150 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



over a good many years in the breeding business, hasi 

 demonstrated a very peculiar attitude of mind possessed by 

 men who desire to start in the dairy business. That man 

 who is starting in the dairy business invariably knows 

 about how much money he can spare. Then he decides 

 how many cows he desires. His next step is to make that 

 amount of money spread over that number of cows. He 

 probably has ten stalls in his barn, and so he decides that 

 he must fill every stall. He takes the amount of money 

 which he has and goes forth with the determination of 

 securing ten cows for that money. Invariably he should 

 secure one cow and one sire with his money, instead of 

 ten cows. That has been brought out very fully, however, 

 and I do not need to discuss it. 



There is no doubt whatever that a man can make 

 more money with one good cow properly cared for than 

 he can with ten poor cows improperly cared for, so if I 

 were advising one about starting in the dairy business to- 

 day, I would suggest that he take just the equipment which 

 he has and start with one or two or three just as good cows 

 as he can buy, and then have as good a sire, at least as 

 good a sire as the cows he has, and then feed them abund- 

 antly and take care of them, never allowing his herd to 

 get so large but what he can give each cow the individual \ 

 attention that she should have. ; 



Until one fully realizes that dairying is a business of < 

 recognizing cows as individuals, feeding and caring for j 

 them as individuals, it is difficult to succeed with dairying, 

 but just as soon as we realize that every cow is just as 

 much an individual as we ourselves are, that she must be 

 cared for as an individual, fed as an individual, then dairy- 

 ing is certain to be profitable. When we have reached that 

 stage, then, and then only is it advisable to decide what a 

 good cow is. 



We are milking twenty-six million cows or thereabouts, 

 in the United States, and I wonder if the men who own 

 and feed and care for these cows have ever stopped to 

 consider what the characteristics of a good cow really are. 

 I have given much thought to this, and 1 have asked thou- 



