making many times as
much profit. The man with a poor
herd cannot take the same pride in
his work as one who has a good herd
and knows what each COW is doing. 1t
is the drag of the poor COW that keeps
the majority of our dairymen from in
creasing their profits. Many of these
cows are Improbable because they are
naturally unable to convert feed into
fat at a profit. Many others are un-
probable because they are not given a
proper chance to make profit. To
increase the production of our herds,
we must Gull out these unprofitable
COWS. giving the others fair chance
through proper feed and care. That
''like produces like" seems the safest
rule in breeding, and if we want to
raise high producing herds. we must
raise the heifers from cows that have
proved this ability to make dollars
from feed.
With the high prices for feed, ev-
ervone that has to buy feed is inter-
ested in the amount the cows will pay
for it. The only way to feed herd
economically is to feed each COW the
amount she will be able to use profit
ably. The tester who weighs the
milk and feed of each COW orce a
month, makes it possible to feed each
COW according to her ability to pay
for it. and thus the whole herd is fed
economically. s,l
An accurate record Of the produc-
tion and the feed cost of each COW
will enable you to weed out the unpro-
tisable cows. There is no other way
to detect them. "The cow that
thought was my best COW, turned out
to be one of the poorest" is a COM
mon remark from men who have had
years record of their cows.
Net profit is our chief interest. 1t
is the poor COW that cuts the net
profit. What is the profit to man
when he gets 500 for his milk and
pays $100 for feed. The manure is
not enough. Give the good cow a
chance to make a prot by relieving
her of the burden of making up the
loss of the poor COW.
Test the bull, too. He is half the
herd and you pay good price for
him, but you do not know whether he
is increasing or decreasing the pro-
dnction of the herd. If he can in
crease the production of the daugh-
ters over the dams, he should be kept
in the community, and the neighbors
will be anxious to buy him. If he
cannot, he is worth beef prices, and
the quicker he is found out the bet
ter A complete record of the herd
will soon show what the bull is
worth. For your herds sake, join a
'ccw-testing association.
Herelare some results that were OBJ
tained by Cow Testing Associations:
York Fairhaven, Cow Testing Asso-
citation (Illinois) During the fourth
year of this association, the average
itlcrease in production per cow was II
Ali pounds of milk and So pounds of
fat over the average production per
cow in the first year.
Mclean Cow Testing Association.