Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-04-07
preaching when our farmers are mOsC

an opportune time for calling atten-
ton to the great and needless wastes
that are annually incurred in the
dairy.
The aoaste of.tertiliaers is enormous.
! The common custom of the state is
to turn the COWS back into pasture
during the night, for the summer sea-
son, which will average about five
and one-half months. During this
time no manure is made at the barn
from these COWS, whatever they pro-
duce being scattered over the barn
yard, lane and pasture. Some farm
ers are beginning to practice the
method of keeping their COWS In
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 authorities unite
in saying that ton of manure at theA
barn of a farm is worth twice as
much to the farm as the same proper
tion dropped in the pasture by the
COWS while grazing. Theoretically
there ought to be but little difference,
but in practice it is found that ma
nure scattered in small quantities II
regularly 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 that produced in the whole
twentv-four hours, is wasted under
the present system. This amounts
to one-quarter of all made by the
COWS of the state during the five and
half summer months. To deter
mine the cash value of this loss 1T
will be necessary to know the value
of the manure made by COW during
the summer. A COW will eat at least
enough pasture grass daily to weigh,
if made into hay, twenty-five pounds.
Such hay would have a fertilizing
value, after passing through the ami
NAL, of $3.50 per ton. During the
one hundred and sixty-fve days of
pasture feeding, the cow would eat
the equivalent of two tons of such
hay, having a fertilizing value of
S17.60. On the first day of January,
1890, there were in the state Of Yer
mont, nearly 235, 900 COWS. If each
COW produces S17.60 worth of ma
nure during the summer, the total
amount made would be S4, ,136, 200
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 the state from
this source alone, amounts to 81, ,O34,'
900.
But this is far from the only
: source of loss of fertilizers from the
dairy. Our farmers do not save care
fully enough the manure that is made
at the harms during the winter. This
is a subject that has been talked
about a great deal at agriculture
meetings, and it is gratifying to not'
: the decided improvement that ha
y taken place in this respect. Ther'
II is still room for and great need o
: further improvement. 1t is not tn
: intention here to enter fully into TIL
e subject, but to call attention to th
s immense waste that is still going OF
in the state. The largest part o
Il this waste could be cheaply avoide'
n by the use of absorbents, and a sim
} pie shed roof over the manure pile t
/ keep off rain and the drippings fror
N the caves. Experiments that hav
/ been made to determine the waste o
lie manure under the methods still use
u on the majority of our farms, show
e loss in Individual cases of from 10
'e As per cent. 1t would probably b
IL safe to estimate that at least 20 pc
IN cent of all the plant food containe
7d in the manure made during the wintt
ID on the farms of this stated is lOstan
n' never finds it's way back to the fielc
OF that are so much in need of it.
o. takes at least two and a half tons {
SIS hay or it's equivalent to feed co
or through a Vermont winter, which Il
rt our 235, 900 COWS. would be 587 ,5C
tons of hay. The manure from th
hay, allowing 20 per cent of the plal
food as taken in passing through I'll
hv animal, is still WORTH $6.21 per tol
he or So ,648,37 per winter. A loss
70 20 per cent of this sum means S726
I'M 675 worth of fertilizer needless
n wasted in the dairies of this sta
as each winter, or total of 81 1886
q wasted during the year. Vermo
d;- buys about $15O,OOO worth of col
he mercial fertilizers annually, or,
IN other words, she wastes about t.
M dollars worth for each dollar expen