FIFTIETH ANNUAL CONVENTION 93 



pounds each, you would be far better off to get rid of the 

 five lower producing ones. It is true you would not have 

 as much cream or milk to sell but your profits would be 

 greater. As it is, you are spending valuable time and feed 

 on five low producing cows and they are eating up the 

 profit of the five good producers. This is not a far fetched 

 idea or example but is an illustration of what is taking place 

 in thousands of herds in the United States. 



Considering the fact that the average cow in Nebraska 

 produces only 102 pounds of butterfat per year, I think it is 

 a good example of exactly the condition of the majority of 

 the dairy cows. You have 500,000 milk cows. Probably 

 fully one-half of the dairy cows in Illinois are such low 

 producers that they are unprofitable and bring down your 

 average, and eat up the profits of the other half. I do not 

 mean to convey the idea that you should immediately sell 

 or slaughter half the milk cows in your State, but I do want 

 to bring out the fact that it would be easily possible for you 

 to double the average production of your cows in a few 

 years if you everyone would start breeding up and select- 

 ing individuals for your herds. 



During the last five or six years I have been in position 

 to come in contact with a great many dairy men in differ- 

 ent parts of the East and Middle West. I have visited their 

 farms, bought their cattle and discussed with them their 

 problems. I have come to the conclusion that the produc- 

 tion of milk or butterfat is just like any other business; 

 there is keen competitoin, but plenty of opportunity for 

 those who go at it in the right way. Those men who are 

 keeping low producing cows as a basis for their business are 

 not making a success and they become discouraged and 

 take up some other line of work. It is those that are build- 

 ing up their herds to high and economical production that 

 are doing well in the dairy business because they have more 

 efficient cows for marketing their feed. 



The Dairy Division of the U,. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture has recently made a study of the feed and produc- 

 tion records of several thousand cows in cow testing associ- 

 ations in the United States. So far more than 18,000 of 



