94 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



these records have been tabulated and studied. These rec- 

 ords showed that the cows giving 100 pounds of butterfat 

 a year produced an average income above feed cost of 

 about $10; at 200 pounds of butterfat a year the income 

 above feed cost averaged about $42; at 300 pounds a year 

 the income averaged $72 and at 400 pounds of butterfat 

 the average income was about $106 per year per cow. 



While the cows in the 400 pound class averaged four 

 times as much in production as those in the 100 pound class, 

 they gave an income over feed cost that was more than ten 

 times as great. These figures represent actual facts and 

 can not be disputed. Each one of the 18,000 records rep- 

 resent the amount of butterfat given in a year's time and 

 the amount of feed consumed. Some of these records were 

 obtained from cows in your own and neighboring states. 



According to these figures, if the cows in Illinois, by 

 better feeding, breeding and handling, could be gotten to 

 the point where they would produce twice as much as they 

 produce now, the income above feed cost would be four 

 times as great as it is at the present time. 



It is a comparatively easy matter to build up a herd of 

 cows from a low average of 100 pounds of butterfat to 175 

 or 200 pounds. It is somewhat more difficult to go from 

 200 to 300 pounds. It is a real proposition but not impos- 

 sible to get a herd up to and maintain an average of 400 

 pounds of butterfat. It is the dairyman that has his herd 

 on such a high producing basis that has the big job, be- 

 cause he will find it difficult to maintain high production of 

 from 400 to 500 pounds of fat. There are, no doubt, many 

 herds in Illinois that are getting high average production, 

 but there are entirely too many that are producing below 

 the profitable point. 



I am not pointing out these things in a spirit of crit- 

 icism but for the purpose of getting before you the great 

 need in your state as well as most other states, and in your 

 herds at home — the necessity of better cows if dairying is 

 to be more profitable. It is not, in my opinion, a question 

 of more cows, but a matter of better and more efficient 

 cows in order that you may have a more profitable market 



