Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-04-04
THE WASTES OF THE DAIRY.


and the following newspaper bulletin which
is the first of a series to be issued by Prof
w. W. Cooke, director of the State agricul-
tural experiment station will be found of
unusual interest at this time.
As the season of the year is approaching
when our farmers are most actively engag-
cd in dairying, it seems an opportune time
for calling attention to the great and need
less wastes that are annually incurred in
the dairy.
The waste of fertilizers is enormous. The
common custom of the State is to turn tine
cows back into "a 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 barnyard, lane and pas
ture Some farmers are beginning to prac-
tice the method of keeping their cows in the
stanchions every night in the year. Leaving
out of account the saving of labor and in
crease of milk from this method, let us look
nj the saving of manure. The best author
tiles unite in saying that ton of manure at
the barn of n 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 irregu-
larly over the pasture has not more than
half the value OF the same manure properly
stored at the barn, ready to be put wher-
ever on the farm it Is most needed. II is
safe to say then that onc-half the value
Of the manure produced during the night,
equal to one-Quarter OF that produced in the
whole , hours. is wasted under the present
system. This amounts to nc-quarter of all
the manure made by the cows of the State
during the five and half summer months.
To determine the cash value of this loss it
will be necessary to know the value of the
manure made 10y a COW during the summer
A COW will eat at least enough pasture grass
daily to weigh, if made into hay, p pounds
Such hay would have fertilizing value.
after passing through the animal, of s. so
per ton. During the Gj days of pasture
feeding, the COW would eat the equivalent of
two tons of such hay, having fertilizing
value OF $lL60 On the first day of Janu-
airy, 1890, there were in the State of Yer
mont, very nearly 23j, 600 COWS. If each
COW produces $3.50 worth of manure dur
ing the summer. the total amount made
would he 81, 1876, geo; and if one fourth of
this is wasted by the system of turning the
COWS back into the pasture at night, the loss
to the farmers of che State from this source
alone amounts to 81 ,O3l 600.
But this is far from the only ource of
loss Of fertilizers from the dairy. Our
farmers do not save carefully enough the
manure that is made at the barns during
the winter This is a subject that has been
talked about a great deal at agricultural
meetings, and it is gratifying to note the
decided improvement that has taken place
in this respect There is still room for and
great need of further Improvement. 1t is
not the intention here to enter fully into the
subject, but to call attention to the i'm
mense 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 drippings 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 n 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 ma
nure 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, II takes at least two
and half tons of hay or its equivalent to
which for our 23j, 600 cows, would be JS1,
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 Sc. u per ton or 81, 64S $40 per
winter A loss of 90 per cent of this sum
means Si29 SO worth of fertilizer needless
ly wasted in the diaries Of this State each
winter or total of 81 1913, 60 wasted dur
ing the year. Vermont buys about $50,
900 worth of commercial fertilizers annu-
ally, or, in other words, she wastes about
$40 worth for each dollar expended.
Other wastes occur besides those in fertil-
izers, and it is to two of them, the waste in
the skimmlk and the buttermilli, that we
wish to call attention. The 235, 600 COWS
of Vermont produce not far from 1913, 90,
600 pounds of milk annually, Of which about
12O, OOO 600 pounds is made up at creamer-
les and cheese factories, and 20, 900, 600
pounds used as milk in towns and in the
country, leaving 513, $50, 600 pounds to be
made into butter on the farms. This is fin
ally divided into about 5000, coo pounds
of butter, 81, 80, coo pounds of huttermilk
and 400, 900, 900 pounds skimmilk. Our
station has made n great many tests of
buttermilk and skimmlk from creameries
and private diaries, and IN almost every
case the creamery has done the better work,
that is, there is less loss in each hundred
pounds of skimmik and buttermilk from
| the creameries than from the farm diaries,
An average of large number OF analyses
shows less than a half of one per cent of fat
| left in the skimmilk from creamerles, while
the average of all our analyses of skimmilk
| from farms shows at least three quarters of
one per cent of fat. 1t is probably well
within the facts to say that there is loss
in all the skimmilk produced ON the farms
of this State of quarter of one per cent of
fat more than would be lost if the same
milk had been handled at a creamery.
Part of this gain in the creamery is due to
the greater care and part due to the fact
that it is always more economical to handle
large than small quantities of milk. Few
farmers have in their buttermilk less than
! one per cent of fat, and we have analysed
samples containing three and four per
cent. In creameries the average is Il
little over half of one per cent so thai
creameries will average saving al least hall
of one per cent of fat in the buttermilb
more than is saved in the private dairy. 4
quarter of one per cent of fat lost in all tn,
skimmlk on our farms means loss of a
| lpost 11E 400 mounds of butter annually