Show BUILDING AND maintaining A DAIRY HERD by ray D garner gamer head ot of the agricultural department parowan carowan high school tile the cow Is the foster mother of the human race among all civilized peoples the cow has been a sustaining factor the tribal import importance lince of the ancients was largely determined by the extent ot of the flocks and herds and often do wo we read and hear of the cattle upon a thou thousand band hills bills science found agriculture plowing with a crooked stick slick and in its I 1 place has provided the gang plo plow I 1 drawn by the steel steed called the tractor in nearly all the civilized countries the sickle bucklo and the scythe have disappeared ed before the self binder tho the flail has bas been replaced I 1 by the threshing machine i marvelous as has been the develop anent of agriculture no where in its realm has science achieved a more conspicuous success than it has in the evolution of the dairy cow between the native cow mother that yielded but little more than enough milk to suckle her offspring and our modern dairy queen lies twenty centuries of civilization I 1 we can grasp the significance ot of the development of the dairy cow during these twenty centuries probably best by contrasting our modern dairy queen with her early progenitor our modern dairy queen has hag a record of over pounds of roell in a year thid means over pounds of milk every day tor for days or between lla 1112 and 12 gallons TO ov milk milic every day tor for the same le length ath outline the wealth wealth of 0 the nation is la in creased more than one billion dollars annually by the lowing kine agriculture is americas greatest in austry and dairy husbandry Is tho the principal division of 6 agriculture the most important thing when we realize what it a large factor th dairy cow is in the up building ot of agriculture and in furnishing excellent and valuable food products pro ducis to mankind man kind is to get the cow it makes no differ ellet whether we have one family cow or whether we have three or tour four or a regular dairy herd of twenty or forty cows it makes no difference which we have we want to get the most and best milk the most and best cream the most and best butter butler it if we get all of these we will get the greatest profit there are two chief ways of g getting et cows 1 by buying them 2 by raising them there may be cases inhere where securing cows by the first plan Is practical but tor for most practical purposes it is my opinion that the second named method ot of getting cows is the best and cheapest if we buy the cows we are not acquainted quain qua ted with them in most in ost cases and therefore there la is too much uncertainty connected with this method methi I 1 of f course the nan man who wants wanta to start dairying and has no cows must buy cows to start with ilia his financial circumstances will determine largely whether lie he buys expensive P e I 1 iv tk stock t k or the cheapest grade 0 ot f s stock A oc it in n either case it is alway to page lour four BUILDING AND MAINTAIN 7 ING A DAIRY HERD by ray D garner PT continued from front page a splendid precaution to very care ully fully examine the records ot of the cows being considered it records are not available the buyer must rely on his own judgement jud gement of 0 a good cow or a poor cow from outward appearances pe arances the use ilse of production records and selection from individual type Is a very satisfactory way of selecting dairy rowa cows it records are available it Is relatively easy to get your cow whore where records are not kept it Is not so easy to get the best beat cow by selecting by the type method there are a number of things the dairy man should do if he truly builds his herd 1 lie ile should use good pure bred sires ahe 2 he should keep records and 3 he should practice the best care and management all bt b these are so important that it is a difficult matter to say which merits first consideration the use of a purebred sire ca cannot annot be over estimated we should not be deceived by thinking that because an animal Is said to be pure bred that Is sufficient we should remember that there are scrub pure reds breda as well as scrub grades I 1 should hae to urge the use of a pure bred sire that has been tried and pro proven ven so in n this respect the man who wishes to build his dairy herd should use a proven purebred pure bred sire the following will show how rf if good g pure bred sire will help to fatten the dairy mans pocket book A scrub cow that returned on only ay 2333 over feed costs in a year was bred to a good bull the daughter from the mating returned over costs another cow had a production returning over costs she was bred to a good bull the daup dauster dauK ter from this mating returned over costs these examples example es show how good bulls build future dairy herds the examples cited are from experiments conducted at the university of idaho the results just published the bull Is more than halt half the herd from experiments conductor conduct er at the iowa state experiment station covering a period of 15 years they show the following As the production of a cow is doubled profits increase three times as production is trembled treb bled profits InZ increase rease 6 times the bull is one of the chief means by which this in crease ca cau a be brought about keeping daily production records Is also very important there can be no guessing when this is done with out ft one cannot properly feed the co cows ws it Is too easy for the herdsman m an to fork out just as much hay tor for the poor producer as for the good producer she eats as much food lives in the same corral occupies a stall must be cleaned cleaned after just as much as the good c ow cow but returns him nothing it if records are kept this boarder can be culled out and space left tor for the cow that pays her way and returns for her living something for the owner there Is a certain degree of pride and satisfaction connected with the dairy man who keeps records of his cows that is conspicuously lacking on dairy farms where records are not kept records are conducive to better business methods this brings greater efficiency which results in greater profits the ultimate goal of all business very much could be said on the care and management of a herd it space would permit much depends upon how the animals are handled as to how they respond in the flow of milk should never be traveled faster aster than at a walk they should not be forced to travel long distances morning and night to and from pastures better haul the milk regularity in time of milking and feeding are also very essential for best beat results kindness and patience with the animas animals will make for a greater flow of 0 milk 1 growing out the young stock I 1 is e very important they should always be kept in a thrifty condition when young animals are arb permitted to get 1 in an unthrifty state there is a question whether hether they ever entirely overcome the shock it is a mistake to allow heifers heffers to breed too young this varies of course with th e breed the larger breeds require more time to reach maturity while the smaller breeds such as the jersey and guernsey develop quicker and can be brought in to freshening at a younger age some authorities say that smaller breeds should not fr freshen esbert under two years of age the larger breeds not under 2 A to three years of age it depends some on how the animals have been grown out these few suggest suggestions lon it if followed will help those interested in building and maintaining dairy herds PT |