ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



machines which will work up the raw materials with the least 

 possible loss. The machine which yields the greatest income, 

 has a large capacity, is efficient, and requires the least proportion- 

 ate energy to maintain it in motion. The dairy cow although 

 somewhat comparable is not a machine, for all her functions 

 are sustained and guided by a sensitive nervous system which 

 does not yield itself to mechanical calculation. Efficiency and 

 capacity, however, are the qualities lacking in our dairy cows 

 and the ones which we must improve. The average dairyman is 

 not giving much attention to the kind of cows he is breeding, if, 

 indeed, he is considering the matter at all. The sire is more than 

 half the herd, especially when a bull bred along dairy lines is 

 used upon a lot of females of no known breeding. It is a sig- 

 nificant fact that any dairyman can raise a better cow than he 

 can buy with the same money, providing he has a pure-bred bull. 

 Starting with nothing but ordinary cows and breeding to dairy 

 sires of good breeding a fine working herd can be formed in a 

 few years. In a herd of 40 cows where the bull is retained two 

 and a half years it need cost but one dollar per head to make every 

 calf at least a half blood or better. To show the low average 

 production in some herds and the striking results obtained by 

 persistent grading up, I want to call your attention to the follow- 

 ing table : 



Average Production of Cows Obtained by Testing and Weighing the Milk 



for 27 Weeks. 



Herds in Which an Effort Has Been Made at Improvement. 



Milk. 



Herd A 4038.1 



Herd B 4368.9 



Herd D 4481.4 



Herd F 5404.6 



Herd I 3861.3 



Herd J 3532.2 



Herd T 3890.7 



Herd V 3561.3 









Value 





Milk 



B. Fat 



B. Fat (§ 



B. Fat. 



Per Day. 



Per Wk. 



25c lb. 



181.7 



21.3 



6.70 



1.67 



156.6 



23.1 



5.81 



1.45 



176.9 



23.7 



6.54 



1.63 



190.1 



28.5 



8.05 



2.01 



138.0 



20.4 



5.11 



1.27 



150.1 



18.6 



5.56 



1.39 



140.9 



20.6 



5.22 



1.30 



146.6 



18.8 



5.43 



1.35 



