408 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



for a wider raargm of profit, made the matter of closer selection and 

 improved producing capacity in the dairy cow imperative. 



I have spolien in flattei^ng terms of the dairy cow and her relation 

 to agricultural advancement and prosperity, but even if every farme'r 

 in America wished to engage in dairying, this fact would not increase 

 the number of existing cows, and if every dairyman wished to purchase 

 better ones, it would not increase the number of good cows a single 

 animal, and since selection only tends to weed out the poor ones, if there 

 is to be any general improvement in dairy function it must come through 

 breeding as a means of grading up. 



I believe it both possible and practical within a very short time, with 

 proper care, the more liberal and intelligent use of food stuffs, and- 

 the use of the pure bred sire of some of the distinct dairy breeds 

 upon the milking herds of this country, for the dairy farmer to materially 

 increase our milk, butter and cheese product with a wider margin of profit 

 to the producer, and still reduce the number of milch cows of the country 

 at least 40 per cent. 



But I fear too many of us fail to notice the dollar in the distance in 

 our eagerness to procure the penny that drops at our feet and to many, 

 the sum of one hundred dollars or more expended in a good sire seems 

 an extravagant waste, but I will say as I have intimated before, that 

 the approved pure bred sire has been the salvation of all live stock 

 improvement, and though I would sound the warning note against the 

 pedigreed scrub, yet as a means of raising the standard of performance 

 of the dairy cow, I firmly believe it highly essential for our dairymen 

 to keep constantly at the head of their herds, carefully selected pedigreed 

 sires of some of the distinct dairy breeds. Animals selected from a long 

 line of producing ancestry, where dairy function and milk producing 

 ability have become fixed characteristics. By the use of the dairy sire 

 and the selection of the heifer calves from the best producing dams, 

 a marked increase in dairy capacity will be noted, through the prepotency 

 of the sire, as a result of the first cross. The second, third and subse- 

 quent crosses tend to intensify the qualities we seek, strengthens the 

 blood lines for dairy utility, and though failures may creep in at times 

 through atavism and reversion, the general tendency will be to lead us 

 gradually up to a higher standard of performance; a standard up and 

 away from the cow of ordinary dairy ability with which we started, and 

 so the question, will we neglect this great proposition of breeding, or 

 will we use a little foresight and learn to know that "like produces 

 like" and that a higher standard of excellence means to us increased 

 profits and less toil? 



I believe that size accompanied by a certain degree of refinement is 

 a desirable characteristic of the dairy animal, and also a desirable char- 

 acteristic of certain families of the different breeds, not because of 

 any additional hardiness in connection with it, but because of the 

 increased capacity of the animal. And again I can conceive of nothing 

 more disastrous than a practice that would tend to undermine the con- 

 stitutional vigor and stamina of the dairy cow, hence in the matter 

 of feeding, selecting and breeding these become important points and 

 should merit our most careful consideration. 



