144 



ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



I have, so far, only nine men who have seen fit to take hold of this 

 work. These men own about 273 cows, and nearly all of them are "now 

 giving milk. 



1 have already hinted at the necessity of weeding out the poor cows,, 

 and keeping only the good ones. And right here I want to state my rea- 

 sons : 



In the spring of 1900, Hoard's Dairyman made arrangements with Mr. 

 Kinsley to make a special investigation of 100 creamery patrons in the 

 state of Iowa. The following I take from Hoard's Dairyman: "He was 

 to visit each patron, make a special study of his farm methods, note the 

 number and breeding of his cows, which he had milked the year previous,, 

 and to determine as nearly as possible just what his cows had cost him, 

 in value, to feed. Also he was to take note of the owner himself, with a 

 view of determining how much intelligence he was putting into his 

 After all these facts were ascertained, he was to visit the creamery and 

 obtain the record of the yield of milk and butter per herd, for the year, and 

 price received. This, when divided with the number of cows, gave the 

 earning at the creamery per cow. Finally, he was to measure the cost of 

 keep and determine the valu0 in butter from each cow, for every dollar's 

 worth of feed which had been given her. Nothing was to be said as to 

 the cost of labor expended on the cows and milking and care." 



"The total number of cows in these 100 herds was 982. There were 

 four herds that ranged from $2.11 to $2.50 for every dollar's worth of feed 

 expended. There were 61 besides, out of the 100, which averaged from one 

 dollar upward for every dollar's worth of feed consumed. The highest 

 being $1.91, the lowest $1.00. Of these 12 returned from $1.50 to $1.90. 

 23 herds returned from $1.00 to $1.20 for every dollar they expended in 

 feed." 



"Now we come to the dark side of the picture. Thirty-five of these 

 patrons out of the 100, received less than one dollar irom the creamery for 

 every dollar they spent in feed, and the loss ran all the way from 2 cents 

 to 56 cents. The extreme contrast is one man receiving $2.30 and another 

 44 cents. 



