Fraser, Wilber John

IDEALS @ Illinois

The problem of the poor cow

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UNIVERSITY OF ILI.:,INOIS 
.Agricultural Experiment Station 
URBANA, JANUARY, 1908 
CIRCULAR NO. 114 
THE PROBLEM OF THE POOR COW 

BY WILBER J. FRASER, CHIEF IN DAIRY HUSBANDRY 
THE GREATEST ·PROBLEM IN ILLINOIS DAIRYING TODAY. 
COMPLETE RECORDS OF TWO COWS -COMPARED FOR THREE 
YEARS; ONE PRODUCES NEARLY TWICE AS MUCH ' MILK AS THE 
OTHER WITH THE SAME .CARE AND FROM THE ~AME QUANTITY 
OF FEED. 
HERD OF 1,021 COWS ARE BROUGHT HOME TO THE DAIRYMAN 
WITH A STRANGE BUT TRUE STORY OF FALSE PRETENSES IN 
.r 
THE MILK ·BUSINESS. 
2 
Cow No. 1.-Average record for three years, 11,390 poundsof milk; 405 pounds butter fat.
From the same kind and amount of feed, this cow produced1.88 times as much butter fat as cow No.3.
Returns a profit of $34.50 per year. 

Cow No. 3.-Average record for three years, 3,830 poundsof milk; 138 pounds butter fat.
Lacked $5.62 per year of earning her board. 
3 

