STATE DAIRY ASSOCIATION. 349 



same milker milking the same cow, and the cows miiKed and fed regu- 

 larly and in the same order each time. 



KIND TREATMENT A POTENT FACTOR. 



Buy the best cow you can and give her all the feed in the land and 

 a warm stable, but yell at her, beat and abuse her, and you will get but 

 httle milk from her. There is no more essential thing connected with 

 successful dairying than kind and gentle treatment of the cows. You 

 "have not reached the proper point in this respect until you can walk 

 through your herd in the lot, swinging a stick and not a cow get out of 

 your way. This is not dreaming, but is an accomplished fact at my 

 place, and I can tell you that we are well paid for it, too, and any of you 

 can do the same. 



I have briefly touched the six key-notes, which, if you will study 

 and make a part of your business, are sure to bring you success. But 

 I would not have you believe that when you follow these suggestions 

 your success will be without a set-back. You are going to meet with 

 disappointments ; some of your favorite cows are likely to be found un- 

 profitable ; some of them are sure to drop heifers that, after much care 

 and attention, will disappoint you ; some of your breeding crosses will 

 not prove a success. But all of these will only make you the keener in 

 your business, and will only make your ultimate success that much more 

 satisfactory to you. To me (and I think you will find it so to you) the 

 breeding part of the dairy business is the most interesting. Yet we have 

 a class of dairymen (none of whom are likely in this assembly) whose 

 only policy is to buy, milk and then kill. Had I the time I would like 

 to pay my respects to this class of dairymen, but will only take time to 

 say that I have no use for such a policy, even though it may make more 

 cold, hard cash, but this policy also does its utmost to destroy the dairy 

 industry, and if followed to any great extent generally it would destroy 

 it. By all means raise your best calves ; you will find you can raise 

 much better cows than you can buy, and you will also be doing good to 

 the whole community. 



Before closing this paper I want to give you one example of breed- 

 ing, and you will pardon me for taking it from my own herd, but it 

 illustrates a point which I wish to bring out. When I was about twelve 

 years old I began breeding grade Jerseys, the first cow bought being 

 represented as a seven-eighths Jersey, and I then ha^ access to a first- 

 class Jersey sire. For some years my breeding of this family was quite 

 successful, and when I grew older I began selecting the sire more care- 

 fully. But upon one occasion a descendant of this old cow was taken 

 from my herd and crossed with a Jersey bull that was supposed to be a 



