FIFTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION 15 



that of the steer contained hair, hoof, the digestible organs, 

 bones and lungs much of which is not edible. Professor 

 Eckles also compared the milk produced by three ordinary- 

 Jersey cows; three Holsteins and three Ayrshires and found 

 that the average production of these nine cows contained 

 nearly twice as much dry matter as did that of the 1250 

 steer. It took the steer two years to grow this carcass and 

 then had to be killed to make it available as food while 

 the dairy cow was ready to repeat her performance for six 

 or eight more years. 



There is another advantage to dairy farming which ap- 

 peals to the farmer — especially to the farmer with limited 

 capital — and that is the quickness and certainty of the re- 

 turns. This is not true of grain farming or even of live- 

 stock farming. In localities where dairying has been gen- 

 erally followed it is usually the case that large barns and 

 commodious homes many of which have all modern conveni- 

 ences are found on farms whose soil is in a high state of 

 cultivation. 



I do not want any one here this afternoon to get the 

 idea that all that is necessary to succeed in the dairy 

 business is to get some cows; turn them out in the corn field 

 and let them hustle for a living. You will never succeed if 

 you proceed in this manner. 



Any one engaged in milking cows on a commercial 

 scale does so with the intention of making money at the 

 dairy business. No one wants to keep cows at a loss or for 

 pleasure. While the possibilities for success in the dairy 

 business are better than in grain farming it is true, however, 

 that not every one engaged in dairying is making money 

 at it. 



There are three essentials to successful dairying, with- 

 out any one of these you will not be likely to succeed. The 

 first essential to economic milk production and profits in 

 the dairy business is good cows that can take the crops we 

 grow on our farms and convert them into milk and butter 

 fat at a profit. The second essential is to feed the cow the 

 right kind of feed and give her the proper care so that she 

 can produce milk economically, and the third is to grow the 



