FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 19 



to look upon the dairy industry as being a very small and 

 insignificant part of our agriculture. 



In 1923 the total agricultural returns was something 

 like eleven billions of dollars. The dairy industry returned 

 close to three billions including milk and all its by-prod- 

 ucts, the cows sold for beef, calves, and the values of the 

 skim milk, and the whey, etc., showing at this time that 

 the value of the dairy industry represents about one-fourth 

 of the total agricultural income of this country. 



Put it the other way. In 1924 we produced one hun- 

 dred and twenty-four billion pounds of milk. There isn't 

 anybody here can conceive of a billion pounds, but if we 

 were to put that one hundred and twenty-four billion 

 pounds of milk into eight gallon cans, if set side by side 

 they would span the world— yes, they will go around the 

 world nearly sixteen times. That gives you a little bit of 

 conception, visualizes, if you please, the meaning of this 

 great industry. 



It required nearly twenty-six millions of cows to pro- 

 duce that milk; it took a good many of these to get that 

 number of cans of milk that would go around the world 

 nearly sixteen times. When we view the dairy industry 

 from that standpoint it is tremendously large, but when we 

 turn around and begin to measure what the average cow 

 is doing it is disappointing. She produces around four 

 thousand pounds of milk containing about one hundred and 

 sixty pounds of fat. 



The thing then immediately comes to our mind, what 

 can be done to increase the production of our great herd 

 of cows, twenty-six million? A great many years ago 

 when one of the leaders of dairying in Wisconsin was speak- 

 ing to an audience someone arose and asked him this ques- 

 tion: ''Uncle Hiram, how shall a man go into the dairy 

 business?" He reflected for a moment, and then said, *'Go 

 and buy a bull." That looked like a facetious answer but 

 there is more to it than a person would at first think, be- 

 cause if we are going to improve these twenty-six millions 

 of cows it must be done through the bull. 



Now, what kind of a bull? Why, a bull bred for dairy 



