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Show DAIRY. WHAT RICHER MILK MEANS TO RAISER Profit and Loss Affected by the Quality. By DR. W. L. GATNKS, College of Aptrlcul-ture, Aptrlcul-ture, University of Illinois. WXU Service. Producing richer milk is a problem now confronting many dairymen, as a result of higher standards on the milk markets and the need for more efficient production. The quick way of meeting the problem prob-lem Is to sell some of the cows giving low-testing milk and replace them with cows giving a high-testing product. The slow way Is to select bulls oC higher-testing families and gradually breed up cows producing richer milk. Adding one or two high-testing cows cannot be expected to have much ef- ' feet on herd test. Even if half the herd were replaced, the most that could be expected would be a halfway half-way position between the cows retained re-tained and those added. As a general gen-eral ' proposition, higher-testing cows will fall below the mid-point of the two groups. As an example, if the herd contain 100 cows giving milk testing 3.2 per cent butterfat, it would take, on the average, 110 cows giving 3.8 milk to bring the herd test to the half-way point of 3.5. Improving the herd test through breeding is possible within certain limits. It requires continued selection, over a long time. An Illustration of what can be done by this means Is found in the records of the Danish cattle-breeding societies. Going back to the early days of testing, the native cows in these societies in 1900 gave milk testing 3.4 per cent butterfat. By continuous selection of the higher-testing higher-testing and good-producing cows as breeding stock, the test has gradually been increased until it averages 3.9 per cent butterfat at the present time. The milk is used very largely for but-termaking, but-termaking, and for that purpose it was an advantage to improve the fat test. It takes 6 per cent more feed to produce pro-duce a pound of fat in 3.4 per cent milk than it does in 3.9 per cent milk. |