44 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



class beef animal and a most profitable dairy cow — because the 

 functions are widely different and the characteristics continually 

 at war with each other. 



The dairy cattle markets of the United States are continually 

 clamoring for a high grade of dairy cows. On every hand dairy 

 ability commands a price commensurate with the quality and for 

 years to come there is little fear of over-loading the market. 

 These facts, aside from the advantages in his own dairy, should 

 encourage every dairy farmer in the matter of reaching out 

 for animals of a higher standard. 



At the present high prices of our farm lands I fail to see 

 how we can afford, only in an incidental way, to allow the ele- 

 ment of beef to creep into our milking herds and force us to 

 compete with the beef producing interests of the milder climates 

 of the south and west, where lands are cheap and winter stabling 

 is unnecessary. In saying this I mean to offer no disparagement 

 to the man who wishes to grow beef upon these high priced lands, 

 though I do predict, that the production of beef in these sections 

 must eventually be superceded by the dairy cow. 



And, again, the fertility of the soil of our grain growing 

 sections can not long stand the bombardment of continued crop- 

 ping, and how often do we notice an expression of hunger plainly 

 stamped upon the surface of our lands, of soils hungry for the 

 fertility of which they have been robbed; soils, where rain and 

 sunshine and nature exerted their every influence to bring an 

 abundant harvest, continued peace and profit to the tiller of the 

 soil, contentment and happiness into the rural home? 



But we find no such conditions in those districts that have 

 followed in the traditional path of the dairy cow, and these are 

 the sections that today, stand out boldly, as an exemplification of 

 the highest ideal of agricultural thrift and prosperity. 



The reason for this is found in the fact, that the crops of 

 the soil are milled through the cow and the product hauled to 

 market, tide up in the smallest possible package, in the shape of 

 butter and cheese. She nips our grasses, consumes our grains 

 and forage crops, and converts them into a product that it sought 



