56 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



of milk can be produced at a cost of eighty cents a pound. 



Now, gentlemen, these are comparative figures. It is 

 just what we get by knowing the weight of our cows, know- 

 ing what they produce in actual pounds, in gallons, count- 

 ing the volume by actually weighing the milk, by knowing 

 how much our butter fat test is, and by feeding the most 

 in response to what they produce. 



These are things that our cow testing associations do 

 to be sure it is the thing which we can do ourselves, and 

 the sooner we get to it the better it is going to be for us. 



Another thing which you and I have to contend with 

 is the selection of the right kind of cattle. I am not tell- 

 ing you what kind of cattle to buy. It is a question that is 

 asked me many and many times, but the cow that is the 

 best cow for you is the one that you want to buy. Let me 

 say to you this: you and I can't be successful in dairying 

 when we have one whiteface, when we have got one brin- 

 dle cow, one white-spotted, and one all-black with the ex- 

 ception of white under the body and a white-tipped tail. 

 We can't be successful dairymen when we have got all 

 colors of the rainbow in our yard. You might as well come 

 to that conclusion, because of the fact that we don't know 

 where we are going to be. The sooner you and I get set 

 on the color, the sooner we get set on the size of the cow 

 we want, and the sooner we get set on the kind of feed and 

 what we are going to do, the sooner you and I are growing 

 into successful dairying. 



So it is as to the kind of a cow altogether, as to what 

 we want her for. In my own experience I am a Holstein 

 man because of the fact that things as I used to take them 

 indicated I needed the Holstein, but because the bottom 

 dropped out of butter fat I felt that I needed to change. 

 I had started out to sell butter fat, and I was going to the 

 wall every day I sold butter fat. Perhaps you are not — I 

 am glad you are not, but I couldn't make a profit on but- 

 ter fat, even by feeding the skim milk to my hogs. If I 

 were to do that I would still hold on to the Holstein, but 

 I started in the retail business with a few of my friends a 

 year ago this month, with a Jersey. Our town was already 



