Bureau of Agkicultuee. 231 



hundred pounds of digestible matter, she prodn(fes eigh- 

 teen pounds of human food, while the pig produces fif- 

 teen; the hen five, and the sheep and steer only three 

 pounds. 



In the round of a year a first-class cow will produce 

 material in her milk sufficient to build up the bodies of 

 three steers, each weighing, twelve hundred pounds. The 

 product from the cow is for sale every day, while the 

 carcass of the steer is marketed but once. This serves 

 to make money come to a dairy farm regularly each week 

 or month. The dairy cow is economical in human food 

 production, because her purpose is to produce milk to be 

 fed her young offspring, and she gives of her substance 

 and resources with the same unselfishness and self-ab- 

 negation that we find evidenced in the case of the human 

 mother. The steer selfishly places his gain under his 

 hide for future use, when the blasts of winter call for 

 their extra toll of warmth. 



Twenty-five years ago the beef, cow held full and 

 undisputed domain in our blue grass pastures. Then 

 the little mild-eyed Jersey cow made her debut in Shelby 

 county. Many wise heads were shaken in denoting that 

 this kind of cattle would not do, and it was said that they 

 would surely contaminate the good blood of the fine 

 Shorthorn herds. But wonderful changes were to take 

 place before the very eyes of the breeders of Central 

 Kentucky. The dairy cow by her efficiency and profit 

 has all but supplanted the beef cows that had to be kept 

 a year for a calf, and that calf was the only salable prod- 

 uct from the cow. As feed increased in price, it cost 

 more to keep a cow, and as a result the cost of keeping 

 beef cows to produce steers became unprofitable. A few 

 farmers thought they could offset the disadvantage suf- 

 fered by the beef cow by milking her for all she was 

 worth, and occasionally we find a dual purpose herd 

 where calves and milk are both produced for sale. But 

 the dairy cow is so much more economical in milk pro- 

 duction, and produces so much more per week and year 

 and year after year, that she is continuing to supplant 

 the cow that carries beef breeding. 



Creameries and buttei factories are being estab- 

 lished in or near every community in the State, and a 



