Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-01-17
BUTTER AND BEEF.
An Attack on the Unreasonable state
ments Made by Many Dairymen.

An Attack on the Unreasonable state.
ments Made by Many Dairymen.
The statement has several times
been made at meetings of dairymen
that the same amount of food that is
required to make a pound of fat beef
will produce milk enough to make a
been led to believe that this can gen.
orally be done. But such is not the
case. With ordinary cows, ordinary
care, and the kinds of food that most
farmers have at their disposal, three
pounds of flesh and fat can be pro-
duced on one animal while another is
giving the milk from which a pound of
butter is made. The possible and the
probable are very far apart in dairy
ing. as in almost every thing else that
people undertake. From the milk of
a choice cow of one of the dairy
herds, as Jersey, an amount of but
ter may be made that will equal the
gain in weight of another cow that has
been allowed the same kind of food.
At least this may be done during a
few months of the year.
During the past few years the own
ers of cows of different dairy breeds
have endeavored to reach the maxi
mum milking capacity of some of their
animals. They have done this in or
der to advertise their breeding stock
and to call attention to the merits of
the breed to which they belong. In
several instances they have succeeded
in making two or more pounds of but
ter a day from the milk given by one
cow. 1t does not follow, however, that
the cows that broke the butter record
were very profitable to their owners.
One of them costs as much as horse
that broke the trotting record She
was kept in building better than that
provided for must human beings. She
was supplied with stimulating food;
was given soft bed, filtered water,
and variety of condiments. She was
carded, brushed and washed. The time
selected for testing her butter capacity
was about a month after she had
dropped her calf, and always during
the most pleasant portion of the year.
Like the precocious children who
read before those of the same age are
butter record generally dies very young
and often dies soon after she has
achieved fame for herself and a reputa-
ton for her relatives. An experiment
was performed on her that can not be
repeated. Like those the gods love
she died young. Such experiments are
seldom made with a view of ascertain
ing how fast beef animal can be made
to gain in weight. Careful feeders
would be reluctant to try to ascertain
how much a COW or steer could be
made to gain in month. They would
fear that the creature would not live to
be driven to the butcher. Besides,
they know that there is no profit in
forcing the growth of an animal be-
yond a certain limit They know. too,
as every dairyman knows, that there is
no profit in stimulating the secretion
of milk with view of seeing how
much butter can be made in a certain
time.
Farmers who abandon stock raising
for dairying with the expectation of
obtaining as many pounds of butter as
they have obtained of beef by feeding
the same amount and kind of food to
the same number of animals will be
disappointed. 1t is not likely that they
will be successful in obtaining more
than one-third as many pounds. They
will also find many expenses in dairy
ing that they never had in raising beef.
They will be obliged to have better
barns and to give more care to their
animals During the summer and early
fall the steer that gains a pound or
more each day is of no trouble to its
owner. 1t eats the grass growing in
the pasture, drinks from the brook
that flows through it, quietly lies down
at night, and grows fat all the time.
The COW, however, must be MIXED
night and morning, and her milk must
be set to allow the cream to rise or be
run through a separator. The cream
must then be churned, worked, sailed,
packed and sent to market. Food is
the only expense incurred in the pro-
duction of beef. Little or no labor is
required to add hundred pounds to
the weight of steer. but a hundred
pounds of butter represents a large
amount of labor. Skill is not neces-
sary to the production of beef. but it is
absolutely essential to the making of
good butter, and only such as is very
good commands high price.
Times.