SIXTH ANJSUAL YEAR BOOK — PART V. 405 



The first office of the cow was to produce but enough milk to supply 

 the needs of the calf but through man's efforts in breeding, selection, and 

 training we have today the distinct dairy breeds, the modern dairy cow. 

 She has been produced by no element of chance but is the result of well 

 directed aims in breeding, the intensifloatlon of characteristic dairy qual- 

 ites, and the successful mixing of agencies that produce the proper blend 

 for practical utility and dairy ability. 



The Holstein-Friesian, Jersey or Guernsey pure bred sire has been to 

 the dairy interests what the Short Horn, Angus or Hereford pure bred 

 sire has been to the beef producing interests, when crossed upon the 

 cattle of our western and southern ranges, or what the pure bred draft 

 horse has been in improving the offspring of the western bronco, all of 

 which furnish an excellent illustration of the importance of our pure 

 bred animals and their value for the purpose of grading up. 



Now when we consider that a large per cent of the dairy cows in 

 existence, are kept at an actual loss to their owners, we are led to inquire 

 into some of the reasons. In the first place a large per cent of the cows 

 used for dairy purposes are not adapted to the purpose for which they 

 are kept, and in the second place, many never have the opportunity of 

 showing their money earning capacity from the fact of being under-fed 

 neglected and through an indifference and improper management on the 

 part of the owner; and oftentimes when adversity closes his talons upon 

 the resources of the dairy farmer, he himself is to blame by not giving 

 to his business the attention, study and devotion that any other business 

 would require to make it remunerative and successful. 



There may have been a time when the conditions of Iowa and other 

 states of the middle west afforded a place for the dual purpose cow but 

 if so conditions have changed and the time has passed and gone, and the 

 dairyman who is using the beef sire with the idea of producing a little 

 milk and raising a little beef is neglecting favorable opportunities and 

 standing in the way of his own financial advancement. 



Instead of keeping a dual purpose cow to yield forty dollars worth 

 of milk a year, why not feed the special purpose dairy cow that will 

 yield eighty dollars worth? Instead of a dual purpose cow to raise a steer 

 which, at two years old will bring forty dollars, why not keep the 

 special purpose cow that will raise a special purpose dairy heifer, which 

 at two years old wil produce a calf, convert her food into milk, and herself 

 command as high a price upon the market as the steer of the same age? 



It is certainly impossible for a cow to be two things — a first class 

 beef animal and a most profitable dairy cow, because the functions are 

 widely different and the characteristics continually at war with each 

 other. 



At the present high prices of our farm lands I fail to see how we can 

 afford to allow, only in an incidental way, the element of beef to creep 

 into our milking herds and force us to compete with the beef producing 

 interests of the milder climates of the south and west, where lands are 

 cheap and winter stabling is unnecessary. In saying this I mean to offer 

 no disparagement to the man who wishes to grow beef upon these high 

 priced lands, though I do predict, that the production of beef in these 

 sections must eventually be superceeded by the dairy cow. 



