182 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



creamery and two from another. I think the ultra conser- 

 vatism mentioned by the speaker is demonstrated. 



Secretary Sessions. I want to say that anybody can 

 lead a horse to water, but it is not everybody who can 

 make him drink. 



Prof. F. S. Cooley (of Amherst). I believe that I have 

 a peculiar right to say a word on this occasion, from the 

 fact that I also am connected with dairy education. I am 

 connected with the Agricultural College dairy school and 

 the department of animal husbandry and dairying. I am 

 connected with the dairy business as a farmer and a pro- 

 ducer of milk and cream. I am interested in the sale of 

 these products in the retail market, and what I want to say 

 is in hearty support of all that has been said and by way 

 of special emphasis on a couple of points that have been 

 brought out. I believe the last speaker had one of these 

 points in mind when he called for better cows. I have had 

 my classes figure out in a business way the difference 

 between a good cow and a poor one. The average cow for 

 Massachusetts — which, by the way, is the same as the 

 average cow for Vermont — costs about $40 a year for her 

 keeping, at the present market price of feeds, and her 

 return is not far from $37.50. She is therefore kept at a 

 loss of $2.50, plus the interest on the output. There is a 

 greater difference between good and poor cows than the 

 farmers realize. A cow must pay an income of 6 per cent, 

 taxes at 2 per cent, shrinkage at 25 per cent on the differ- 

 ence in the value of the animal ; and we find that a cow 

 that will make 8,000 pounds of milk on that basis is worth 

 $190 as quickly as the average cow is worth $25 ; a cow 

 that will make 7,000 pounds of milk is worth $145 ; and a 

 cow that will make 5,000 pounds of milk is worth almost 

 $100. She will pay the interest, taxes and shrinkage 

 quicker than the 150 pound butter cow will on $25. That 

 is one thing. 



I do not advocate pure-bred cows for the general farmer, 

 — grade cows are just as good; but I do advocate the use 

 of a pure-bred bull in all cases. The saying is that "the 

 bull is half the herd." That is not so, — at least, it should 

 not be so. If you have cows of mixed breeds or native or 



