• ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 37 



weighed every bit of food tliat the cow received; made a 

 record of the different kinds of food stuffs that made up the 

 ration, and recorded everything in a book, and at ,the end 

 of the year we summed up the result, charging each cow 

 market price for what she consumed, crediting lier with what 

 she produced. jThis was our first year's work. Before that 

 time there was always a disposition on the part of experi- 

 ment stations to compare one breed of cows with another; 

 to ascertain which were the best dairy breeds, but, as I looked 

 over the year's record, and found that there was a great 

 variation in the cows from the same breeds; when I found 

 that one Holstein produced butter at a cost of 9.6 cents; that 

 another Holstein charged 14.2; that a Shorthorn chari^^ed us 

 10 cents and another Shorthorn 12 cents and still another 14 

 cents; that one Jersey charged us 8 cents, while another 

 charged us 12, I came to the conclusion that there was no 

 use in making any breed comparisons; that there were good 

 cows and poor cows in all breeds; I found good ones and poor 

 ones among the large cows; I also found good ones and poor 

 ones among the same ones. Then the question arose. Why 

 does this cow charge me only 8 cents and that one charge 

 me 12 cents, 50 per cent, more, with the same food, the same 

 care, the same system and under similar conditions in every 

 respect. At first I took the whole herd. I placed on the 

 one side the cows that made butter comparatively cheaply, 

 and on the other side the cows that charged me more, and 

 then I examined the cows. Why was this? That was the 

 great question with me. I discovered in looking over the 

 lot of cows on the one side that there was a general uniformity 

 in their style, not in the breed, because it represented all the 

 breeds we had. I looked at the others and there was a gen- 

 eral similarity in the make-up and dividing the whole herd 

 in that way I found the cows on the one side that had given 

 me on an average 337 pounds of butter for the year, had 

 charged me 11.6 cents for making it; the cows on the other 

 side giving me an average of 267 pounds of butter had 

 charged me 13.8 cents a pound. Here you see we had a gen- 

 eral division which threw some light on the subject. Those 

 of you who have programs will see on the fly-leaf a representa- 

 tion of one each of tliese groups. Tlie cows that charged 



