974 Xew York State Dairymen's Association 



N^ov/ the question is how to get those cows. I believe the only 

 practical wav, friends, is to breed them yourselves. I do not 

 believe you will niak(> a success in trviiiij,- to purchase them, ex- 

 cept possibly to get the first start. I believe the farmer must 

 raise them himself. It is largely a question of breeding. I 

 think right here is where the dairy farmer has fallen down badly. 

 lie has not been a good breeder of cattle. As a matter of fact 

 you can count on one hand almost the men's names in the history 

 of the improvement of breeds of live stock, those that have actually 

 improved our domestic animals. Xot everyone can do it; not 

 everyone has the faculty or insight to take a breed of animals 

 and by handling them himself improve the breed. Great breeders 

 are as scarce as great statesmen. One reason why the dairy 

 farmer has not made a success of improving his dairy cattle by 

 breeding is because he has not had a fixed ideal, because he has 

 been trying to breed for too many points, if you please. The 

 trotting horse men in this country have set the example for the 

 dairyman that he should appreciate. You know they do not care 

 whether a trotting horse has a Roman nose or not, they do not care 

 if he is a little ewe-necked, whether his hind legs are models, 

 whether roan, bay, or black — if he can only trot, if he can only 

 ;get in under the wire a little sooner than his neighbors. And 

 ..y^t.we dairymen throw out perhaps the best heifer calf in the 

 herd because her horns are not just exactly right, or her tail not 

 long enough,: or not enoug*!! spots or too many spots, or something 

 of that ,sort. , AVe are losing sight of the esscnitial thing in 

 the dairy cow in trying to get something that pleases our eye by 

 her external appearance. If there is any lesson tliat the coopera- 

 tive testing associations bring home to the dairy farmer it is this 

 question of utility ; it should be the dominant thing for the dairy 

 farmer to breed for. What do I care what the coh^r of a dairy 

 cow is if she will take the feed I grow and give me $2 for it when 

 J could only get $1 if I sold it off the farm ? AVhat do I care 

 Yihcther or not her horns project exactly as I thiidc they should? 

 J- tell you we want to stick to the old adage that handsome 

 is that handsome docs, in the dairy cow. The good horseman will 

 tell you that he never saw a good horse under a poor color. This 

 is the idea that we want to bring out in breeding the dairy cow. 



