ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. • 57 



Now please tell what sense there is in keeping cows when we 

 know there is no profit, — or I might say what sense is there in 

 one not knowing what cows pay us a profit and which cows do 

 not pay a profit. No other business in this country would stand 

 the lack of intelligent work that our dairies do. I believe there 

 is more need of intelligence in dairying than in any other line of 

 farm work. There is no point in which there is not an equal 

 need of intelligence, and when it comes to the point of figuring 

 the profit or of studying to increase the profit, there is more room 

 than any other place in the whole line of agriculture. Why 

 more dairymen do not improve these opportunities to help them- 

 selves I am at a loss to understand. No manufacturer could 

 withstand the competition he has to contend with if he left un- 

 improved opportunities, like most dairymen are doing, in 

 not testing their cows and knowing what each cow is doing 

 for them. Did you ever think of the farmer as a producer, 

 as he is in growing his crops, in which work there is use 

 for great practical knowledge and skill. Next, as a manu- 

 facturer, as he is when he employs his farm animals to manu- 

 facture his coarse fodder and grain into milk, beef, pork, etc., 

 and with the dairy as he manufactures, as he does in some 

 cases, his milk into butter and cheese. Next, as a salesman, 

 as he must be when he sells these products of the farm. It 

 seems plain to me that the successful dairyman of the future 

 must be the brightest, brainiest man of the whole list. He must 

 be a master of details. I wish to impress upon you the com- 

 parative profit of cows that make 250 pounds of butter annually 

 and those that make more. The 250 pound cows leave fifty 

 pounds for profit and the 300 pound cows leave 100 pounds for 

 profit or twice as much as the 250 pound cow, and she is worth 

 twice as much — yes she is worth more than that. If 

 properly bred she will bear calves that will make 300 pound 

 cows or better. We certainly should weed out the cows that 

 are getting us in debt, after which we should and would continue 

 to weed out until we get a profitable dairy. 



When I first tested my dairy the average make of butter per 

 cow was I 50 pounds, and this testing was done by setting each 



