ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 107 



thousands of times at the various exhibitions) and upon investi- 

 gation he found that they were Brown Swiss. His cattle at home 

 were Jerseys, grades and full bloods, and were giving a fine 

 quality of milk, but such a small quantity and needed so much care 

 that he had become almost discouraged. Before leaving for home 

 he purchased a bull to cross with his grade Jerseys. He has since 

 abandoned the use of the Jersey bull entirely. I have sold him 

 three Swiss bulls since his first purchase. His son is now 

 carrying on the dairy business, and they were both at our place 

 a few weeks ago and selected a young bull. They have a herd of 

 about fifty cows and as we are in the market for just such cattle, 

 I tried to obtain some of them. They absolutely refused to let 

 me have any milch cows, even at one hundred dollars each, claim- 

 ing that they did not know where they could replace them. 



I have visited a great many of the neighborhoods where 

 Swiss bulls have been sold, to purchase grade cows to put into 

 our herd, and invariably find the dairymen asking from $15 

 to $20 more for their Swiss grades than for those of other 

 crosses. This is a fact which I think speaks more for the breed 

 than high prices for a few selected, individual full bloods. 



In almost every herd of Brown Swiss cattle I know of we 

 find animals with which the owner cannot be induced to part at 

 any price. 



The performances of some of these cows under conditions 

 that were anything but favorable have been a surprise to us. 



At the Illinois State Fair at Springfield in 1904, after being 

 exhibited through the circuit, at the earnest solicitation of the 

 Illinois Dairymen's Association, we entered two of our cows, 

 Serva and Fleta, in competition with all the other dairy breeds, 

 and to our surprise, and, of course, satisfaction won the gold 

 medal and first and second prizes for best dairy cows in the 

 contest. Serva made more butter in four days than any other 

 cow in the test, except Fleta, made in five. 



Belle Windsor, in our herd, for the past seven months has 

 given 7,276 pounds of milk and has made 410 pounds of but- 



