ILLNOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 151 



know him, asserts that his calves have repeatedly made a growth 

 of 100 pounds per month on "skim milk," with no other feed. 

 A good cow of this breed will not only raise her own calf, but 

 will also fatten several veals during the year, after the cream 

 has been separated. I am confident that the separated milk from 

 a No. 1 dairy of this breed, properly utilized, will pay for the 

 grain feed which is necessary to keep the herd in good dairy 

 condition. Therefore, if two breeds will make an equal amount 

 of butter, the one from an average milk yield of 12,000 pounds 

 per cow and the other from 6,000 pounds per cow, the former 

 is decidedly the most profitable butter breed. This subject is 

 worthy of your careful consideration. 



Every dairyman should bear in mind that, although he de- 

 signs making butter now, he may in the near future find it more 

 profitable to sell milk or make cheese. These facts should be 

 borne in mind when making a choice of breeds. The suprem- 

 acy of its breed for the purpose of making cheese will, I pre- 

 sume, not be seriously questioned and I will not taxyour patience 

 in discussing this point. The quantity of milk given by cows 

 of this breed and its very]superior quality for cheese will settle 

 this question. 



The value of the offspring should be considered by every 

 breeder. Every dairyman must expect half of his calves to be 

 males and unless they are " full bloods " their only value is for 

 the shambles. For veal the Holstein-Fresians have no equals. 

 They are of a larger size at the usual age for vealing than any 

 other and we doubt if there is any breed that will show a better 

 return if kept upon the farm until they can be put upon the 

 market for beef at two years old. They make a very rapid 

 growth while young and attain to a large size at an early age. 

 In verification of this statement I would call your attention to the 

 report of recent experiments made at the Michigan State Agri- 

 cultural College, where, in comparison with several other 

 breeds, including Shorthorns, Galloways, Herefords, Devons 

 and Jerseys, the Holstein-Fresian steers made a larger gain in 

 proportion to the feed consumed than any other breed. 



