96 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



herds is as often a lack of proper feeding as it is the ability 

 of the animals to produce. It is not my intention to discuss 

 feeding, but I am pointing it out as one essential basis for 

 developing your cows. Feed them well, so that they can 

 have a chance to show what their ability or breeding is — 

 then if they do not come up to the proper standard of pro- 

 duction — get rid of them. 



An example of what feeding will do is related by a 

 Nebraska dairyman who was a member of a cow testing 

 association. He owned a cow called "Prohibition/' so 

 named because she was dry so much of the time; at least it 

 appeared so to the owner, because she would give milk for 

 only five to six months and then go dry. Feed was quite 

 expensive at the time. When her owner found out from the 

 first year's record that she had been dry for six months and 

 had produced only 3,351 pounds of milk, he decided that 

 she should go to the stockyards at Omaha, when she went 

 dry again. So, as soon as the cow freshened, the owner be- 

 gan to feed her a little grain to keep her in condition so 

 that it would not take so long to fatten her for beef after 

 she went dry. But "Prohibition" did not go dry. With that 

 extra grain she kept milking month after month and at the 

 end of the year she had 7,043 pounds of milk to her credit. 

 The owner did not sell her but he changed her name. 



The dairymen in Illinois have distinct feeding problems 

 that are different from other sections of the country, but 

 in my opinion you raise, and can raise, the kind of feeds 

 that form the basis of economical production. Your Col- 

 lege of Agriculture has solved and is solving these problems 

 for you and you should keep in close contact with their 

 work. 



Some of you, no doubt, are interested in going into the 

 dairy busines, as a means of obtaining some ready cash or 

 money. As has been pointed out, proper feeding is import- 

 ant in this connection, but closely related to this is selection 

 of the best cows in your herd today, and eliminating the 

 poor ones. Professor C. H. Eckles of the University of 

 Minnesota is quoted as saying that "Using any cow for 

 dairy purposes, merely because she happens to be a female 



