DAIRY MEETING. 1 39 



HOW TO BREED AXD CARE FOR A PROFITABLE 



DAIRY HERD. 



By W. S. Keexe^ Boston. 



I am glad of the privilege of being with you this afternoon, 

 ^nd by the consent of your chairman I am going to add to my 

 topic and speak to you on 'How to Breed and Care for a Profit- 

 able Dairy Herd,'' also "AVhy I Believe the Holsteins are the 

 Most Profitable Dairy Breed." 



I fully realize that the Holsteins are not the favorite breed 

 Avith most of you Maine dairymen, but that is not the fault of 

 the breed, it is the lack of knowledge on your part as to their 

 dairy qualities. You have been told by the friends of other 

 "breeds that the Holstein cow gave skim-milk, and you as dairy- 

 inen should avoid them as you would a pestilence. 



Now, my friends, I take it for granted that you are in the 

 ■dairy business for profit. If you are you do not want to let 

 sentiment enter into your business : you do not want to get 

 married to a particular breed because your father bred them 

 years ago or because they are the prevailing breed in your 

 neighborhood, unless they are paying you a profit : if they are, 

 stick to them, if they are not. dispose of them. The time has 

 come when the cows that will not make over 200 pounds of butter 

 or give over 4,000 pounds of milk in a year must go. Why? 

 Because they are not paying their board, and I believe the farm- 

 ers of this good old State of Elaine are too bright and smart 

 to keep a cow for her company, especially when they can get one 

 Avhose company will be much more agreeable, that will pay them 

 a profit. 



Holland, the richest agricultural country in the world, has 

 been made such by its cattle, the Holsteins. It could hardly be 

 otherwise than that. A thousand years of careful breeding, 

 weeding and feeding, should result in a race of cattle taking a 

 front rank as profitable producers. Prof. Roberts, of Cornell 

 University, in addressing a dairymen's convention said : "Here 

 are a people occupying lands which are seldom sold for less than 

 $500 an acre, frequently $1,000 and upwards, producing butter 



