ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. !8i 



The writer's experience as a private dairyman dates back about 25 

 years; ever since that time I came into this world I have been interest- 

 ed in the cow. Of course the first few years of my existence it mattered 

 but little what sort of a cow it was, what her breeding, what her shape, 

 nor any of these important points considered by the up-to-date dairy- 

 man. I was at that time a great deal like so many of would-be dairy 

 farmers today — anything just so it gave milk. 



The man running a private dairy must breed his own stock and raise 

 the heifer calves from his best cows. I have never found it advisable to 

 .buy cows. 



Perhaps practical experience will bear me out in the assertion that 

 many failures of the dairy business is due to negligence on the part of 

 the dairyman in not testiDg his cows. 



It has been my practice to weigh each cow's milk night and morn- 

 ing every day in the year, and one week in each month I make a compos- 

 ite test of each^ cow's milk. I find it best to divide the cows into squads, 

 .and test four or five, as the case may be, at a time and it lessens the work 

 greatly. If one made a test of ail his cows at a time, it would be more 

 than one man could attend to. 



At the end of a cow's milking period — say ten or eleven ironths — 

 I sum up the total amount of milk given and make an average of the 

 tests of her milk. I can get a very accurate record of the amount of 

 Abutter fat in this manner. 



I do not weigh my feed only at such times that there is a change 

 made in the ration. One can get the approximate amount of food after 

 "weighing it once. 



There are several ways in which a man can increase his profits, but 

 the principal one I consider is that the dairyman become acquainted 

 with his cows individually. I mean by this that he must know not only 

 liis cows by their color, or contour, but he should know the kind of work 

 she is doing, the amount of milk, what it tests; he must know whether 

 she is paying a profit over and above the cost and labor or not. He 

 must also know each cow's likes and dislikes. No two men like the 



