ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. ^75 



of practical benefit to them in the active duties of life. The cow is simply, 

 one of the many subjects dealt with, and you may rest assured that the- 

 students are not defiled by any associations with bovines. The youngs 

 man who today trains hi& hands a s well as his head and^goes out into the 

 industrial world to earn an hones t living is no lesg ]Of ,a man tjian the 

 graduate in Greek and Latin who walks up and down the streets of Bos- 

 ton and New York hunting a job. 



But I must not let the cow grow hungry while chasing after critics.. 

 We have tried a number of rations and find that on pasture or by feeding 

 soiling crops to our cows we can produce butter fat at fi:om 6 to 9 cents, 

 per pound. From January 29 to March 25, 1898, our cows were fed on 

 alfalfa and Kafir corn meal, and produced butter fat at an average of 11.9' 

 cents per pound. For a period of two weeks we fed Kafir corn meal one^ 

 third, bran one-third, ground oats one-third, and what Kafir corn stover 

 they would eat. During this short period we produced butter fat at 10.8 

 cents per pound. A ration of one-half Kafir corn mieal, one-half soja bean 

 meal with what Kafir corn stover the cows would eat, produced butter fat 

 at 12.3 cents per pound. When it became necessiary to use high priced 

 concentrates the cosit of producing a pound of fat increased to 15, 16, and 

 17 cents per pound. This points to the fact that it will pay the dairy far- 

 mer to raise his own feeds. For this purpose alfalfa and corn or Kafir 

 corn are undoubtedly the cheapest. If impossible to get alfalfa try red 

 clover and soja beans. The clover is worth about two-thirds as much as 

 alfalfa, and soja beans are richer in protein than oil meal. Byknowihg, 

 the value of the different feeds and exercising a little forethought it is. 

 possible for the dairy farmer to grow all the feed necessary for his cows, 

 on the farm and thus save all or nearly all the hight priced feed bills. 



Notwithstanding the fact that there is money in milking cows, money 

 in raising feed for them, and prospects for a much greater profit by proper- 

 feeding, selection, and breeding, the crying need of our creameries and; 

 dairies is more milk. Just at present there seems to be a tendency to* 

 quit milking cows in order to raise calves for beef, many farmers believ- 

 ing that a good steer cannot be raised on skim milk, but must have whole- 



