384 Missouri Agrimdhiral Report. 



turn up their noses at that sum. Let us say it takes $30 a year to 

 keep the 150-pound "critter" and three times that sum, or $90, to 

 maintain the 1,000-pound blue-blooded and we still are something 

 like $20,000 better off. The difference is probably greater. The 

 150-pound fellow is a shiftless cuss and does well to get 30 cents 

 per pound for his "salve," while the 1,000 gentleman works his head 

 and gets 35, maybe 40 cents for his golden ingots. The Lord cer- 

 tainly has a weakness for helping those who help themselves. If 

 as a dairyman you have not the sense to appreciate the significance 

 of this better machine matter, you had better shut up shop and 

 quit, for that will be the final result of your competition with the 

 fellow who does. Consumers now are howling against high prices. 

 It is out of the question to try to force them any higher, so your 

 margin of profit must come from the better cows and cheaper raw 

 material. 



In cheapening his raw material the modern farmer has a wide 

 field in which to exercise his skill and judgment. Here he has an 

 advantage over the industrial factory, in that he can produce his 

 own raw material. It involves improved cultural methods in the 

 field, handier barn arrangements, better sanitary conditions for the 

 cows, and economically compounded grain rations. The silo, 

 alfalfa hay and cottonseed meal for the Southerner, or linseed for 

 the Northerner are the keys. With these, the dairyman can prac- 

 tically dispense with the high-priced bran, of which he has bought 

 so much in the past. I know personally of several dairymen near me 

 who now, since putting up silos, have, by the use of small amounts 

 of cottonseed meal, dispensed with bran, cheapened their rations 

 and are getting better results than formerly. It is a case of putting 

 up a silo or being put out of business by competition. It is no 

 longer a time for discussion but a time for action. A cut of five 

 cents per day on the ration for a cow is not too much for some of 

 us. In a herd of 100 cows it means $5 per day, $1,825 per year. I 

 can't stand that loss, can you? Dairying is like the packing industry, 

 in that it is the little savings which combine to put the balance on 

 the good side of the ledger. 



Prof. Brandt has suggested that I be egotistical and talk about 

 myself. It's the best thing I know of to talk about, but I doubt if it 

 will be the most profitable to you. The Hosmer dairy farm has 

 been held up as being the very epitome of all that is good in dairy 

 work. Now I know it has fallen short of the possible perfection. 

 Fifteen years ago its barns were up-to-date. But time moves on 