At the Agricultural Experiment Station are two cows whose 
records are well worth studying. They were bought from the 
same dairy herd near Elgin, Illinois, and both were selected for 
good producers. But here at the University, with the very same 
care and oPI>ortunities, they have shown a great difference in 
production. 
All the milk of these cows has been weighed and tested for 
three years. A record has been kept of every pound of feed con­
sumed by each animal, both summer and winter. Each year Cow 
No.1 produced on the average 11,390 pounds of milk containing 
405 pounds of butter fat, but during the same time Cow No.3 av­
eraged only 3,830 pounds of milk containing 138 pounds of butter 
fat. 
f 
259 VB. 138 POUNDS OF BUTTER FAT FROM THE SAME QUANTITY 
OF FOOD 
These cows were given the same kinds of feed and in amounts 
according to their capacities to consume it. Cow No. 1 ate 1.56 
times as much as Cow No.3, but produced 2.97 times as much milk 
and 2.93 times as much butter fat. Or reduced to a like feed ba­
sis, No.1 produced 1.88 times as much as No.3. Each year, No. 
3 produced on.ly 138 pounds of butter fat from the same quantity 
of food that No. 1 changed into 259 pounds of 'butter fat. Equal 
amounts of feed made in the one case 188 pounds of fat, in the 
other only 100 pounds. The one cow is nearly twice as good a 
producer ~s t~e other from the same kind and amount of feed. 
But the difference in profit is far , greater than this difference in 
production. 
$34.50 PROFIT VB. $5.62 Loss 
Counting the butter fat at 23 cents per pound, one cow re­
turned $93.07 an:d the other $31.74 per year. Taking out the 
known and exact cost of feed in each case, the one cow brought 
in a· profit of $34.50 per year, and .the other lacked $5.620f paying 
for her board at market prices of feed. Forty such cows as No.1 
would return a dairyman a profit of $1,380 per year. 
This comparison, exact and complete for three years and in­
cluding the record of both milk and feed, means a great deal more 
than a single yea~'s comparison or one in which it is necessary to 
introduce an estimate. 
A STRIKING SIX-YEAR COMPARISON 
Another similar comparison between two cows at the Agricul­
tural Experiment Station, is to be found in Rose and Queen. For 
twelve consecutive years Rose gave an average of 7,258 pounds 
4 
of milk, containing 360 pounds of butter. fat per year, while the
eight years' record of Queen showed only 4,591 pounds of milk,
containing 158 pounds of butter fat, per year. Rose produced
upon the average two and one-third times as much butter fat asQueen every year. 
GREAT DIFFERENCES GENERAL, NOT EXCEPTIONAL 
In eighteen dairy herds in one section of Illinois, containing323 cows of which this Station made a full year's individual test
and record, there were fifty-two cows everyone of which was
as poor or poorer than No.3, and there were forty-three that pro­duced 280 or more pounds of butter fat each. The poorest fifty
cows in these 323 averaged only 116% pounds of butter fat for theyear, while the best fifty averaged 319 pounds of butter fat. Thebest fifty produced 273 pounds fat for every 100 pounds producedby the poorest fifty,-a difference of nearly three to one. 
WHEN THE COWS COME HOME 
On the opposite page are 1021 cows brought home to thedairyman. He may not at first recognize any of them as having
strayed from his farm, and he may not be pleased with the herd
as a whole, but for all that they are common cattle in Illinois, andhe is an exceptional dairyman who cannot claim a number of
them as his own. These cows do not usually stray away from
the farm in such numbers as this (more's the pity), and the writ­
er's reason for bringing them home in this way is not so much to
restore property as to assist them to deliver a message, which
may be of more value to the dairyman than are the cows them­
selves. 
AN UNSUSPECTED CONDITION 
Dairying, when properly conducted, is one of the most profit­
able lines of farming. But, as a rule, the dairyman neitherknows nor suspects the amount of profit or loss from each cow inhis herd. Very few even set down the payments received for milk
and the items of money paid out for the whole herd, to say noth­ing o'f the individual cow's record or of estimating the cost of the
feed. 
For several years, the Agricultural Experiment Station hasbeen sending out' men to weigh ~nd test the milk of cows in dif.ferent parts of the state, and the facts discovered are so surpris­ing that it taxes all manner of presentation to show their bear­ing QP- the dairyman's profit. 
5 
WHEN THE · COWS COME HOME 
Twenty - fivt: cows, each producing 301 lb. butter fat per year. 
return a profit of $i83. 
This is the average production of 139 cows comprising the best 
fourth of 554 cows in 36 Illinois dairy herds. 
The lowest fourth (139 cows) of the same 36 herds averaged 
I33! lb. butter fat per year. 
The picture below shows exactly how many cows of the poor kind. 
(1,021) it takes to return identically the same profit ($783) as the abovA 
2S good cows. 
6  
F U L L  Y E A R ' S  T E S T  O F  5 5 4  C o w s  I N  3 6  H E R D S  
P a r t  o f  t h e  r e s u l t s  o f  t h e  a b o v e  i n v e s t i g a t i o n  a r e  r e p r e s e n t e d  
i n  a  f u l l  y e a r ' s  r e c o r d  o f  5 5 4  c o w s  i n  t h i r t y - s i x  h e r d s .  T o  m a k e  
a  l a r g e  a n d  f a i r  c o m p a r i s o n  i n  m i l k  p r o d u c t i o n ,  t a k e  t h e  l o w e s t  
o n e - f o u r t h  ( 1 3 9 )  a n d  t h e  h i g h e s t  o n e - f o u r t h  ( 1 3 9 )  o f  a l l  t h e s e  c o w s .  
T h e  f o r m e r  a v e r a g e d  1 3 3 t  p o u n d s  o f  b u t t e r  f a t ,  a n d  t h e  l a t t e r  3 0 1  
p o u n d s  f o r  t h e  y e a r .  T h e  E l g i n  p r i c e  o f  b u t t e r  t h e  l a s t  f i v e  y e a r s  
a v e r a g e s  2 3  c e n t s  p e r  p o u n d ,  a n d  t h i s  i s  t h e  u s u a l  p r i c e  t h e · d a i r y ­
m a n  h a s  r e c e i v e d  f o r  t h e  b u t t e r  f a t  i n  h i s  m i l k .  A t  2 3  c e n t s  f o r  
b u t t e r  f a t ,  t h e  p o o r  c o w s  m a k e  a n  a v e r a g e  r e t u r n  o f  $ 3 0 . 7 7 .  
I f  t h e  c o s t  o f  f e e d  b e  e s t i m a t e d  a s  l o w  a s  $ 3 0  p e r  y e a r ,  o n l y  
7 7  c e n t s  o f  p r o f i t  p e r  c o w  w o u l d  r e m a i n .  
B u t  t h e  g o o d  c o w s  m a d e  a n  a v e r a g e  i n c o m e  o f  $ 6 9 . 3 2 .  A l ­
l o w i n g  t h e s e  c o w s  $ 3 8  p e r  h e a d  f o r  f e e d ,  t h e  p r o f i t  i s  $ 3 1 . 3 2  p e r  
c o w .  
.  I n  t h e s e  c a l c u l a t i o n s ,  t h e  s k i m m i l k ,  t h e  c a l f ,  a n d  t h e  m a ­
n u r e  a r e  c o u n t e d  a s  p a y i n g  f o r  t h e  l a b o r  a n d  i n t e r e s t  o n  t h e  i n ­
v e s t m e n t .  
T h e  q u e s t i o n  i s ,  c a n  t h e  d a i r y m a n  a f f o r d  t o  i n v e s t  h i s  m o n e y  
a n d  t i m e . i n  c o w s  t h a t  r e t u r n  b u t  7 7  c e n t s  o f  p r o f i t  i n  a  w h o l e  
y e a r ,  w h e n  h e  c a n  g e t  c o w s  t h a t  m a k e  a  p r o f i t  o f  $ 3 1 . 3 2  i n  t h e  
s a m e  t i m e ?  
1 3 9  C O W S  M A K E  $ 1 0 7 ;  A N O T H E R  1 3 9 ,  $ 4 , 0 0 0  
T h e  p r o f i t  f r o m  t h e  e n t i r e  1 3 9  p o o r  c o w s  i s  o n l y  $ 1 0 7 ,  b u  t  
t h e  p r o f i t  f r o m  t h e  b e s t  1 3 9  c o w s  a m o u n t s  t o  m o r e  t h a n  $ 4 . 0 0 0 .  
O n e  o f  t h e s e  g o o d  c o w s  r e t u r n s  a s  m u c h  p r o f i t  a s  f o r t y - o n e  o f  
t h e  p o o r  c o w s ,  a n d  t w e n t y - f i v e  o f  t h e  g o o d  c o w s  m a k e  a s  m u c h  
p r o f i t  a s  1 , 0 2 1  o f  t h e  p o o r  c o : w s .  T h e  l a s t  s t a t e m e n t  i s  p i c t u r e d  
o n  p a g e  5 .  T h e  b i g  h e r d  r e t u r n s  n o t  a  p e n n y  m o r e  p r o f i t  t h a n  
t h e  l i t t l e  h e r d .  T h i r t y  o f  t h e s e  p o o r  c o w s  w o u l d  p r o d u c e  t h e  
va~ue o f  o n e  a c r e  o f  c o r n - i f  t h e  s o i l  i s n ' t  t o o  r i c h  a n d  t h e  p r i c e  
o f  c o r n  d o e s n ' t  e x c e e d  5 0  c e n t s  p e r  b u s h e l .  E a c h  c o w  m a k e s  o n e  
p e n n y  o f  p r o f i t  i n  f o u r  a n d  o n e - h a l f  d a y s ,  a n d  i t  w o u l d  r e q u i r e  
4 7 4  o f  t h e m  t o  m a k e  a  c l e a r  i n c o m e  o f  $ 1  a  d a y .  
T h e  t w e n t y - f i v e  c o w s  c o u l d  b e  k e p t  o n  a n  e i g h t y - a c r e  f a r m ,  
a  s m a l l  b a r n  a n d  a  s i n g l e  s i l o  w o u l d  b e  s u f f i c i e n t  e q u i p m e n t .  
T h e  c o w s  t h e m s e l v e s  a t  $ 7 0  p e r  h e a d  w o u l d  c o s t  o n l y  $ 1 , 7 5 0 .  
C O S T ,  C A R E  A N D  E Q U I P M E N T  F O R  T H E  1 , 0 2 1  C o w s  
T h e  f o l l o w i n g  r e q u i r e m e n t s  a r e  g i v e n  f o r  t h e  b e n e f i t  o f  a n y  
o n e  w h o  m i g h t  p r e f e r  t o  h a n d l e  t h e  1 , 0 2 1 c o w s ,  a s  i n  e f f e c t  m a n y  
a  d a i r y m a n  i s  d o i n g  n o w  w i t h  a t  l e a s t  a  p o r t i o n  o f  h i s  h e r d .  
T o  s t o c k  u p  f o r  f u l l  b u s i n e s s  t h e  f i r s t  y e a r ,  M r .  D a i r y m a n  
p u t s  $ 4 0 , 0 0 0  t o  $ 5 0 , 0 0 0  i n  h i s  p o c k e t  a n d  g o e s  t o  m a r k e t .  I t  w i l l  
7 

