FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION 47 



have got men on the farm who are good milkers, the trouble is 

 our boys and girls go to the University and colleges and they 

 don't want to milk when they come home. They teach them 

 there not directly, but indirectly, that to till the soil is not the 

 highest vocation of man. That is one of the great troubles that 

 we have, but I am getting off of my subject. They go to the 

 cities where they can go to the moving picture shows, work 

 eight hours a day out of the 24 instead of 10 or 12 as we have 

 to on the farms. They can adopt all the eight hour law^s they 

 want to in the coal mines, in the factories and cities, but I want 

 you to stand firm against any eight hour business on the farms 

 of America. (Applause). So I want to answer a question that 

 this gentleman asked the gentleman who preceded me, and T 

 know that my friend from Wisconsin will agree with me, it is 

 all right to breed a Jersey, or any other kind of dairy bull, to 

 good grade Shorthorn cows if you want to start a dairy herd. 

 *iut don't change any more. The very best grade cows I ever 

 had in my life were after we sorted six more of these 15 that 

 we had and kept the 10 best ones. Those cows were bred to a 

 Guernsey bull and a three-fourths Guernsey was the best pro- 

 ducer of butterfat we had on the farm. She gave more than I 

 have ever been able to make my purebred cows produce. I would 

 rather have a cow that will produce 400 pounds of butterfat on 

 an average for ten years, than one that will produce 11 06 pounds 

 of butterfat in one year and then never be able to turn the trick 

 again. What I want is a cow that will turn the same trick over 

 and over and over again. Some people say that a good way to 

 get your dair\^ herd is to take good grade Shorthorn cows for a 

 base. I w^ould not take purebred Shorthorns. They will sell very 

 well in the market; they have sold in Iowa for an average of Si,- 

 200 a head. The Holstein people had a sale in Detroit, Michigan, 

 and they averaged the same, but I say to you that your pure- 

 bred cattle will sell for a good price, but if you want to 

 dairy, sell them for wdiat they are worth, then if you are not 

 able, don't go on and get a whole herd of dairy cows. Let me 

 tell you, friends, this dairy business is one that must be studied 

 very closely, that is my own experience, and I think that I have 

 been through pretty nearly everything. I have had my eye 

 teeth cut several times pretty hard. I have been to the farms of 



