32 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



of manure, $82.50; three calves worth $7.00, making a total of 

 $421.00, as the income from these three cows. At $102.00 for 

 the keeping of a cow, three cows, $306.00 ; the net profit of these 

 3 cows would be $115.80, and here we had a loss of $590.00 

 keeping 20 cows. Before those fellows got down to that, they 

 were feeding those cows for the glory, and there is mighty little 

 glory in the milk business. I don't mean to say now that you 

 should keep three cowls, you can increase this herd, but keep 

 good ones. 



Now, how can you determine it? Determine the value of 

 the cow. This is very simple, by weighing the milk and test- 

 ing it, and by weighing the feed, estimating it, finding out how 

 much feed put into the cows and how much form our returns. 

 You might say that requires too much labor and expense. We 

 are milking 160 cows, and if I have to pay a man $10.00 a day 

 to keep records of those cows, I will do it. It is very important. 

 This summer we adopted the method of weighing every day. 

 We used to weigh once a month, but we now compel our men to 

 weigh every milking. You probably think " What's that for?" 

 Simply this : We know exactly wlhat each milker is doing. I 

 am not there in the cow stable very much. We are dependent 

 more or less upon the men who do the work. And if a man 

 milks a cow and that cow averages about 16 lbs. every milking 

 and he hangs that milk on the scale and he finds he is only get- 

 ting 10 lbs., instead of 16, we tell him to go back and try and 

 get the other 6 lbs. He has to do that right. The milk is de- 

 livered to the creamery. When it does not foot up right, we 

 are looking for the man that does wrong. We keep check on 

 the whole system that way. W r e find that it pays. You will be 

 surprised at the little difficulties and what a great difference it 

 does make in the profits of a dairy cow. I particularly noticed 

 the past year one little thing that interfered with the dairy cow, 

 bee-stings. Cows often during the fall get stung by bees, and 

 we keep tab by weighing and finding out what a little thing like 

 that has on the herd. A good many of us don't pay any atten- 

 tion to it and let the thing go on. It is the finest thing to go 



