ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 29 



cows on 160 acres of land. The number is fiot so small but that they are 

 worth bothering with, nor so many that they were so much of a care that 

 they interfered to any extent with ordinary farm operations. 



The average dairy should have ten or twelve cows. I venture to say 

 that no farmer who takes that number of cows and gives them a fair chance 

 for two years, will attempt to farm without them. 



There are a few things that must be borne strictly in mind to start with, 

 or the cows soon become a nuisance. First the milking must be considered 

 part of the day's work. 



The average farmer keeps a hirtd man, and no man should be asked to 

 do more than a good day's work. Plan your work so that you are done for 

 the day at 6 o'clock, milking include d. You will get more during the season 

 than you would to work a couple of hours later each night. I think most 

 of my neighbors quit work at 6 o'clock, and those who do milking do it after 

 that. No wonder the milking is a task, and the hired man won't milk. The 

 milking of ten or twelve cows is an half hour's work for two persons, and no 

 hour's work during the day will pay better. Ten or twelve cows are not so 

 many but that one person can milk them in case of necessity. This is quite 

 an item to be considered, as there are times when it is necessary for the 

 proprietor or his help to be away. The average farmer must make up his 

 mind to the fact that he cannot mak e anything by making up his butter. 

 The creamery has come to stay. It has become a necessary part of our 

 farming conditions. There are some abuses connected with the system, but 

 these can be overcome if the farmers work together to correct them. 



A well equipped creamery, with an intelligent and honorable business 

 man as manager, is a blessing to a community. The farmer's wife has not 

 the strength, time nor conveniences for making butter. There are very few 

 farmer's wives who can see the necessity of proper conveniences, and if 

 they do, will get along with some makeshift instead of spending the money 

 for things that a man would not hesitate to buy. A man with a dozen cows 

 can better afford to spend the time studying the care and feed of them than 

 to make the butter. The creamery can make the butter at one-third the 

 cost for labor, and several cents per pound better in quality, to say nothing 

 of the extra butter fat that it will get out of the milk. 