require two trains of thirty cars each to bring home his cows. 
Walking as closely together as possibl,e single file, each cow oc­
cupying but eight t-eet in the line, they will string out more than 
a mile and a half in driving up from the station. It will take al­
most an hour for them to pass through the gate at a steady walk. 
Standing as closely together as they could be crowded, they would 
fill two and one-half acres of yard, and a five-acre lot would be too 
small to accommodate them properly. A barn thiry-two feet wide, 
would have to be 103 rods long to house this herd. The building 
would extend nearly around the four sides of a five-acre lot and 
would cost a matter of $40,000-but it would save fencing. Eighty­
five good milkers could handle this herd easily. Fifteen hundred 
acres of pasture would do for grazing. To feed a ton and a quarter 
of hay per cow would require a rick twelve feet wide, twelv~ feet 
high, and nearly a mile long, or almost three times around the five­
q,cre lot,-providing a great windbreak. Eight hundred acres of 
meadow should produce this hay. Forty 100-ton silos would be 
sufficient to store the ensilage needed. 
All of this to make $783 per year, exactly the same that is 
made by the little herd of twenty-five cows. 
A RIDICULOUS STORY ~I 
"But this is utterly ridiculous", says the reader, "for no one 
would keep such a herd of 1,021 cows." Certainly this herd is 
ridiculous; that is the very thing the writer wants to picture viv­
idly to the dairymen of Illinois, because they are today keeping 
at least 250 such herds each containing 1,000 worthless cows. 
The only point on which the facts differ from the above picture 
is in that this quarter million of worthless cows, instead of being 
grouped in herds of 1,000 are scattered and mixed in many herds 
- some in almost every herd in the state-where their poor pro­
duction is covered up by the high production of the good cows in 
the same herd. But the loss exists just. as truly as if the poor 
cows were assembled in large herds by themselves. Within sight 
from a,lmost every rise of ground and barnyard gate, these worth­
less and presuming bovines walk forth unchallenged to pasture 
and plenty, and there is nobody to inquire what returns they 
make. 
IN EVERY Cow LOT 
Would that the nonsense of it and the waste of it could be 
kept on paper alone, but they cannot; for this nonsense and waste 
of the dairyman's investment and time and effort have extended 
into almost every cow-lot in Illinois. Is it any more business­
8  

