Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-04-11
Sarn, Copies.
WASTES OF THE DAIRY.
bulletin OF the State Experiment station,
Burlington.

as Iilt StdSOu VI lllc tdI 10 dDplOdCil-
ing when our farmers are most actively
engaged in dairying, it seems an oppor-
tune time for calling attention to the
great and needless wastes that are an
nually incurred in the dairy.
The waste of fertilizers is enormous.
The common custom of the State is to
turn the cows back into pasture during
the night for the summer season, which
will average about five and a half months.
During this time no manure is made at
the barn from these cows, whatever they
produce being scattered over the barn
yard, lane and pasture. some farmers
are beginning to practice the method of
keeping their cows in the stanchions
every night in the year. Leaving out of
account the saving of labor and increase
of milk from this method, let us look at
the saving of manure. The best author
tiles unite in saying that a ton of manure
at the barn of farm is worth twice as
much to the farm as that same manure
dropped in the pasture by the cows
while grazing. Theoretically there
ought to be but little difference. but in
practice it is found that manure scattered
in small quantities rregularly over the
pasture has not more than half the value
of the same manure properly stored at
the barn, ready to be put wherever on
the farm it is most needed. 1t is safe to
say then that one-half the value of the
manure produced during the night, equal
to one-quarter of that produced in the
whole twenty-four hours, is wasted UNI
der the present system. This amounts
the cows of the State during the five and
a half summer months. To determine
the cash value of this loss it will be nee
essary to know the value of the manure
COW will eat at least enough pasture
grass daily to weigh, if made into hay,
twenty-five pounds. Such hay would
have fertilizing value, after passing
through the animal, of $3.50 per ton.
During the one hundred and siXty-five
days of pasture feeding, the COW would
eat the equivalent of two tons of such
hay, having IA fertililing value OF SLIGO.
On the first day of January. 1880, there
were in the State of Vermont, nearly
100000 cows. If each COW produces
SLIGO worth of manure during the sum
mer, the total amount made would be
! . g IL: l.,
wasted by turning the cows back into
the pasture at night, the loss to the far
mers of this State from this source a
lone amounts to 81 ,03I, 900.
But this is far from the only source of
loss of fertilizers from the dairy. Our
farmers do not save carefully enough
the manure that is made in the winter.
This is IA subject that has been talked IA
bout great deal at agricultural meetings
and it is gratifying to note the decided
| improvement that has taken place in this
great need of furth r improvement. 1t is
not the intention here to enter fully into
the subject but to call attention to the
immense waste that is still going on in
the State. The largest part of this waste
could be cheaply avoided by the use of
absorbents, and simple shed roof over
the manure pile to keep off rain and the
drippngs from the caves. Experiments
that have been made to determine the
waste of manure under the methods still
used on the majority of our farms show
a loss in individual cases of from - to 10
per cent. 1t would probably be safe to
estimate that at least 20 per cent. of
all the plant food contained in the man
ure made during the winter on the farms
of this State is lost and never finds its
way back to the fields that are so much
in need of it. 1t takes at least two and II
half tons of hay or its equivalent to feed
a cow through Vermont winter, which,
for our 235, 900 cows, would be So 800
tons of hay. The manure from this hay,
allowing 20 per cent of the plant food AS
taken in passing through the animal, is
still worth S6,2l per ton, or SO ,6iS ,375
per winter. A loss Of 20 per cent of this
sum means S729.615 worth of fertilizer
needlesslv wasted in the diaries of this
State each winter, or total of 81 ,1G3,-
SO wasted during the year. Vermont
buys about Sl50,000 worth of commercial
fertilizers annually, or. in other words,
she wastes about ten dollars worth for
each dollar expended.
Other wastes occur besides those in
fertilizers, and it is to two of them, the
waste in the sklmmilk and the butter
milk, that we wish to call attention.
The 235, ZOO cows of Vermont produce
not far from 1G3, $50, 900 lbs. of milk an
nually; of which about 10000, 900 lbs. is
made up at creameries and cheese
factories, and 1000, 900 lbs. used as mill,
in towns and in the country, leaving
573. $50. 900 lbs. to be made into butter on