^^^ Illinois State Dairymen's Association. 



district producing dairy cows. That is what made Herfordshire, 

 England, famous. They started there years ago producing cattle 

 and stuck to it, and made themselves known throughout the world. 

 That is what made Percheron, France, famous. They stuck to 

 breeding Percheron horses. The same in the Islands of Guern- 

 sey and Jersey, and if you men get intense in the breeding of 

 dairy calves and raising dairy calves, it is only a course of time 

 until the Elgin district will not only be spoken of as a great milk 

 producing center but as a center for the production of good dairy 

 cows. 



Regarding the Rearing of Calves. 



There are many drawbacks in raising dairy calves, especially 

 in a district like this. In the first place, you will find many dis- 

 appointments, you will find disappointments in buying dairy cows. 

 You look at a dairy cow as you see her on the market, select her, 

 take her home and in many instances you are disappointed. 



She is not the kind of cow you thought you were getting, 

 turns out to be unprofitable. The same holds true with the dairy 

 calf in a few instances, even though you retain only the calves 

 from the most profitable cows, but these disappointments are few. 



Probably the worst drawback is the care and attention that 

 is required in raising calves. Now there is no use in trying to 

 raise a calf well, to give it a good big barrel, if you do not intend 

 to give that calf proper care, nourishment and attention. I wish 

 to say that the time for a man to begin figuring on the calves 

 that he wishes to carry through to a profitable stage is sometime 

 even previous to the birth of that individual. 



We hear a good many breeders of dairy cattJe boast of the 

 persistency with which their cows milk. You heai men boast of 

 the fact that they have a cow that milked up to the time of fresh- 

 ening, never went dry. I am satisfied the man who practices that 

 system is making a mistake. We must realize the fact that the 

 young animal and growing animal and different things are made 

 up of the same food constituents ; we must bear in mind the fact 

 that the last six weeks or two months of the period of gestation, 

 the calf is making its largest growth, and if we milk the cow per- 

 sistently she is throwing her food off in one of three directions, 

 she will either keep up her own bodily strength, supply the young 

 calf or manufacture her food into milk, and if she manufactures 

 her food into milk she is either robbing her own tcdy or the calf. 