l i k e  o r  a n y  m o r e  p r o f i t a b l e  p e r  c o w ,  t o  k e e p  f i v e ,  t e n  o r  t w e n t y ­
f i v e  s u c h  c o w s  t h a t  t o  k e e p  1 , 0 2 1  o f  t h e m ?  
S P E N D I N G  M O N E Y  A N D  L A B O R  F O R  N A U G H T  
T h e  m e n  w h o  d r i v e  u p  t h e  1 , 0 2 1  c o w s  a n d  m i l k  t h e m  o n  a  
s w e l t e r i n g  n i g h t  i n  f l y t i m e ,  w o u l d  c e r t a i n l y  r e a l i z e  t h a t  t h e y  w e r e  
i n  " b i g  b u s i n e s s " - y e t  t h i s  i s  e x a c t l y  t h e  s i z e  o f  t h e  " b u s i n e s s "  
a s  t o  p r o f i t  t h a t  i s  b e i n g  d o n e  w i t h  o n e - f o u r t h  o f  t h e  m i l l i o n  c o w s  
i n  I l l i n o i s  t o d a y .  I s a i a h ' s  q u e s t i o n  m a y  w e l l  b e  a s k e d  h e r e :  
" W h e r e f o r e  d o  y e  s p e n d  m o n e y  f o r  t h a t  w h i c h  i s  n o t  b r e a d  ( n o r  
m i l k ) ?  a n d  y o u r  l a b o r  f o r  t h a t  w h i c h  s a t i s f i e t h  n o t ? "  
T h i s  h e r d  c o u l d  b e  m a n a g e d  v e r y  w e l l  o n  a  3 , 0 0 0  a c r e  f a r m  o f  
g o o d  l a n d .  A  d a i r y m a n  h a v i n g  a  b a n k  a c c o u n t  o f  $ 1 0 0 , 0 0 0  o r  s o ,  
c o u l d  k e e p  t h e s e  c o w s ,  b u t  t h e y  w o u l d  b e  a  b i t  d a n g e r o u s  f o r  t h e  
c o m m o n  d a i r y m a n  t o  h a n d l e .  B u t  h e  i s  h a n d l i n g  t h e m  i n  s m a l l e r  
n u m b e r s  a n d  d o e s n ' t  s e e  t h e  d a n g e r .  H e  d o e s n ' t  e v e n  k n o w  t h a t  
h e  h a s  s e v e r a l  s u c h  c o w s  i n  h i s  h e r d .  T h e  o n l y  w a y  f o r  h i m  t o  
f i n d  o u t  i s  t o  w e i g h  a n d  t e s t  t h e  m i l k  o f  e a c h  c o w .  A n d  w h e n  h e  
f i n d s  o u t ,  t h e r e  i s  b u t  o n e  r e m e d y , - t o  s e l l  t h e s e  c h a r i t y  b o a r d e r s  
t o  t h e  b u t c h e r .  
D i r e c t i o n s  f o r  t e s t i n g  d a i r y  c o w s  a r e  d e s c r i b e d  i n  C i r c u l a r  1 1 5 .  


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The problem of the poor cow

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