MUST YOU KEEP A COW 79 



fat per year were fed at a cost of seventy-nine cents 

 per hundred pounds of milk (a quart of milk is 

 2.12 pounds) while those assaying less than two 

 hundred pounds of butter-fat ate a dollar and 

 thirty-nine cent's worth per hundred weight of 

 milk. 



The only question in my mind was which of 

 several good breeds to pick. The controlling fac- 

 tor in my decision was this: it does not pay to 

 keep a bull in a small family herd. Even if it did 

 I should not be keen about it. They tell me that 

 in Pennsylvania alone there is an average of a 

 man a week killed by bulls. The place to keep 

 bulls is on big dairy farms where they are in steady 

 use, and where the investment in safe, adequate 

 housing and breeding pens is warranted. The small 

 herd-owner's choice should therefore be of that 

 breed which predominates in his immediate neigh- 

 borhood. Which is a good point to consider in 

 selecting the breed of any farm animal, for it is 

 usually true that the popular breed is also one 

 that "does well" in the locality. 



For me this meant Guernseys. That was all 

 right too: the Channel Island breeds are produc- 

 ers of comparatively small quantity but exceed- 

 ingly high quality. Beyond a certain minimum of 

 milk, what is wanted most for family use is cream. 

 The less milk that has to be handled to get it the 



