ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 33 



believe in the silo, and roots. The reason why a good many 

 cows of all breeds do not milk profitably is that they are not fed 

 properly for milk. 



Until within ths last century there were no special breeds of 

 dairy cattle, in England. The ancients had superstitious views 

 about eating the flesh of the ox; the Hereford and the Short- 

 horn was the most universally used and highly prized dairy 

 cow of England until within the last half century. So that 

 there is back of these beef breeds some dairy hereditary yet, 

 but it has largely been neglected of late. In this country we 

 have been breeding almost exclusively for beef. I th'nk I have 

 referred to the characteristics that go to make up a good dairy 

 cow sufficiently, except that perhaps I have not emphasised the 

 importance of the spare thigh. A spare thigh is a necessary ac- 

 companiment of a good udder. A full round beefy thigh is 

 absolutely incompatible with a good udder. The one precludes 

 the other. 



A good dairy cow must also be lean and angular and entirely 

 free from a tendency to lay on flesh at the expense of milk produc- 

 tion. She must be a cow that gives evidence of a strong nervous 

 force, she must be nervous only in the sense of having a highly 

 developed nerve organization, not in the sense of being restless. 



I believe it will be a matter of profit to us to study these 

 characteristics and make the most of them in all cases regardless 

 of the breed that we may be using, and that it is not so much a 

 matter of what breed we are going to use, as it is what we are 

 going to do with the cow in the breed that we may select. As 

 I say if we wish to go into special dairying then by all means 

 use the special dairy breeds, but if the conditions are such 

 as to recommend the adoption of dairying and beef-maiing 

 combined, then we have breeds that are suited to that pur- 

 pose and whatever the breed we use, it is a question of 

 selection and feed and developing intelligently and with, the 

 utmost care and thoroughness. 



I thank you, gentlemen. 



