172 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



Land in Illinois we do not value per cow or per hog, but 

 we base the valuation upon its production — what it will actually 

 produce. Therefore, a man who keeps a number of cows and 

 hogs on his farm is going to keep up the fertility of his land. 

 Farm land should get better each year, and not go the other 

 way, and this can only be done by rotating the crops and keeping 

 plenty of stock for the production of fertilizer. 



Farming today must be conducted on the same basis as any 

 other business, manufacturing or jobbing concern. If there are 

 too many leaks in the business, it will spell failure for the busi- 

 ness, and if there are too many leaks on the farm, it will spell 

 failure for the farmer. Therefore, everything on the farm that 

 can possibly be turned into money, should be turned into mon- 

 ey, or there will be no dividends at the end of the year for the 

 farmer. 



One of our cream patrons, with whom I have recently be- 

 come well acquainted, drove up to our creamery one day last 

 fall in a very fine automobile. I had a very interesting talk with 

 him and soon learned that he had put considerable study on the 

 economy of producing milk. In fact, he gave me the impression 

 of a successful and intelligent farmer in every sense of the 

 word. 



Later on, I had the privilege of visiting this man at his 

 home, and with some exceptions, I found my first opinion of 

 him to be correct. He had an up-to-date dairy barn, with some 

 very fine cows in it. He had kept a rerord of his cows and what 

 they were producing for him week by week and month by month. 

 He was selling his cream, therefore had a great deal of skim 

 milk. I asked him what he considered his skim milk worth and 

 he replied that this was an item he had not figured up very close, 

 and I told him I thought he had overlooked one of the very im- 

 portant items of his business. He raised a good many calve:* 

 and they were fine ones. 



I then asked him about his hog business, what kind he 

 raised, etc. He stated that he had Duroc Jerseys and took me out 

 to show me his hog house. This was indeed a disappointment to 

 me, although the hog house in itself was a very good one. My 



