Thirty-sixth Annual ^Convention 975 



We want to breed for utility, for animals that can do things ; not 

 animals that ^hine in the show-ring. 



The cooperative cow testing association places dairying on a 

 business basis. You charge every cow with the feed consumed 

 and you give her credit for her dairy products, and at the end 

 of every year you balance the ledger. If she makes a profit she 

 is worthy to be kept in your herd ; if not she is unworthy. 

 That is the way the sucessful trotting horse man does. AVe 

 know the wonderful improvement of trotting horses in this 

 country. AVe know their development, and they have been 

 bred for the one purpose — speed. We want to breed cows for 

 one purpose — economical production. The cow that can take the 

 feed which we produce upon our farms and turn it into milk and 

 butter, and make the greatest profit, is the best cow, and I do not 

 care whether she is marked according to the scale of points for 

 that particular breed or not, or what breed she belongs to. The 

 cow that will make the best profit, like the horse that can win the 

 race, is the one for us to select for future breeding purposes. It 

 is utility, not looks, that count — I was going to say it is not an- 

 cestors we want, and yet we cannot go back of them. We know 

 that ancestors count and we should select animals whose ancestors 

 have been productive cows and have excelled, because we know 

 that we are more likely to get heifers out of such animals that 

 will make a profit. And we discard others entirely and only breed 

 from those: and yet we must have a right examination of each 

 individual, we must keep a record of each individual and select 

 onlv those which are of the greatest value to us in a business way, 

 as the dams of the future members of our herds. 



The dairy sire is half the herd; he may be more. We have 

 made a great mistake in the selection of dairy sires and their use. 

 Many of us for years have tested the dairy cows through the pail, 

 the practical test, but we have not tested the sires. We have pur- 

 chased them entirely upon their breed, pedigree, and individual- 

 ity, and have not put them through the In-ceding test. No man 

 ought to breed his herd to a young sire simply because he is an 

 extremely well-bred animal, or because he is almost perfect as an 

 individual and backed up by breeding. Those are valuable qual- 

 ities, but they are not the most valuable qualities. The question 



