THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 12- 



PROFITABLE DAIRYING IN ILLINOIS. 



By 



Chas. Foss, Cedarville. 



Mr. Foss: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I want 

 to talk to you this morning along the line of Profitable Dairying 

 in the State of Illinois ; that is I want to. talk to you about the 

 possibilities. If I am not mistaken Mr. Rabild said the average 

 production per cow was 142 pounds; the Dairy Union has found 

 that the average one- fourth of the cows of Illinois do not pay for 

 their feed. Now I believe that the figures, especially by the Dairy 

 Department are too high. I will tell you why. It is absolutely 

 impossible for the Dairy Department to get these men who have 

 the poorest cows to do any testing ; the herds we have tested are 

 above the average, therefore, I think I am right to state that one- 

 half of the cows in the State of Illinois do not pay for their 

 board. They do not pay enough profit to keep them. I am not 

 here this morning to give you a whole lot of theory, what I am 

 going to talk about are actual facts. 



I began at the bottom of the dairy business ten years ago. 

 I left the school room and began dairying. In the northern part 

 of Illinois thirty years ago they kept a few cows for their own 

 use, then the creamery came in but it was a side issue. The 

 creameries where I live have ceased to exist and the cheese fac- 

 tories have come in to take their place. The famous Blue Label 

 Cheese is to this locality what the creamery business is to Elgin. 

 These cheese factories do not run in the winter. 



When I began on the farm I kept cows just like my neigh- 

 bors, but I have taught arithmetic too long in the school room 

 to feel satisfied that I was getting enough out of my cows. The 

 second year I listened to Mr. Glover and heard him tell of the 

 vast difference in cows, and I had not listened to Mr. Glover 

 more than a half hour before I saw the key to the situation. I 

 saw the thing I ought to do was to keep a record, sell off the 



