TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 341 



than their mothers did and the test of their milk was one-tenth of one 

 per cent less. That is keeping pretty close account of what the herd is 

 doing but it is the only method of conducting the dairy business on our 

 farms so that any progress can be accomplished. 



In the selection and breeding of animals there should be some such 

 definite policy so there would be a certainty of building up the herd rather 

 than going backward, as is the case in so many instances. The very 

 fact that Mr. Gillett knew that the daughters of this young bull were 

 producing milk testing one-tenth of one per cent less enabled him to 

 exchange him for another sire having the ability of producing daughters 

 that would not only produce an amount of milk equally as great as their 

 mothers, but which would also test as rich or richer. 



If you stop to realize, you will agree with me that on the average 

 farm of today we are milking cows that are no better than the cows we 

 milked 16 years ago. I know that the cows being milked 16 years ago 

 were just as good as, and in many instances far better than the average 

 cow we are milking at this time. We have on our farms better horses, 

 better hogs, bettor beef cattle and we use corn harvesters instead of 

 demonstrates the fact that although we are the most progressive people 

 in the world in practically all of our farming operations, we have been 

 corn knives, and grain harvesters instead of sickles or cradles. This 

 allowing the dairy cow to remain a side issue and have ma.de very little 

 if any improvement in her production. 



The time is rapidly coming, however, when we will realize the true 

 value of the dairy cow. We are coming to know that if we are to retain 

 and build up the fertility of our farms we must use more stock, and it 

 is a known fact that the dairy cow retains the fertility to a greater ex- 

 tent than any other class of live stock, and in addition to this she is 

 the most profitable of farm animals. 



It is very interesting to note how rapidly a good dairy herd can be 

 built upon any of our Iowa farms by the use of good sires and careful 

 methods of raising the resulting offspring from year to year. By start- 

 ing with one cow and saving all the female offspring for 21 years, allow- 

 ing that 50 per cent of the offspring are males and also allowing a 10 

 per cent death loss in the herd and among the calves, a herd numbering 

 2,000 head will be the result. The character of this herd will depend 

 entirely upon the character of the cow used as a foundation, upon the 

 character and breeding of the sires used and the carefulness with which 

 the calves have been raised and brought into milk. 



We are starting associations in different parts of Iowa. The object 

 of these associations will be to test herds and determine the profitable 

 and the unprofitable cows. It will enable the farmers who are members 

 to eliminate from their herds the poor cows and fill their places with 

 good ones. Likely a future consideration will be to add community 

 breeding as one of the efforts of these associations. Considering that 

 there are 26 farmers in this association ownmg 400 cows and that they 

 would select from four to six pure bred dairy bulls and use them for 

 ten years, it is wonderful to note the great number of high bred dairy 

 cattle that will be the result at the end of that time. There would be 



