VAN PELT'S COW DEMONSTRATION 



It is estimated that out of the 22,000,000 cows that are 

 being milked on farms in the United States there are 14,- 

 000,000 that are entirely unproductive of profits. Half of 

 these would make a profit were they properly fed and cared 

 for. The other half, or 7,000,000 cows, are unprofitable be- 

 cause they belong to one of two classes of cows either 

 poorly bred or miserable individuals. 



In dealing with a description of cows and the building 

 up of the herd to more profitable proportions the subject 

 must be confined largely to the same economic, commercial 

 and business-like basis that the manufacturer uses in select- 

 ing machines for his factory. 



True, the dairy cow is more than a machine. She is a 

 living, highly nervous and rather sentimental being and in 

 a great degree governed by the force of habit. These traits 

 she possesses and, in addition, if a good cow, all the qualities 

 of an efficient, durable and capacious machine. 



It is, therefore, significant that the manufacturer of dairy 

 products has a task even greater than the manufacturer of 

 any other class of commodities. He must not only com- 

 mercialize his efforts as do other manufacturers but in ad- 

 dition he must cater to the individual traits of each living 

 machine on his farm factory. 



When the farmer finally realizes that in reality the farms 

 of this country are its greatest factories; that every animal 

 is there for the same purpose as the machine in any other 

 factory, and that every machine must do its part well if 

 the factory is to be a source of gratification and large dividends 

 to its owner, then, and not until then, will all cows milked 

 on the farm be a source of profit to their owners; and not 

 until then will the farm boy lose his desire to move to town 

 and work in factories of another sort for a few cents per 

 hour. Both the farmer and his son will then realize that of 

 all factories the greatest dividends and interest on invest- 

 ments are returned by the factory the roof of which is the 

 sky and the walls of which are the horizon. Because of this, 

 and because of the human interest in commercialism, this 

 book will deal with the cow more largely from the stand- 

 point of a machine in the factory than from that of breed 

 characteristics. 



[9] 



