^^ Illinois State Dairymen's Association. 



something to you. If you can produce a cow that is worth 

 $32.79 more than her mother you cannot afford to try and buy 

 a cow, paying a large price for her, and find she is not equal to 

 the calf's mother in many instances. 



There are very many other reasons why buying cows to 

 maintain the dairy herd is not advisable. One of these is lack 

 of uniformity in your herds and as you go on with your work 

 for a life time at the end of your life you have no better herd than 

 when you started with it, notwithstanding that yoii have learned 

 to select better cows than you did on the start, you have gained 

 experience in selecting cows, at the same time you will find that 

 the dairy cows being milked in the United States have increased 

 from twelve millions to over twenty millions. In other words, 

 we are milking 60 per cent more cows in the United States at 

 the present time than we were 25 or 26 years ago. That means 

 there is a demand for good dairy cows. Mr. Gregg said you 

 were buying cows from men in the West and they did not know 

 any more or as much as you people here and as a consequence he 

 said you were getting the product of their ignorance. That is 

 where you are putting the dairy herds in Illinois when you buy 

 from a man in the West, you are putting into your herds the 

 product of his ignorance. I like that expression of Mr. Gregg's 

 very much, because it is a fact. 



I do not wish to take up too much of your time in trying to 

 illustrate the importance of some other method of producing 

 your, dairy cows, yet I am satisfied this is an important point and 

 you know it. You realize, when you buy a cow and pay $40 to 

 $60, in more instances $60 than $40, that it is a great expense; 

 you realize that it is very difficult to milk that much profit out of 

 that cow, especially with the beef market going down, so that 

 when you get ready to dispose of her you will need to take a lesser 

 price. I think, taking all these things into consideration, it will 

 be conceded that the manner in which a man must build up his 

 dairy herd and keep it maintained is to raise the best heifer 

 calves from the best cows of his herd. It does not take you very 

 long to find out which are the best cows in your herd and it does 

 not take you very long to find out which are the poorest cows in 

 your herd, and if you are following a business system in your 

 dairy work, as you should if you are working for dollars and 

 cents in profit, you will get rid' of those poor cows and keep your 



