14 AGRICUVrURK OF MAINE. 



The association work has awakened an interest in dairying 

 in Maine as perhaps no other single move has ever done. It 

 has forced home to the mind of the dairyman the importance 

 of transferring the unit of measure from the herd to the indi- 

 vidual animal and has thus made possible real and lasting im- 

 provement. 



The application of bookkeeping to dairy work has at once 

 elevated it in the minds of dairymen to a business of itself. 



It has re-established cow values and also the value of the 

 offspring. Today there is not a single member of a Dairy 

 Testing Association who cannot sell a good cow from his herd 

 at a far better price because of the record of her dairy value 

 that goes with her. Farmers are willingly paying a premium 

 for such cows. It has caused many farmers to begin to study, 

 to weigh the milk daily from each cow, to weed out the poor, 

 tc breed from the best, to rear the heifer calves instead of sell- 

 ing them for veal. In fact, it has actually caused an uplift to 

 the dairy business throughout the entire state. Primarily it 

 has been the cause of the organization of local breeders' asso- 

 ciations, and through them the organization of a State Breed- 

 ers' Association. 



During the past year two associations have been organized by 

 Assistant Dairy Instructor Redman. The principal hindrance 

 encountered in the organization of Dairy Testing Associations 

 in Maine is the difficulty in securing as official testers young 

 men who have had an Agricultural College training, for this is 

 the prime requisite insisted upon by the members of our asso- 

 ciations and speaks volumes concerning the attitude of our 

 farmers toward the Agricultural College. It is exceedingly 

 unfortunate that the supply of young men available for service 

 as official testers is not greater. 



CO-OPERATIVE BREEDERS' ASSOCIATIONS. 



While I cannot report any extension of organization work 

 among dairy cattle breeders' associations, it is with considerable 

 satisfaction that I can report the organization of a state asso- 

 ciation of breeders under the name of Maine Live Stock Breed- 

 ers' Association, with Hon. C. L. Jones of Corinna as its presi- 

 dent and Mr. R. W. Redman, Assistant Dairy Instructor, as 

 its secretary. Among the membership and officers of the asso- 



