620 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



figures should be left out, and more space would be necessarily needed 

 for the month and date of the week weighing to be entered. The A. M. 

 and P. M. would need to remain as given. This form of sheet could be 

 extended to cover as many cows, and as many weeks, as desired; but 

 there are two difficulties standing in the road of extending this over too 

 many weighings. One is that a milk sheet becomes filthy and illegible 

 from too long use. The other difficulty applies to the monthly sheet, 

 as well as the long weekly sheet. Where such a long column of figures 

 are to be added it requires a practical hand to do the work correctly, 

 though it appears a very simple proposition. In the case of the monthly 

 record the mistake might not be serious, but were this mistake to be 

 multiplied by seven, as would be the case with the weekly weighings, 

 the mistake would likely become a very serious matter. For these vari- 

 ous reasons it would likely be better to limit the weekly milk sheets to 

 ten weeks at the most. 



Where the sheets for weekly weighings are intended for an indefi- 

 nite time it would be necessary that each one be preserved until the end 

 of the lactation periods, when the totals could be added up, or the totals 

 of each one, as it was. added, could be placed in a yearly record book 

 for this purpose. This record book should give space in its date column 

 for entering the dates of the first and last weighings entered on the 

 sheet. 



COWS AND THE DAIRY. 



C. H. Werder, Before Buena Yista County Farmers' Institute. 



It is a proven fact that no branch of agriculture affords as large 

 and sure returns as a properly managed dairy. It is also a fact that a 

 large percentage of our dairies do not pay as well as they should, which 

 leads to the conclusion that there must be something wrong, and that 

 is a fact. Reforms are needed all along the line in the dairy business 

 and the initial reform must be with the man behind the cow and with 

 him must reform his co-worker, the city, county and state. The dairy 

 business is the one big industry which as yet belongs to the farmers, 

 the one they can control if they want to. Butter and milk prices are 

 yet governed by supply and demand and not by a trust, although pow- 

 ers are at work to pipe-line the business. The main object of this 

 paper is to deal with conditions at home, in this county and state and 

 will tackle first the dairyman, or, to be more correct, the farmer with 

 cows. Every farmers should be a dairyman and make dairying the main 

 issue. He should keep all the cows he, with the help of his own family, 

 can milk. More cows and less land are the surest, if not the quickest, 

 road to independence. To be a successful dairy farmer he must first 

 of all have a natural fondness for cows; he must have good judgment 

 in selecting, breeding, feeding and caring; in short, he must know 

 something about the business. This knowledge is easily acquired by 

 reading books treating on this subject, also by reading such dairy papers as 

 are written by practical and experienced dairymen, and, needless to say, 

 the knowledge acquired must be put • into practice wherever possible. 



