30 
ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
trifle different, inasmuch as the farmer knows what he is receiving, and his revenue 
are paid each month instead of at an indefinite period. In the eastern section the fail 
tories are run upon the half skim system. The good housewife makes the butter j 
home, trades the butter for calico and sugar, and the cheese is sold to chance buyer 
or consigned to New York commission men, the returns of which quite often come t 
the large-heartedness of commissioners in bankruptcy. Thus it will be seen that tb 
Ohio dairyman has little if any voice in arranging the price of his products, and pe.i 
haps never will until forced to see the value and advantages of the Board of Trad 
system of sales, a plan which, by the way, has found no favor, and the three attempt 
to organize them have proved signal failures, simply from the fact that the dairymal 
has been educated into the habit of having prices nailed upon his gate-post and the® 
to remain until the same obliging hvnd posts a new one with a change of values, quit 
as likely to be up or down; but the establishing of several cream gathering butte 
factories for the Reserve has had a beneficial effect, and there has been a greater valu 
in milk this season, the price at present being 17 cents for 10 pounds of milk, while thl 
creamery men pay 35 cents per inch or gauge at the adjoining butter factory. 
From all this it must not be gathered that Ohio is wholly conservative and is mat 
ing no progress forward, along with the dairymen of other sections of the country 
Unlike the East, she has not adopted Jersey cows with much judgment, nor attemptel 
salad oil cheese upon a wholesale scale. ‘ Indeed, it is quite probable that not a: 
adulterated cheese is made in Ohio. City dairymen who live near slaughter house 
are the only ones who make suine butter. We are taking kindly but slowly to th 
cream-gathering system, a system that may. be said to be on critical trial. All thes 
we have yet to adopt in whole or in part, but that Ohio is having modern tendencie 
of thought, we may discover if we take a close observation across the dairy districts 
At first we may take a look at Ohio’s dairy stock, for in respect to dairy cows 
there is a tendency towards better stocks and more gratifying revenues. For year 
the dairyman paid no attention to the breeding of cows, and the main dependence cl 
supply was the woods of Michigan and the Dutch settlement in central and souther]! 
Ohio, but when from scarcity the prices rose to fabulous sums, the farmer began t 
raise his own stock, and with this change came a desire to improve breeds; but higbl 
priced imported cows have found no favor, and hence the dairy cow of Ohio is yet i 
native, and is likely to be, for the improvement sought has not been extended beyonr 
the saving of a few of the best heifer calves, and the doubly important part of bavin 
the sire have an ancestry of undisputed qualities is not recognized, but, notwitlistand 
ing it is the truth that this very native cow has given us our reputation, and so evi 
dent is it that they are putting money into the pockets of their owners, that the in 
dustry is being extended as has no other of our agricultural pursuits, and the of 
quoted assertion that farmers are u keeping their native cows at a loss ” finds but fe\ 
believers, and the writer who affirms that the Ohio dairy cow does not exceed $26 
would hardly be able to find such a dairy, but would be enabled to find dairies bv tb 
score whose factory account would amount to $50 for each cow. So far the importa* 
tion of Jerseys and Holstein stock has been very limited, and sales are very seldor 
reported. 
Recently a herd of a dozen Fresians or Dutch cows were brought into my neigh 
borhood at a cost of about $400 per cow. Bought in Holland with special referenc* 
to their milking qualities, I had no difficulty in locating a dozen of our native cow 1 
whose record for ten days was the full equal of theirs, with one exception, and as th 
official report of this individual cow was 99 lbs. for one day, and 940 lbs. for ten days 
no attempt was made to furnish a parallel. 
Why does the Ohio farmer cling so tenaciously to the native cow t s ? This nativ 
stock is hardy, vigorous, and does not often require to go into quarantine, and her mill 
product is so far a fair average, and if the individual performances of the best cow 
were given, it is quite possible that results might be obtained that would be regarde( 
as quite phenomenal, but as it is “field operations” that give the dairyman hi 
money, but little attention has yet been given to the science of having one cow, by ; 
great yie d of butter or cheese, “tide” a whole dairy to fame and fortune to tb 
owner, a'nd the improvement in stock for years to come will result from breeding tb 
native cow up to the requirements of the dairy, and selection will, with the weeding 
out process, be the tendency in Ohio. It must not be taken as accepted that the Ohi< 
dairyman argues against improvement in stock, but actually desires it, but as yet ha 
found no actual betterment. Have any of the foreign breeds in their succeeding gen 
erations, shown any improvement over our existing, acclimated stock, that is actual!', 
part and parcel of our soil ? Perhaps the most noticeable change that is taking placi 
is the practice of winter dairying, and its accomplishment will have a most importan 
bearing upon the markets, for when this makes one half of the fifty-six milliof 
pounds of butter in the six winter months an equalizing of products to other portion 
of the year will ensue, that will make the extreme range of prices from summer t< 
winter, more equible and satisfactory. The success of wunter dairying in the Wes 
has opened the eyes of the farmer farther east, and he sees that unless he changes hi 
