CHAPTER VI 



SELECTION OF A BREED 



IN selecting a breed the question to be answered 

 is not how much some individual cow of the breed 

 has produced, but what is the average product per 

 cow of the breed under environment similar to that 

 of the proposed herd. The purchaser must not lose 

 sight of individual merit in the cow he is purchasing, 

 as well as that of her immediate ancestors on both 

 sides. 



A man who expects to follow dairying as a busi- 

 ness needs to employ the same enterprise that he 

 would in any other business. It should be governed 

 by the same rules that control trade generally. Less- 

 ening the cost of production and improving the qual- 

 ity of the product, in this, as in every other business, 

 must be leading principles. The sole purpose in keep- 

 ing the cow is for the conversion of feed into milk, 

 butter, cheese, etc., at a profit. The use of paper and 

 pencil will, in a moment, show the farmer the differ- 

 ence in producing value to him between the cow that 

 produces 200 pounds of butter in a year and the one 

 that, with the same care and feed, will produce 300 

 pounds. In ten years at 20 cents a pound he would 

 be $200 in pocket. An equal difference exists be- 

 tween the cow producing 4,000 pounds of milk and 

 the one producing 6,000 pounds per annum. Dairy- 

 men of to-day have at hand the results of the labor 

 of generations of careful and skilled breeders in the 

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