THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 365 



COWS, or $ioo per cow. A neighbor bestowed twice as much 

 labor on 40 cows and sold only $1,800 worth of milk, or $45 per 

 cow, barely paying expenses, while the first man made a profit of 

 over $1,000. Yet the second man said he did not have time 10 

 spend a few minutes each day weighing and testing the milk 

 from each cow. Instead, he spent four long, weary years in 

 raising and harvesting the crops on a 160-acre farm, and feeding 

 and milking 40 cows, to make as much profit as his neighbor did 

 in one year with but half the number of cows, half the land, and 

 half the labor. 



Six Herds Show Great Contrast. 



At a large condensing factory in Illinois the men delivering 

 milk from the poorest three herds received $30.62 per cow for 

 the year's milk, while the three best herds, at the same factory, 

 returned $98.94 per cow for the milk during the same year. As 

 no skim milk was returned, the poorest herds did not pay for the 

 feed and labor, while the best three herds made a profit of some- 

 thing over $50 per cow. Imagine what this difference means to 

 the families depending upon these herds for a living. 



Delusion About Proceeds and Profits. 



The question arises, why do these men keeping the poor 

 herds continue in this way ? No one can answer — not even them- 

 selves. The only explanation that might suggest itself is that 

 even the dairymen with the poor herds receive quite a large check 

 at the end of each month, and that they fail to distinguish be- 

 tween total receipts and net profits. This delusion blinds the 

 dairyman's vision to the actual facts, and has been the cause of 

 many a failure. Your fortune and mine does not depend upon 

 the total amount of money that goes through our hands, but 

 upon the percent of profit. Simply because a dairyman handles 

 considerable money, it does not necessarily follow that he is do- 

 ing a profitable business, for he may not be paying expenses and 

 interest. 



