ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 41 



improve her in that respect. Now you know we can do almost anything 

 with domestic animals. 



They selected the cows that would produce the most milk and fed them 

 ,so as to produce the most milk possible. They got sires of the best milk 

 producing families and raised the calves from these cows and these sires, 

 and then tested the cows. When these heifers came to giving milk, they 

 rejected the poorest and kept the best, so that one generation after 

 another kept un improving in their milking qualities, and during the 

 later years they have improved faster. When they got the Babcock test 

 and used the scale they could tell just how much she produced and how 

 much butter fat. Nowadays, instead of a cow giving jnilk just enough to 

 keep a calf for six months, will keep two or three calves, and will con- 

 tinue on giving milk nearly through the whole year. 



Another set of men undertook to improve the meat-making quali- 

 ties of the cow. They selected those that would put on flesh the fastest 

 with a good amount of food, and put on the meat in places where the 

 cuts were worth the most. Now they have got splendid beef animals, 

 and splendid dairy animals. 



Now the question is, can you tell one from the other by the looks? 

 Original state from the same stock. I know that there are some men 

 who say there is no such thing as the dairy form. 



About thirty years ago I started in to improve my herd of cows. I 

 weighed the milk and tested it as best I could under the conditions at 

 that time. Skimmed off the cream and churned it into butter, and found 

 out how much each cow made in a year. There was a gradual increase 

 in the production right along. I paid no attention to the looks of the 

 animal. I shut my eyes completely to that. The cow that would pro- 

 duce the most was the best cow, and she was the handsomest cow^ in my 

 •eyes. "Handsome is as handsome does' was my motto. 



When I got a herd that was a well producing herd, then what did I 

 see? They were all of one form. They had certain characteristics. They 

 "were not all one color. Some v\^ere brown and some gray and various 

 colors, but they all had a peculiarity of form. I called that a dairy form. 



