144 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



doubled in a very few years. The greatest hindrance to the suc- 

 cess of the average dairyman is the use of the poorest class of 

 bulls, merely because they are a little cheaper. 



The Holstein bull possesses a vigorous constitution, above, 

 I believe, that of any other dairy breed, hence his value for 

 grading up ordinary dairy herds. Never breed from anything 

 but a thoroughbred registered bull. 



I will give you my experience in building up a dairy herd, as 

 this may interest you, for they are right here in ]\laine and many 

 of you have seen them. I began nine years ago, bought six of 

 the best common cows I could find, and paid $50 apiece for them. 

 I worked along and used scrub bulls and raised a few calves for 

 three years, but I did not get ahead any for the reason that I had 

 no means of knowing what my cows were doing. I mean by 

 this that I did not keep an account with each cow to see what 

 vshe was doing. Six years ago I began to keep an account with 

 my cows. I bought a set of scales and put them in the tie-up, 

 and from that time to the present every cow has had to stand on 

 her own merits. I bought a registered Holstein bull and began 

 to raise my own cows. Today I have about 40 cows and heifers 

 and this fall I won 50 ribbons at the Bangor and Lewiston fairs. 

 My standard when I began was 2,800 quarts a year, and today 

 my two-year-old heifers are averaging 4,000 quarts a year and 

 my mature cows about 5,000 quarts. I am able to get $10 apiece 

 for all my grade heifer calves when a few days old, as against 

 $1 when I was breeding from scrub bulls. My grade bull-calves 

 sell readily for from $5 to $10 at the same age, to feed for veal 

 or raise for steers. I have never sold any of my registered heifer 

 calves because I am getting my whole herd into registered stock, 

 but my thoroughbred bull-calves sell at $30 to $40, when 

 dropped, and I sold one at five months old for $80. Now the 

 only way I ever got started was in knowing first what every cow 

 was doing. Lots of cows start out with a big mess and dry up 

 in a few months, so that they do not pay their keeping. I sell 

 that kind as soon as I find them out, but I never could find them 

 out if I did not weigh their milk. I produce milk for the Borden 

 Condensed Milk Co., their factory being at Newport. They buy 

 milk by the pound, so that I do not test my milk for butter fat, 

 but they test all the milk they buy about once a week and they 

 report that my milk tests on an average about four per cent, 



