No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Wl 



We want the largest amount of milk for a given amount of feed. 

 The average now produced in this state is 150 to 160 pounds of but- 

 ter fat per cow per year. The average in our college herd for the 

 last six years, running from 22 to 32 cows per year, is 270 pounds 

 per cow.' We do not have pure bred cows, but for 10 or 12 years the 

 college has used the best pure bred sire they could get. Sometimes 

 they have been hindered by lack of money; sometimes because they 

 could not get what they wanted, but they have always used the 

 best sires they could get, and the result is apparent in the yield of 

 fat. I suppose those results could be duplicated on every farm in 

 Pennsylvania, but sometimes we farmers don't know what is good 

 for us until some one comes along and sticks it under our noses. 

 Then we see the advantage of breeding pure bred cattle and of get- 

 ting the record of what the cows are doing, and of bringing these 

 things to the notice of the farmers. If there is any man who wants 

 help of this kind most, it is the man with scrub cows. When we can 

 get in touch with him, we will be doing just what the man did who 

 went out on the Texas range with his surplus of registered bulls did 

 to improve the beef cattle from the plains. Often you don't know 

 what to do with a bull calf, so you kill him or give him away. If he 

 has a mother that has a good butter fat record, that is the last thing 

 you ought to do. It will pay to raise him, and get more of the pure 

 bred sires into the common herds of the State. 



I want to urge upon you the necessity of keeping a record of the 

 butter fat of each cow. You have to keep that cow 365 days in the 

 year. What does she give you for it? I can show you records of 

 men who are not getting a dollar's worth of milk for a dollar's 

 worth of feed, and I have seen cases where they only received 99, or 

 70, or 80, or 90 cents' worth for a dollar's worth of feed. They have 

 the same kind of feed, and they have the same kind of stock; what 

 they need is a record of what each cow is doing, so as to eliminate 

 those from the herd that are not paying. There is not a man of you 

 bnt would require of a man five dollars in change for a five dollar 

 bill, yet there are many of you here who are keeping cows that are 

 giving |30 worth of fat in a year in return for $29 to |32 worth of 

 feed, when you might be getting |50 or |60 worth. Keep your 

 records, and then add a little more care in the handling and feeding 

 of that cow, and see what the results will be. 



To go back to the Dairy Union a little bit. I have two or three 

 suggestions to submit: I hope the Nominating Committee, in se- 

 lecting the officers, will bear in mind to select men who will help 

 push along the work, so that it will develop into larger usefulness. 

 The only object of this association is to help the dairy interests of the 

 State. It is by developing the industry as a whole that we help 

 ourselves. You know we are all a little selfish, and what helps the 

 union helps us. One man may not be able to do much, but if each 

 man is willing to do his little part we will have strength and energy 

 enough to carry the great work along. I would like to see in another 

 year, two days given up to the discussion of strictly dairy subjects, 

 such as butter tests, pure bred herds, scrub cows, cheese making, 

 butter making, starters, butter scoring, etc., all of which we can 

 use to advantage. 



I would like to see ft lar^e e]?:hibjt. It was with fear and tremb- 



