168 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



it is not to become over-enthusiastic. Don't go into the 

 dairy business ; grow into the dairy business. Remember 

 that the farm as a farm must always be major. No mat- 

 ter how extensive a dairy industry you develop on your 

 farm, make it always a subordinated part of the farm and 

 the farm a unit in the support of that industry so far as 

 the feeds are concerned chiefly. 



The next point to keep clear in the mind is the mat- 

 ter of using good cattle. Now we have four or five great 

 breeds of dairy cattle. You will find one man very much 

 enthused as regards one breed and another man enthusias- 

 tic in regard to another. There is no really superior breed 

 of dairy cattle. They are all good. You remember there 

 is greater variations between individuals within a breed 

 than there is between the average of breeds, so the mere 

 selection of a breed does not guarantee you salvation in 

 the development of your dairy business. Select the breed 

 that most nearly fits into the type of dairy industry you 

 want to carry on. If you are selling cream for the making 

 of butter or for the making of ice cream, naturally a breed 

 of cattle that will produce butter fat and cream most eco- 

 nomically should be selected. If you are producing whole 

 milk and desire volume, if your proposition is a matter of 

 volume and you must naturally supply milk of standard 

 nutrients, use breeds of cows bred and developed for cen- 

 turies for that purpose. 



Do not fuse one with another breed of cattle. That 

 is not the point at all. Make use of the breed that most 

 nearly fits the business in which you are entering, then 

 select the breed you like best personally, then select the 

 breed you can most economically make use of in getting 

 into the business, then go into the business very slowly, not 

 necessarily with pure-bred cattle. Always keep a pure- 

 bred sire, a sire of proven worth from the standpoint of 

 production, and gradually increase the performance of the 

 offspring through the use of this sire and add more indi- 

 viduals to your herd as your farm produces, as your mar- 

 ket develops, as your understanding of dairying increases; 

 and if you do that you are building slowly, conservatively. 



