ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 215 



leave in the owner's pocket at the close of the year ? The dairy- 

 man has been in the dark as to the paths his cows take. But 

 under the arc light of the scales and the Babcock test the part- 

 ing of the ways is made plain. Half of all the cows in Illinois 

 take the one or the other of the above paths. 



Extensive investigations by the Illinois Experiment Sta- 

 tion indicate that a fourth of all the cows in this state follow the 

 left-hand path. That is, they produce no more than the average 

 of 133 1-2 pounds butter fat, per year. That is the average of 

 the lowest fourth of 554 cows in 36 Illinois herds tested a full 

 year by this Station. This path is not the ''milky v/ay" ; it lacks 

 the upward arch, the starry brightness — and the milk. 



At 23 cents a pound for butter fat these 139 cows make a 

 return of $30.77 to the dairyman. At $30 per year for feed — 

 and who would figure it less — their profit is 77 cents per cow 

 per year! It takes one of these cows 4 1-2 days to earn one 

 cent profit, or the fun of milking her 45 times to earn the enor- 

 mous sum of 5 cents. 



But the highest fourth of the 554 cows produce 301 pounds 

 butter fat, which means an income of $69.32 and a clear profit 

 of $31.32 per cow (after taking out $38 for feed). These are 

 the cows taking the right-hand path above. These are certain 

 ly the right cows, and the path they take leads right on to the 

 right things for the dairyman — profit, progress, plenty, an at- 

 tractive home, wider usefulness, higher education for his child- 

 ren, and real enjoyment of country life for all the family. And 

 the right dairyman will take great pains to add this kind of cows 

 to his herd. 



The average cow in that right-hand path is worth as much 

 in actual profit to the dairyman as 40 2-3 cows in the left-hand 

 path; and 25 cows of this better sort return as much profit as 

 1021 cows that turn to the left. 



As seen above, the poor cows naturally find their way to a 

 poor barn, a poor home, a poorly kept farm and poor dairyman 

 — and in the end, the dairyman will do well, after slaving hard 

 for years, if he does not find his way ''over the hills to the poor- 

 house." If all these things are not met with on that cow path. 



