THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 93 



So much for records of production. 



Now, I believe that along with the records of production we 

 should keep records of feeding, that is, as largely as we can. It 

 probably is more difficult, or a little more expensive, to keep feed- 

 ing records than it is milk records, but still, as far as we can, we 

 should keep feeding records of our animals, realizing that the 

 cow which makes us $35 worth of milk and butter fat and solids 

 not fat in the year and consumes only $25 worth of feed is more 

 valuable to us than another cow which produces the same amount 

 of milk and butter fat and solids not fat and does it on a larger 

 amount of feed. 



There is another value to be realized if we look at this mat- 

 ter from another standpoint, this matter of making records in 

 our herds, and that is this : I am sure that through the mere 

 making of these records we develop our cows, if we feed intelli- 

 gently, not overfeed and not underfeed, but feed the cow that 

 which she should have to stimulate her to do the very greatest 

 and best amount of work that she is capable of doing. I am sure 

 we develop the cow in the same manner as we do working horses 

 for work, or those bred for speed purposes when we develop them 

 to work or make speed records. So that is something for us to 

 give our consideration to and think about. 



I believe that we have had in this country a great many 

 cows capable of making large records, as large even as some 

 of our better cows have made, and the reason they have not made 

 these records or shown that they had the ability to make such 

 records, was because they were not cared for and crowded along 

 and led up to the point where it was possible to develop them and 

 made the records which were later made by other cows. 



Breeding records undoubtedly should be kept, because often 

 times we find individuals capable of making large records in the 

 way of milk and butter fat production that do not reproduce 

 themselves or their characteristics in their offsprings, and then of 

 course the real value of these animals lasts only for the one gen- 

 eration and their blood is not carried forward or they are not 

 made a fountain head of a family of great producers. So we 

 should watch and keep records, not only of what individuals 

 do, but also of the other individuals of the same family. 



