CONKEY'S STOCK BOOK 



STOP THAT Stop that waste. Dairying is a business not guesswork. 

 WASTE All profit in dairying is based on knowledge of the indi- 



vidual cow. 



As a business proposition the rule in dairying is to find out and get 

 rid of the unprofitable cow. 



"GONE AND Iowa has just that! Iowa, the second largest dairy state 

 DONE IT" (New York is first) has just found out by actual tests that 

 her farmers have been patiently milking 500,000 unprofitable 

 cows. This means that in labor alone there has been a useless expense of a 

 year and a quarter's time for something like 10,000 men. Iowa's gone an 

 done it sure! But it's pretty much the same over all this country. We just 

 happen to pick up these figures from Iowa. 



ALL WRONG It proves we were all wrong in what we said above; fact 

 is, in most cases dairying is guesswork not business. 

 Might just as well make it pay. Pay or not, the dairy man can take 

 his choice. 



CHOOSING To begin with, there are two items (shall we say just 

 YOUR COWS one item?) a good individual from a good dairy breed. 

 Breed isn't enough, for cows are in this respect like 

 humans it's the individual that counts. 



Great strides in the betterment of the various breeds have been made 

 by breeders and stock farmers of this country, starting with types already 

 originated in other countries; chiefly in England, Scotland, Holland, and 

 Switzerland, as shown by the names of present well known breeds. These 

 they have developed or occasionally changed to meet special purposes. 

 At first development was mainly with a view to beef, but with the passing 

 of the old cattle king days and the coming of expensive feeding methods, 

 we are bound to give more and more attention to the dairy types. It is 

 proved that a pound of dry feed produces on the average a pound of milk; 

 but it takes fully ten times that amount to produce a pound of beef; (and 

 it is interesting to note that beef requires a third more in ration than a 

 corresponding gain in mutton, and twice as much as a pound of pork). With 

 our modern need for concentrating the industry, and for more economical 

 feeding methods, we have a corresponding increase of attention to dairy 

 cattle as representing the profitable industry. 



THE SHOW RING From the best known breeds select your kind, suit- 



TEST ing your own taste and suiting also conditions of 



pasturage, roughage, etc., with which you have to 



deal. A good milk cow sells for as much as a good horse used to; and a 

 good horse sells for as much as two of the kind did a few years ago. 

 Prepare to pay for what you get. It is easy to find six cows that will 

 yield as much as twelve average, untested cows would. Judge the . cow 

 you buy as would a judge in the show ring. Look for (1) dairy tempera- 

 ment, (2) feeding capacity, (3) constitution, (4) milk organs, (-5) quality, 

 (6) pelvic region. 



THE DAIRY In general appearance dairy cattle are noticeably different 

 TYPE from beef stock . 



Instead of the blocky, rectangular outline, straight back 



and belly lines, look for the well marked "wedge-shape," with less thickness 

 of body, narrower thighs and back, full and heavy behind, with ample udder. 

 In judging for dairy conformation the udder counts 25 points. Fleshiness is 



