Vermont Dairymen's Association. 87 



cents reason, and the woman's reason. Yes, we like to sec them 

 nice and slick just as you like to see any living creature clean, 

 and neatly dressed. That is the woman's reason. Then there is 

 another reason: A sense of honor should make us produce this 

 article of human food in the most cleanly way possible. That 

 is the reason. And then there is still another reason : The hard 

 dollar-- and cents side, no humanity in this or anything of the 

 kind. If you should curry that animal, and if }ou should groom 

 her, you will stimulate her circulation and you will have a 

 thriftier, hardier animal and she will be able to work more faith- 

 fully for you and produce a better quality .and quantity of milk. 

 Yes, groom her; handle the udder and familiarize her with the 

 milking process and then when she freshens there will be no 

 tying up, no kicking you off the milking stool and tempting you 

 to say bad things in the barn, — nothing of that kind. She will 

 step around a bit as she hears the milk falling into the pail; but 

 if she knows you are a friend and hears your voice, she will 

 stand quietly; and I have known them in just a day or two to 

 stand there chewing their cuds like an old cow. 



And even now I can't quite leave her. I guess somebody 

 else has the cow a little later on, — but I can't leave her right 

 here, — I won't touch upon the cow, but I must take my heifer 

 one step further, and I am going to ask something dreadful of 

 you Americans. I am going to ask you to go back to_ the old 

 countries and get some of their methods. I know that is pretty 

 hard for an American to swallow ; but I am going to ask you if 

 you ever knew of any of the old countries importing any of our 

 "dairy cattle to their lands, and then I am going to ask how many 

 of their dairy cattle we bring over here and why we do it. I am 

 going to ask you to milk this heifer three times a day. And that 

 is awful. But I am going to tell you why. Didn't you bring 

 her up extraordinary ? Didn't you breed her to give a large flow 

 of milk? And haven't you encouraged her in all those ways 

 to give you a fine yield? And oh, now that she does it, have 

 sense enough to take it from her. Had you left the calf with 

 her, it would have relieved that udder from time to time ; but 

 now she stands there, and if you milk her but twice a day, and 

 she is secreting the milk and it is not taken away from her, 

 it will go through her s)'stem and it will make her feverish and 

 nervous and perhaps she will lose in quantity, and then you will 

 say, "Oh, pshaw ! those pure bred cattle are no good ; they are 

 tender ; they are. no better than common stock ; I don't know 

 why I was ever tempted to go into it." Of course they are no 

 good, if you stop short there. Keep on developing them and 

 see. 



