220 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



He don't know where he is going; he simply follows the 

 cow. That's how he got tied up to this creature; he didn't 

 know what he was doing, nor what the cow was doing — or rather 

 what she wasn't doing. In fact, there's been altogether too little 

 looking and doing in this man's business. The dairyman has 

 blindly followed without figuring; he has worked hard with his 

 hands but little with his lead pencil, and the dollars have come 

 his way very reluctantly. And as for the cow the only thing 

 she has done right well is — the dairyman; she is "doing" him 

 beautifully. If the dairyman ever gets hold of that big key 

 there'll be "something doing" in that dairy! He will soon hand 

 over his end of the chain to the butcher. 



The cow is not worried. She is not disposed to look on 

 the dark side of life as long as she can go where she pleases and 

 get a living without earning it. Thus far she has found no 

 trouble in pulling her owner along without his asking any ques- 

 tions, and she now feels sure that her milk record will never be 

 inquired into. She doesn't know about the key within his reach. 



That chain has never galled her shoulder, but she has plen- 

 ty of gall for all that. She has been satisfied to make 133 

 pounds of butter fat in a year and to return to her owner a clear 

 profit of 77 cents in 365 days. If the dairyman had 474 cows 

 of this kind he could make from them just one dollar a day! 

 With that he could keep soul and body together. 



But do not mistake this cow for a rare specimen of an al- 

 most extinct family. On the contrary she is very common and 

 popular on all our prairies. She is a cow of consequence and 

 not to be sneezed at and dismissed from mind. She is, in fact, 

 a leader; she leads that dairyman (and a great many others) 

 where she will, while she grazes contentedly. She also has a 

 following of one-fourth the million cows in Illinois — 250,000 of 

 them have learned bold assurance in using the dairyman's feed 

 and barn and time and capital for a cent and a half a week per 

 head. This cow is right now doing a great stroke of business 

 in Illinois dairying. The only stroke that can ever get ahead of 

 her is the stroke of the butcher's mallet on her head. 



