182 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



of maternity for years, and then wondered why there was no pro- 

 fit in the business. 



When Mr. Mason told what his cows were doing, a man 

 over there went this way (whistled.) This thing will make a 

 good many of you whistle. Whistle away, some of you doubt- 

 ing Thomases. If you could go back with me for 300 years and 

 see those little dun-colored cattle of Old England, giving hardly 

 enough milk for the calf, and I should tell you that in 300 years 

 we would have a cow giving 1000 lbs. of butter in a year, you 

 would whistle too, but the cow Sunbeam did that. Think of 

 Abe Lincoln. If you had seen him when he was a boy, and some 

 one had told you he would live to be the President of the United 

 States, you would have whistled at that. And your whistling 

 won't prevent Mason getting better cows and larger profits than 

 he has yet gotten, either. 



There is more money in dairying than in other lines of busi- 

 ness, and a steadier income. That is true. But, understand, 

 that if you are going to get that, you must feed your cows gen- 

 erously, and give them good care. The great thing in the matter 

 of the care of the cow is to keep her comfortable, and she is not 

 comfortafle when cold from running around outside, as I have 

 said before. 



Another matter in the care of the cow, is to keep her healthy. 

 Why do we need to keep her healthy? We want good milk. A 

 man in Michii^-an said ihe cows won't be healthy in the barn. 

 They are healthy. I have in that barn all the necessary elements 

 to make it so. Plenty of windows to let in the free sunshine, 

 and there is no reason why the conditions of health are not just 

 as good as outside. If you have some system by which the air 

 can be changed, and get a good supply of fresh air and sunshine, 

 what is there about those stable conditions and keeping the cows 

 in there warm and comfortable that prevents them from being 

 healthy ^ They do not keep warm and comfortable if they are 

 outdoors, witli the wind so cold scurry' ng across the prairies. 



Why do we need the sunshine? Put yourselves in houses 

 as dark as your barns, and you would not be healthy. Have plen- 

 ty of windows in your barn, let the sunshine in, and it will destroy 



