FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION 103 



THE JUNIOR DAIRYMAN. 



John G. Poynton 



''A dairyman and stock breeder takes particularly good 

 care of his purebred cattle because of their present or prospective 

 value. From the time it is born, the calf is given every advan- 

 tage that may add to its usefulness and consequent worth. Ex- 

 perience has taught that certain feeds are valuable for growth 

 and that exercise is essential for the calf's best development ; the 

 breeder takes advantage of these teachings. He has learned that 

 a long lactation period following the first freshening tends to 

 establish the habit of persistent milking and accordingly the 

 heifer is perhaps milked even after the product will not pay for 

 the labor involved. In short, the breeder of dairy cattle, if he is 

 the right sort, does his best to increase the value of the breed 

 in which he is interested, and this is as it should be, since with- 

 out this spirit continued progress is impossible. 



This improvement of dairy cattle is of extreme importance 

 to the dairy industry. In fact, so great is its importance that 

 it would be impossible to estimate its value in dollars and cents. 

 There is, however, another improvement of very much greater 

 importance, both to the dairy industry and the country in gen- 

 eral, that is receiving some attention at present, but which is 

 worthy of much more consideration than it is now getting, and 

 that is the improvement of the dairyman. This statement should 

 not be misunderstood. The men now on dairy farms and those 

 engaged in the breeding of dairy cattle are doing good work; 

 work which is certainly a great improvement over that done 

 previously, but there is yet great possibility of advancement. 



Many of you men now engaged in dairying started with 

 small foundations both of knowledge and capital. Experience 

 has largely supplied the one, hard work and economy the other. 

 You have succeeded and all honor to you for it, but in most cases 

 your success has necessarily been slow because the foundation 

 was small. You have built or are building a business in which 

 you want your sons to be interested and of which you want them 



