38 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



vicious animal. The dairyman has nothing to fear from her 

 horns or her feet. She is a well-behaved creature, familiar to 

 every farmer, and usually there is nothing suspicious about her 

 manner. But when it comes to remorseless stealing of the breaa 

 from the mouths of the dairyman's family, her tribe may well be 

 classed with the great business sharks that prey upon the people. 

 She has kept the dairymen of this state out of fully five millions 

 of dollars the past year without the slightest shame or nervous- 

 ness. And yet the dairyman follows this cow as though he had 

 never known freedom from such an encumbrance. 



The dairyman who says that dairying doesn't pay is ten to 

 one boarding several cows of that kind in his herd. 



The dairyman is not exactly easy in his mind. That chain 

 is heavy and tight, but he has carried it so long he thinks that 

 burdens belong with dairying, or he lays the blame to ill luck 

 or a poor price for milk ; or perchance he says he cannot afford 

 to keep good cows, forgetting that he could less afford to keep 

 poor or worthless ones. 



But see, the hands of science and the most successful dairy 

 experience have provided him a key to the situation. As soon 

 as ever he sees it — O, that he might see ! — he will make use of the 

 scales and Babcock test and find out what every cow on the place 

 is doing for him — or against him. Armed with that knowledge, 

 he will never follow that pious old fraud of a spendthrift cow 

 again. 



The cow for this dairyman stands behind him. She has 

 learned the knack of turning feed into milk and butter fat. She 

 represents the average production of the best fourth of the dairy 

 cows in Illinois (300 pounds of butter fat per year), and the 

 dairyman should get better acquainted with her. She is a bet- 

 ter cow than he thought. In fact, he has not thought enough 

 about this cow or known how many such are in his herd. He 

 cannot know without using the key — weighing and testing the 

 milk of each cow for the year. He would have a vastly easier 

 time of it if he were tied to this cow, and to this cow alone. And 

 as sure as he uses the scales and test and comes to know each 



