FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IV. 295 



Friday Afternoon Session. 



Meeting called to order at 1:30 P. M. by Vice-President 

 Barney. 



The Chairman: I believe Mr. Shilling explained to you this 

 morning that it will be impossible for Governor Cummins to be 

 with us today. On account of his illness, I understand, he is 

 obliged to cancel all his engagements. However, we have a 

 gentleman with us who is well known to the dairymen of the 

 entire West. He has perhaps done as much for the dairymen of 

 Illinois as any man that has taken an interest in the affairs of 

 that State. I have the pleasure of introducing to you this after- 

 noon Prof. W. J. Fraser, of Urbana, Illinois. 



BREEDING UP THE DAIRY HERD. 



PROF. W. J. FRASER, URBANA, ILLINOIS. 



3Ii'. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen— It gives me great pleasure lo 

 come over here to Iowa to see you people and tell you a little about what we 

 are doing over in Illinois with cows, and of course whatever we are doing 

 there with cows applies here. 



This is a time of great agricultural advancement and improvement. The 

 past few years have witnessed intense activity in all phases of scientific and 

 practical agriculture, and especially in animal husbandry. What the effect 

 of this great development is to be is a question still unanswered. This much, 

 however, seems clear; as farming in all its different branches becomes more 

 specialized and the conditions confronting farmers more complicated, a 

 greater amount of skill is required and the more ignorant will be forced into 

 the simpler occupations. A time of such intense agricultural development 

 must necessarily be a critical one, especially for the more difficult and in- 

 tricate branches which require the most skill, such as the successful breed- 

 ing of dairy cattle. 



During the past thirty or forty years many valuable dairy animals have 

 been imported to this country. At least four distinct dairy breeds have 

 been bred and developed until it is generally conceded that we have as good 

 dairy animals in this country as any place in the world. The question I 

 wish to bring to your attention is, what is the condition of the dairy cattle 



