FIFTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 15 



Then again, there is the matter of selection within 

 that breed. It is purely a problem of selecting your breed 

 and then building the individual animal up to a profitable 

 point. 



It is said that the average cow of Illinois produces 

 around 160 pounds of butter fat per year. I do not feel that 

 that is hardly fair to the average Illinois cow. I believe 

 that the average Illinois cow produces 160 pounds of butter 

 fat per year because of the fact that you don't take suffi- 

 cient care of them. It has been quite conclusively demon- 

 strated that you can take a cow that maybe produces 160 

 pounds of fat per year, take proper care of her and perhaps 

 make a 200-pound-fat cow out of her. Give the cow the 

 very best conditions under which she can operate and then, 

 if she does not produce, part with her. 



I do not believe it is desirable for you to bring in too 

 many cows from other sections. I would rather see you 

 take the native stock here and select the best producers 

 through the careful weighing and testing of the milk, then 

 take those cows that are best and breed them to a bull of 

 pure-bred quality. But you should bring in bulls whose 

 dams' records have shown their dams to be producers. 



Grow those dairy calves carefully. Develop them 

 good, give them a chance and in turn breed them to a bull 

 of still better ancestors. By careful breeding and attention 

 it does not take many generations to bring up a herd to a 

 production of 350 pounds of fat per cow. 



One thing that we hear a great deal of late about is 

 the poor condition of the farmer, about the farmer being so 

 hard up, the importance of organizing and all of those 

 things, and I may differ very markably with your opinion, 

 but I am, going to say this: Your organizations of an agri- 

 cultural character, measured from the standpoint of their 

 benefit to you, in my opinion, are something like this: 



The organization that you are tied up with that is de- 

 signed for education, whether it ibe the Farm Bureau, 

 whether it be the Illinois State Dairymen's Association or 

 whether it be any other group, so long as that organization 

 is designed as an educational medium, tnai ox^c^x^ir^ntion is 



