Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


health. Unhealthy cows are not desirable. In many cases, their
presence in a dairy is dangerous, due to the probability of
spreading disease not only to the other cows in the herd, but to
persons who use the milk. Other considerations are age, tem-
perament, productiveness, and ancestry.

 IMPROVEMENT IN THE STATION HERD
 The Experiment Station herd affords a good example of what
can be done by breeding and selecting. These results are cited
because exact records have been kept and the improvement is
known.
 Ten years ago the Station herd consisted of twelve cows and
a Shorthorn bull. Two of the cows were purebred Jerseys; the
others were grades. Perhaps all had some Jersey blood in them.
Little money has been spent for cows in the last ten years. The
greater part of the improvement came in keeping the best and
discarding the unprofitable cows. Purebred Jersey bulls have
been used at the head of the herd since 1910. About thirty cows
are now in the herd, and most of them would be classed as good
dairy animals. As a whole, the herd ranks better than any herd
of equal size in the State.

 PRODUCTION INCREASED
 Not only has the appearance of the herd been improved, but
there has been a very noticeable increase in its productiveness.
The average yearly milk production of the original twelve cows
was 2,600 pounds. From July 1, 1916 to June 30, 1917, twenty-
one cows were milked. The average production for that year
was 4,440 pounds. To state it another way; for the year ending
June 30, 1911, only one cow of the twelve milked produced more
than 4,000 pounds of milk. During the year ending June 30,
1917, fourteen cows of the twenty-one milked averaged more
than 4,000 pounds each.

 PRINCIPLES OF FEEDING
 The amount of feed consumed, by the dairy herd should be
considered. However, it will be found that cows of equal size
will consume about equal amounts of feed, regardless of the
amount of milk produced. The important consideration in feed-
ing for economical production is to mix the feeds in the right
proportion. This is one part of the work that the majority of
Florida dairymen seem not to understand. Often, the cost of