THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IX. 501 



commendable udder development. Organizations of representative breeders 

 of dairy cattle have themselves modified their low ideals in dairy cows for 

 the past twenty-five years. I find a leading Ayrshire breeder quoting a 

 record of 7,500 for Ayrshire and 4,366 for Jerseys, the cattle being owned 

 by the same man in Maine. A leading Illinois dairyman at a State Dairy 

 association says: "I have so improved my herd that my present average is 

 266 pounds of butter. Alvord in early days mentions Jerseys giving 4,700, 

 and a Native 5,300 pounds of milk. Another prominent reader and dairyman 

 has said: "I would not keep a cow that gave less than 5,000 pounds of milk." 

 Examples like these could be multiplied. I wish thus to emphasize the fact 

 that our average ideal cow of twenty-five years ago is the average out- 

 cast of today, at least among the more wide awake men. I doubt very 

 much if any country in the world has made as rapid improvement in dairy 

 breeds as has the United States. The systems of advanced registry of 

 registered cows, as adopted by the breeders of dairy cattle is certainly 

 commendable. No one can question the accurancy of their tests. Experi- 

 ment station representatives are required to see the cows milked. I 

 find for the month of December, 1902, 22 cows 7 years old averaged 422 

 pounds of milk and 14.53 pounds of fat one week, 24 two-year-olds averaged 

 286 pounds of milk and 9.21 pounds fat, and 70 averaged a fat test of 3.35, 

 and an average of 54 pounds of milk per day; 633 cows, made up of 165 

 two-year-olds, 65 two and three-fourths year olds, 117 three-year-olds, 95 

 four-year olds and 191 seven-year-olds averaged 14.15 pounds of butter 

 per week on an average fat test of 3.38. These are Advanced Registry 

 Holstein Frisian cows. 



It is indeed to be regretted that any experiment station in the United 

 States, and there are sevaral should have ever started to teach the cost 

 of production of milk and butter for a period of one or five years, with a 

 large number of cows of small productive capacity, uncertain breeding and 

 inferior conformation. The same valuable lessons, with a smaller number 

 of inferior cows and a larger number of well bred representative animals 

 would in five or ten years time have proved an object lesson worth ten 

 times the money to the rural population and the station itself. You may 

 say that this statement is biased and made in the interest of the repre- 

 sentative breeders of dairy cattle. I believe I speak without bias, for I 

 have no interest in any way in any breed. Surely, directly and indirectly 

 the Jersey, Guernsey and Holstein breeders have been more influential 

 than all other forces combined in improving our ideals of a cow. We 

 want no 5,000 five per cent fat cows. We want today 8,000 pound five per 

 cent fat cows, 10,000 four per cent, and 15,000 3.25 per cent cows in our 

 dairies. Get them if you want to. They are probably worth $100 to $150. 



The majority of the business transactions made in the purchase of 

 dairy cows is made on the assumption that but little dependence is to 

 be placed on the so-called good points of a cow. They want size, short 

 tail and long teats. Size, because they warm up the barn, short tail for 

 fly time convenience and long teats so that in case the milk hauler is 

 but a block away they can hurry business by putting the two youngest on 

 the same teat. "If dat cow make me von calf and I sell dot calf for fler 



