TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 339 



own a scale and a milk record sheet; not only that, but a Babcock test as 

 well, and not only that but that he must use his mind, his pad and his 

 pencil to study the individual cow, her feed requirements, and any other 

 characteristics. 



In fact, be more interested in the cows in his dairy herd than he is in 

 anything else, except his family and his religion. 



President: Our next and last number for the evening will be 

 an illustrated lecture by Prof. Hugh G. Van Pelt, State Dairj^ Ex- 

 pert. This, I believe, is the first opportunity we have had to use any 

 of the fund directly from the state appropriation. This new lantern 

 was bought with part of the money and I understand it is working 

 fine. 



ILLUSTRATED LECTURE. 



PROF. HUGH G. VAN PELT, STATE DAISY EXPERT, AMES, IOWA. 



Ladies and Gentlemen and Fellow Dairymen: 



It is a pleasure for me to be here tonight and to see not only so many 

 buttermakers present but also to see that the dairy farmer or the man 

 who owns the cows is also taking a great interest in this convention. I 

 am sure that to accomplish the results which we are striving for; namely 

 the betterment of dairy products and the increase of their production, ne- 

 cessitates a combination of the efforts of the dairy farmer and the butter- 

 maker. 



It is a known fact that Iowa produces a great amount of butter annual- 

 ly; in fact, her production is at the present time second only to Vv'iscon- 

 sin and it would not be a very difficult matter with the number of 

 cows that are being milked in this state to produce much more butter 

 than we are and to exceed the butter production of Wisconsin, which is 

 not vastly greater even at the present time. The most advisable way to 

 bring these results about, in view of the fact that we are already milking 

 over a million and a half cows, is to increase the average production of 

 the cow that is now being milked. This should not be a difficult task as 

 the average production at the present time is in the neighborhood of only 

 140 pounds of butter-fat per year. It is a known fact that over the state 

 there are thousands of cows producing over 300 pounds of butter a year; 

 hundreds of them, over 400 pounds; scores of them, over 500 pounds; 

 dozens of them, over 600 pounds; and the recently inaugurated Cow Cul- 

 ture Club Contest, which was originated through the liberality of Mr. W. 

 W. Marsh of Waterloo, has shown that there are several cows capable of 

 producing from 60 to 95 pounds of butter per month. Taking these facts 

 into consideration it is not difficult to realize that there must be a great 

 number of cows producing less than 100 pounds of butter per year, con- 

 sidering the value of a pound of butter when marketed and also the pres- 

 ent value of farm land and the high price of food stuffs, it is a known fact 

 that we have a great many cows that do not make any profit whatever. 

 It is apparent, then, that there are many farmers who are paying for 

 the pleasure of milking their cows over 700 times each year. 



