Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1922-11-24
Get Rid of the Boarder
By H. w. MAILMAN

| for the cost of her feed
The average yearly milk production
per COW in the u. S. is 3,625 pounds,
for Holland 4,328 pounds, and Denmark
/ $3.50 pounds. The reason for the great
er production inthese foreign countries
are that the cows themselves are better
because they are more carefully select
ed, and they are given better care.
The average yearly production per
dairy animal in the U. S is $50 pounds
of butter fat There are in the neighbor-
hood of 65 cows that have produced ov-
er 1000 pounds of butter fat in one
year A much larger number have pro-
duced over 700 pounds There must then
be last number of very low producers
to bring the average production tor the
U S down to $50 pounds.
| Many records show that farmers do
not get enough money for the milk pro-
duced by COW to pay for the feed she
consumes
| Cow testing associations and official
testing are the dairymen's means of
discovering the boarder. Official test
ing is done by state testers for owners
of pure bred cattle who desire records
to help sell these cows or their off
springs for good price. Association
testing is done almost solely to deter
mine whether or not COW is making a
profit. These records are made by a
| tester who takes care of about 26 herds,
| spending day during the month at
each place. He gets the weight of the
milk that day, takes sample tests it,
and uses the figures in computing the
production for the month";. The cost of
| feed is determined and subtracted from
| the value of the butter fat produced. ;.
thus showing what each animal is do
| ing
The average production per dairy an
imal in Wisconsin is 5000 pounds of
milk and 100 pounds of butter fat per
year. There are 3, 900 Wisconsin farm
ers in lat different COW testing associa-
tions testing the production of over 5O,-
600 animals. Last year over 5 per cent
or about $500 of these animals were
sent to the block because it was found
they were not bringing the farmer a
profit.
In 48 of these associations every sire
used is pure bred rather than grade
OF scrub Poor animals are found among
pure breds also, which necessitates
testing and wedding out the poor ones,
but they are usually better than grades
or scrubs because they are more care
fully selected Where cows averaging
250 pounds of butter fat were bred to a
pure bred sire from high producing
dam, the daughters averaged 320 pounds
and daughters from these averaged ov-
er 400 pounds of butter fat in one year.
In large number of cases where farm
ers belonged to associations the results
were similar showing clearly the value
of the carefully selected pure bred sire
- PhoFi'S q 5 o0C
Many farmers having herd of dairy
cattle will buy sire of the beef type,
thinking it will improve the herd. The
result from cross of this kind may be
a fair animal from the first cross but
whether this is done with cattle, hogs,
sheep or any other animal the result is
a poor producer and an undesirable type
for either milk or beef and poorer
herd than ever. At the present prices of
pure breds man can well afford to buy
pure bred bull calf
Although it is true that good pure
bred sire will improve grade herd one
will never get pure bred herd in this
way. A better practice is to buy two or
three good females and good sire If
testing is done and only the hest ones
are kept, one can, within few years,
develop high producing herd Many of
the present noted dairy cattle breeders
have developed their herds in this way.
In ADDITION to having cows from high
producing dams and sires it is necessary
to give them good feed and proper care.
Dairymen who do this will not only in
crease the butter fat production of Wis
consin and the U. S. but will also in
crease their own profits
A good dairyman can make more pro-
fit with butter at IS cents per pound
made from our bred and fed for pro-
duction cows, than a farmer with poor
scrub animals with butter at so cents
per pound One good COW will some
times bring greater profit than sever
al poor ones.
The high school boys in the animal
husbandry class are taking care of a
bout eight nearby herds and will carry
on the work similar to the way it is
done in the COW testing associations.
In addition TO helping the farmers
who consented to have their herds test
ed by finding the Improbable cows,
they will learn considerable about the
feeding and rearing of cattle.