98 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



the dairy animal performs. It was Professor Haecker who 

 brought before the public the relation of type to performance 

 and proved without doubt that the spare and angular cow is 

 superior to the fleshy and to the one lacking in depth of body. 

 Notwithstanding the immense amount of experimenting that has 

 been done to prove this, it too often happens, that in the show 

 ring the points of fancy and form are placed ahead of utility. 

 In the three years that I have been doing field work 644 cows 

 have a complete yearly record, of which 422 have records for 

 one year, 178 for two years, and 44 for three years, with all this 

 together with what I have observed visiting the best herds in 

 Northern Illinois, I have not changed materially my idea in 

 regard to dairy form. But on the other hand it has been con- 

 firmed, notwithstanding, that I have records of seemingly high- 

 class dairy cows that have been poor producers and cows not of 

 the dairy type with high records. The rank and file, however, 

 of cows that have proven themselves good performers at the 

 pail, have also conformed very closely to the accepted dairy con- 

 formation. However, I wish to state that I believe that the 

 ideal dairy form admits of considerable flexibility and that better 

 results will be obtained by not adhering too closely to any fixed 

 type. In order to be guided safely it is necessary to rely upon 

 the scale and the Babcock test, with their use we can deviate 

 from the rigid type when results will support us in the change. 

 There is nothing about the dairy form that the dairy breeders 

 worship; but we want a type that will yield us the greatest 

 amount of milk and batter fat for the food consumed. This 

 should be the prime object of the breeder, but there are only a 

 few of them that are keeping a yearly record of their herds, so 

 they can know the cow that is actually doing the best work. It 

 is to be regretted that more breeders do not see the importance 

 of being guided by records made by the animal, than to rely 

 entirely upon their judgments in the selection of the best pro- 

 ducers. 



