FIFTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VII 467 



INTERESTING THE CHILDREN. 



In addition to the Farmers' meetings, an effort was made to reach the 

 younger generation. The majority of the county superintendents were 

 glad to comply with the request that the rural schools close for a day 

 and the children be allowed to attend the meetings. It was not an un- 

 common sight to see a country school teacher bring all of her pupils to 

 town in a sleigh or wagon. The students from the country and town were 

 assembled in the high school where lectures were given on the importance 

 of agricultural training with special reference to dairying. 



At the completion of the lectures at the high school, the students ac- 

 companied by the instructors, were taken to the barn where the cattle for 

 the community dairy shows were kept, and instruction given in judging. 

 The cow demonstration was given first to explain the characteristics of 

 the correct type of dairy cow. Then the boys and girls were supplied 

 with directions and all required to compare the class of animals brought 

 before them. After inspecting the animals for twenty minutes, the stu- 

 dents wrote their placing together with the reasons for same, on the di- 

 rections sheets and these were handed to the lecturer in charge. Dis- 

 cussions were then held and all questions answered. 



The business men at the various towns gave prizes for the boys and 

 girls who judged. The students generally were very much interested in 

 the work and expressed a desire to study their agricultural work in school 

 in a similar way. During the winter of 1914 nearly 2,000 boys and girls 

 were reached in this manner. 



WEIGHING AND TESTING THE MILK. 



To be capable of judging and comparing dairy cows is important, but 

 the only definite way to determine the value of a cow is to weigh and test 

 her milk. It was a question as to how this could be introduced to best 

 advantage on the average farm. The work was carried on along the Chi- 

 cago, Burlington & Quincy line in southern Iowa, where the small num- 

 ber of dairy cattle would not permit the organization of cow testing asso- 

 ciations. It was simply a matter of getting some one in as many families 

 as possible started to weighing and testing the milk of the herd. 



It was decided that this could be most efficiently done by inaugurating 

 a milk record contest among the boys and girls betv,een the ages of 

 twelve and twenty years. These age limits were made to insure fair com- 

 petition to all who entered and also to interest those who were in a posi- 

 tion to derive the greatest benefit from the work. It was found easier and 

 more helpful to mould the future of the boy and girl than to change the 

 fixed habits of the father and mother. 



Any boy or girl between the specified age limits who could weigh and 

 test the milk of three or more cows for three consecutive months, was 

 eligible to enter the contest. The contest proper closed in three months, 

 but the contestants were all encouraged to continue the work for at least 

 one year in order to get the entire lactation period of each cow. 



A supply of monthly record sheets, feed standards, and pamphlets con- 

 taining all of the necessary directions for carrying on the work, were 



