ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 441 



time when there will not be a demand for all the good butter that can be 

 produced. 



Thirty-five years ago there were being milked in the United States 11,- 

 000,000 cows. Today there are 22,000,000. During this thirty-five years 

 our population has doubled and in the next thirty-five years we can ex- 

 pect our population to double again. In case it does, one of two things 

 will be necessary if the people of this country are to use dairy products 

 to the same extent per capita as they are now. It will be necessary either 

 to milk twice the number of cows or to double the average production. 

 Milking twice as many cows, or 44,000,000, would add greatly to the drudg- 

 ery, for it will take more labor and they will consume much more feed. 

 All things considered the best solution is to milk the same number of 

 cows and by the use of better methods in caring for our herds by selecting 

 and retaining one or more profitable individuals and by the use of good 

 sires in building up these herds. 



It will not be a difficult matter to induce your cows to yield double 

 their present amount of butter-fat. After that has been done there will 

 still be the possibility of doubling the production again. 



If you could realize the. wonderful possibilities on the farm today for 

 those who will solve just this kind of problem you would be surprised 

 at the wonderful results that can be accomplished. 



I believe that one-third of the 22 million cows being milked in the 

 United States are not any more than paying for their feed, another third 

 are being milked at an absolute loss, which means that all of the profit 

 that is being made from dairying is derived from one-third of the cows 

 while the remaining cows that are now being milked are eating up a por- 

 tion of the profits that this small percentage of individuals are making. 



Were we to allow ten minutes for milking and feeding each of the un- 

 profitable cows that are now being milked in the United States 700 times 

 a year, then divide this time up among the farmers in the United States, 

 we would find that on the average farm some man wastes annually 27.2 

 ten hour days each year. This is practically a month and represents 

 the farmer's vacation, which he does not get. He has chosen to milk dur- 

 ing his vacation period while the business man goes abroad. These are 

 merely facts and all the man who milks cows needs to do to prove them 

 is to join a testing association or begin regularly to weigh and test the 

 milk of his cows. The only reason we are milking unprofitable cows to- 

 day is because we have not realized the value of the milk scales and Bab- 

 cock test, or, in other words, we have not made a study of the individual 

 cow. 



In fact, there are many most excellent lessons that are to be learned 

 about cows, their selection, their feed, care, etc., that can be learned only 

 from the cows themselves, and, as much as I appreciate those lessons 

 which I have learned out of dairy papers, books and in school, the greatest 

 lessons I have ever learned have been taught me by the cow herself. 



In addition to the use of the Babcock test and scales there are many 

 points to be considered in selecting and judging dairy cattle and, 

 using this cow as an illustration, I will try and make plain the essential 



