152 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



some colored boys were milking the cows, and one of them 

 would seemingly always get a pail of milk from his cow. 

 I went over to him and said, *'You always seem to get a 

 pail of milk from your cow, how does that come?" He 

 looked up at me and rolled his eyes and said, ''Boss, I 

 always picks the black one." So many people are select- 

 ing cows on color. If a Guernsey and her face is black 

 they won't have her. If she has got white spots and is a 

 Jersey they won't have her, and if she is a Holstein and 

 isn't black and white they won't have her. If she is a 

 Jersey and she is black they won't have her. 



Let me send this message home with you, if I don't 

 leave anything else today: those things are details and 

 amount to nothing except as they please one's personal 

 vanity and personal pride. I know a lot of millionaires 

 that can afford to do that way, but personally I have never 

 gotten rich enough to be able to select cows on the ques- 

 tion of whether they have white tongues or black and white 

 switches. Just remember that whatever breed you have, 

 the fundamental basis of a good cow is the five essential 

 points, which are: 



1. Constitution. 



2. Capacity. 



3. Dairy temperament. 



4. Blood circulation. 



5. Ability. 



I have mentioned constitution first, not because it is 

 any more important than the other four points, but you will 

 agree with me that constitution is essential because of all 

 of the animals that we have on the farm the cow is the 

 hardest-worked animal we have. We expect that she will 

 work twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty- 

 fixe days in the year. When she has finished her year we. 

 expect that she will do another year's work and keep this 

 up twelve or fifteen years, in the dairy, if she is a good 

 cow. In order to work as the cow is expected to work and 

 as she must work if she is going to be highly productive 

 and economically profitable, she must have a strong con- 



