DAIRY MEETING. 95 



deficiency. It is easy to cut down the feed and lose the profit, 

 after we have had all this foundation expense. 



Successful dairying means better equipment. It seems to me 

 that in a business which demands study, which has so many 

 difiicult and complex problems underlying it, we cannot hope 

 to succeed unless we keep ourselves to the very best, unless we 

 not only provide ourselves with the best cows and feed them 

 right, but also provide the best equipment. I know a dairy farm 

 on which the barn is situated about 20 rods from the house. 

 The house and the barn have been in those locations ever since 

 I can remember. There is a fairly good sized dairy, 20 or 25 

 cows, and all the milk is carried from the barn to the house 

 cellar, where it is separated and the butter made. That man, 

 weary, from his day's work, has to carry that milk day after 

 day and month after month and year after year. It is seldom 

 that we get such a bad condition as that, but this illustrates one 

 of the ways in which we oftentimes work under hampered con- 

 ditions. Of course it is often due to lack of capital, but I 

 believe if we succeed in such a complicated business we must 

 provide the best of equipment, and must give the best of care. 

 Care means more than merely feeding and housing properly, it 

 means the way in which the cow is treated. I have had that 

 impressed upon me always in attending dairy meetings, and I 

 am frank to say that I do not believe I am ready to pay the 

 price. I have not patience enough. We talk about the gentle 

 cow, but I find a good deal of the other disposition in cows. 

 Now it seems to me that if we are not willing to pay the price 

 in all these lines we had better keep out of the dairy business. 

 Have you patience and perseverance enough to meet all these 

 requirements? Of course I am talking mostly to men who love 

 the cow, and they are the men who should handle her. But we 

 who do not love, the cow in the way in which it is necessary to 

 love her in order to succeed, it seems to me had better keep 

 out of the business. It seems to me that unless we are willing 

 to meet all these conditions, to invest the capital and give the 

 intelligent care, look after all the details, the dairy business is 

 an excellent business to keep out of. But for the man who is 

 willing to pay the price, it seems to me there is an admirable 

 field, especially for the man who manufactures his product at 

 home. You can get more money for your cream than for your 



