WiLkT A COW SHOULD YIELD.
A point of great interest is the steady growth in yield of the cows. For myself I had just been investigating—for a separate purpose—the history of the first co-operative move- ment in Denmark fifty years ago ; and find remarkable resemblances between Mr. Hosier's and the Danish figures in regard to the improvement of the stock. His first 80 cows gave an average yield of 633 gallons in 1922. His 210 cows gave an average of 725 in 1926-7. These are rather lower than Danish figures, though the ratio of improvement is very nearly identical. In a really good dairy herd the average should exceed 700 gallons and may exceed 800, even, as Mr. Hosier shows, if the cows are kept out of doors all the winter and fed inexpensively on sparing amounts of concentrate. It is interesting to note that incidentally he thoroughly endorses the new theory of the scientific use of grass. "Close grazing is very necessary. . . . The more my pastures are worked, the more they respond. . . . I can almost say I get eight nionths' summer and four months' winter [grazing]."
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