Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-08-27
MILK OR BUTTER.
Points to be Considered by Every Farmer
and Dalryman.

pointo 10 ne considered Dy Every farmeS
and Dairyman.
Every man who enters into tho dairy
business must determine Tor himself
which branch he will follow, and will
probably settle the question according
TO his surroundings. AS q rule, far
mcrs are very fond of following tho
same occupation as their neig6bois,
and usually there arc but few butter
makers in sections where milk is mado
to sell in cities, and few sellers OF milk
where the custom is TO make butter.
At the same time, it Ia not ALWAYS ad-
visable to run in the Same grooves with
your ncighbors
There Is much to be said in favor of
milk-selling. There is nothing but the
raw material to be made and shipped,
requiring but few utensils and little
skill beyond feeding tho cows Judi
ciously, but for this very reason the oc-
cupation is always crowded. Mon who
can do nothing else can feed and milk
cows and haul The milk 10 tho railroad
s:all0iis h.. - railroads mu tlply, thrse
producers of milk also multiply, until
now we hear Of starvation prices for
milk in tho neighborhood OF all large
cities.
With butter-making 10 addition TO
producing the raw material, the dairy
man becomes n manufacturers and while
it is true that he may remain for all
time only able to produce the crudest
possible article yet the possibilities are
all open to him Of reaching the highes.
standards and reaping the largest
profits. No matter what his surround
ings, or where no may be located, II he
has the right material In his own brain
and heart, there arc oven possibilities d
a national reputation open TO him. AS
the progressive step is taken from being q
producer only Of the raw material to that
OF manufacturer, there must of course.
bo additional responsibility md greater
skill at command Of the successful but
tcr-makcr As he rises in the scale. the
number Of his competitors becomes less
and less, until he feels utter Loneliness
when he reaches the summit OF his
| fame.
II has been figured out that whilo h
costs / 81 cents on dollars worth of
butter for transportation, il costs ID l-2
cents on dollars worth of milk for
transportation. These are, OF course,
only relative figures, governed by o
mans immediate surroundings, but
they give some idea of the difference 10
cost of delivering the two articles.
While butter may be sent any distance,
provided il Is well packed and properly
made, milk transportation must be always
limited until some more convenient and
economical method of handling il than
the present Is invented.
So far as the drain upon the farm is
concerned. the philosophers all decide
in favor OF butter, claiming that tho
man who sells milk sells his farm, all of
which is probably more matter Of
theory than practical fact. Any farm
will run down and out if not properly
taken care Of and with intelligent man
agement any farm will retain its fertility.
without regard to the amount OF milk
sold off it 1t has been proven In Eu-
rope that wcll-sct pasture on good.
strong land will last several hundreds
of years, though it supplied grass for
dairy herds and beef cattle prom!scu-
ously; and that ought to satisfy the
average dairyman, for in this country
men and their children seldom hold to
one calling beyond the second genera.
ton.
The main virtue, however, In butter.
making with the average dairyman Is
that it leaves the skim-milk and butter
milk on the farm to be fed to pigs,
calves, chickens, and even back TO the
cows. The least enthusiastic rate these
by-products of the butter dairy at twen-
ty-iive cents per hundred pounds, which
is probably little more than half their
value when judiciously fed. Whenever
you see buttcr-maker getting rich,
you may be sure he is wise man in the
use of his skim-milk and buttcr-milk,
and with the modern methods of deep
cold setting and use of the centrifugal
machiL cs this skim-milk is still more
valuable than it was few years ago.
The successful dairyman makes every
edge cut, and is never above turning to
profit the so-callcd waste products Of
the dairy. DliruIndn.