978 New Yokk State Dairymen's Association 



Another thing we do not take into account. Tf we try to farm 

 without stock and sell all of the crops, every now and then wo will 

 have crops that have not the largest market value. In ])arts of 

 ]\richigan this year we had in July nearly twelve inches of rain- 

 fall just when harvesting clover hay, wheat, etc. You know what 

 that means. You know that a large part of our clover hay was 

 damasi'ed and if wo wanted to sell it we could not. Its feedinc; 

 value is a great deal larger than the market price would l)e. We 

 are charging that to the cows at just as much as we would if it 

 had not got wet. So many times we find these conditions on the 

 farms. By having dairy cattle on the farm they will take these 

 products even though they have been injured a little by bad 

 weather, and give you a ready cash market for them and a profit 

 in growing them. 



I am not going to dwell this morning upon the care of the dairy 

 cow. That has been talked about a great deal. It is a simple 

 matter. All you want to do is to make her comfortable. If the 

 dairy cow is not happy she will not respond to the feed and bring 

 in the returns you ought to have. All you have to do is to make her 

 happy and comfortable, keep her in a dry, well-lighted, well-ven- 

 tilated, wann bam, feed her properly, and milk regularly, and 

 she is happy. She does not care whether the barn costs hundreds 

 or thousands of dollars, if you will only j^rovide these conditions. If 

 3'ou have made money so that you can afford to build a nicer home 

 than your neighbor, I admire that spirit. I like to see the great 

 barns and the nice houses on the farms and I think we all ought 

 to have them. But I do not think we ought to do that until we 

 make the money to do it with. We know we can get just as good 

 results without the large investment as with it. I would rather 

 put the money into a nicer home than to put it in a bank. I 

 believe that it would be a better investment for the future of agri- 

 culture. 



I want to call your attention to just one thing more, and that is 

 the question of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is simply a barn dis- 

 ease. If you have it in your herd and allow it to stay there you 

 are entirely to bhiiiie for it yourself, and nobody else. 1 want to 

 say to you that it is only a (piestion of a little time before the 

 people in the city of Xew York, in every great city, are going to 



