Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-01-24

In the vernacular of the resorts
and hotels, "Star Boarder" is a
person boarded free of charge be-
cause he is supposed to have such
high social connections, such attrac-
tive and winning ways, or both, that
he serves as a drawing card to attract
and hold trade. In this brief discus
sion of profitable and Improbable
cows star boarder is considered not
as one that is presumed to advertise
the business advantageously but as
one that the owner, either through
ignorance of her actual worth or be-
cause of personal attachment, is pay
ing out something from $50 to $50
per year for the privilege of keeping
said wStar Boarder."
Just think of yourself, (no, it's al
ways the other fellow, for you would
not do it), taking a friend, who is a
successful business man, out to the
barn an introducing him to your
cows in something like the following
manner: This is my Bessie cow. You
will notice by the daily records which
we keep here on the wall that during
the year ending September l she pro-
duced 8,113 pounds of milk, testing
4.45 per cent butter-fat, which sold
TO
cost $36.71. This leaves balance of
$60.61 above the cost of feed. I'm
derstand that / sold the feed to the
a home market for all of the various
grains and roughage feeds. This re-
turn of $60.61 pays me for investment
in the COW, barns, ETC., and leaves a
nice balance as pay for my labor and
skill as manager. Put in another way,
Bessie returned me $2.65 for. each dol
lar l gave her in feed" Mr.. Success
full Business Man compliments you on
your skill and ability to run this cow
establishment or milk factory on such
a profitable, dividend-paying basis.
But you go on down the line looking
at the various cows and their records.
The first twelve cows all show rea-
sonable profit above their board and
keep. Then you come to the last six
cows which compose a third of your
herd.
With a broad smile Of satisfaction
you say to Mr.. Successful Business
man: Nov, you will observe that
give these six cows fully as good care
as the others. Most of them are very
good looking cows. Their dispositions
are fine. Really, they are the pets of
the herd They are my Star Board
ers. You ask what / means by Star
Boarder?' Just examine the record
of Old Bobby here. She produced for
the year 1,206 pounds of milk, or
about three and one-third pints each
day. Of course, when she was fresh
she gave a nice mess of milk but she
was dry several months. Her milk
tested 3.43 per cent butter-fat and the
butter-fat sold for $11.59. Notice,
please, that she is not such big eater
as Bessie. Her feed bill was only
$21.47. 1t seems quite economical to
have a COW that does not appear so
hungry all the time, and at that will
put some flesh onto her bonesl 1t is
of little consequence that Bobby's
feed bill was 39.08 more than her
cream sold for. / just like to have
her and these other five Star Board
ers around. 1t is a real privilege
am 'dee-lighted'-to have Bobby re-
turn54 cents for each dollar so
gratefully give her in feed!"
Did hear you say the above is ov-
erdrawn, that a man who will keep
cows like "Old Bobby" has wheels in
his head? Most anyone would agree
with the idea that the wheels, at
least, were not working right.