178 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



er cow for weeks produced a pound of fat on six and one-half pounds 

 of grain, with an equal amount of hay and Of ensilage. Thi? is a differ- 

 ence in efficiency of over 40 per cent as measured on the one basis, or 70 

 per cent as measured upon the other. Dairying cannot stand these dif- 

 ferences, and the higher efficiency must be fixed by selection and breed- 

 ing. In the scales and the Babcock test we have a reliable and a ready 

 means of judging cows, and it is the only one that is commercially safe, 

 because it is the only one thai will unerringly discriminate within the 

 margin of a reasonable profit. 



If we are to have cows of the highest efficiency in converting feed into 

 dairy products somebody must give attention to their systematic breed- 

 ing. Who shall it be? Let up suppose that a man sets himself up in the 

 business of raising cows to sell to dairymen. What will be his outfit and 

 conditions? He will need a number of excellent milkers for dams, and a 

 well-bred dairy bull for sire. He will find speedily that he has a surplus of 

 milk, because any good dairy cow will do more than raise her calf. In dispos- 

 ing of this surplus milk he will be a producer of dairy products and the man 

 who started out as a breeder of cows becomes also a dairyman from necessity. 

 As it looks to me the business of dairying and that of producing cows are 

 indissolubly united, and that if they are to be carried on separately 

 it will be at financial loss upon the one hand and at great sacrifice of 

 cows upon the other. 



The professional dairyman has at hand all the material needed in the 

 production of cows save a sire and the inclination to engage in the bus- 

 iness. He must possess himself of both. The shrewdest dairymen are 

 commencing the systematic breeding of cows and others must follow or 

 go out of the business. 



The question is not which cow gives the richest milk, nor which 

 gives the greatest quantity, nor is it which one yields the greatest amount 

 of solids in a year. It is which one yields the most marketable milk or 

 butter or cheese as the case may be from a given amount of food. The 

 question is not how much, but how cheaply can I produce, and only 



