Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1891-05-22
SMALL PROFIT IN cows.
EXPERIMENTS SHOW A SLIGHT MAR
GIN IN DAIRY FARMING.

GIN IN DAIRY FARMING.
Profitable Returns Are Generally SO
Meager That Great Care Should BE
Used in Selecting Only the Best Ami
~mals--Success Depends on Manure.
The need of better COWS for the dairy is
coming to be very generally appreciated.
The dairy commissioner of Iowa is re-
ported as saying that the average COW in
that state gives but 5000 pounds of milk
annually, while good ones yield from 5000
to 5000 pounds. The director of the Yer
mont station states that the average yield
per cow in that state is only about 100
pounds of butter per annum, while there
are thirty diaries in the state that average
over 300 pounds per cow.
The director of the New York station
says: New York has 800, 600 mich COWS,
probably producing, IN an average, less
thar 5000 pounds of milk per year, and the
annual average butter product per cow for
the state is undoubtedly less thar 100
pounds. This should not be, when there
are whole herds averaging 800, and some
400, pounds of butter per year for each
COW. Animals producing these by no
means phenomenal yields are not confined
to any particular breed, and are often
grades of our SO called native or no breed
animals. Proper selection, systematic
breeding and iudicious feeding nave pro-
duced these profitable animals and herds"
. The difference in the milk producing
qualities of different COWS is brought out
very clearly by a series of experiments
conducted at the Massachusetts State sta
tinn pf u,birb Drofoccor n C,,,,,,.-,
is director. They are especially interesting,
because the COWS and their feed and care
were such as are found on the better farms
of Massachusetts, and the results, OBJ
tanned with the appliances of a we'll
equipped speriment station, show in ac-
curate anu full detail the elements of &C
tual profit and loss as they could not be
found in ordinary farm experience.
EXPERIMENTS IN MASSACHUSETTS,.
These experiments have been made with
twelve COWS, and nave continued over five
years. Grade Jersey, Ayrshire, Devon,
Durham and Dutch and native COWS were
used. They were secured for the expert
ments a few days after calving, and fed
until the daily yield fell below five or six
quarts, when they were sold to the butch
er. The length of the feeding period-i. e.,
duration of the experiment with each COW
varied from PSI to 500 days. Hay, fodder,
corn. corn silage, green crops. roots and
cornmeal, wheat, bran and other grain
were used.
The daily ration per head consisted of
eighteen to twenty pounds of dry fodder,
or it's equivalent of green fodder, and
from ~ to "a pounds of grain. Careful
accounts lave been kept of the history of
zach cnX- inn11,jinr lrool or, ,r,,l,,n 80
calves, length of feeding period, amounts
and kinds of fodder, yield of milk, chem
ical composition of feed, milk and manure,
cost Of COW and feed and values of milk
and manure.
The following is a recapitulation of the
financial record of the cows. The milk
was reckoned at the price paid for it at the
neighboring creameries. The value of the
manure produced is calculated by ASSUME
ing that of the total amount of food 20
per cent. would be sold with the milk and
the remaining so per cent. saved as manure
AS farmers III the region buy CONNER
cial fertilizers for the sake of their nitro
gen, phosphoric acid and potash, it was as
sumed that these same ingredients would
be worth about as much, pound for pound,
in the manure as in the better class of fer
~tiiizers, and accordingly the value of the
manure was computed by taking the nitro
gen as worth lGl9 cents, ~phosphoric acid
six cents, and potash ~ cents, per pound.
The return for feed consumed represents
what the feeder receives for labor, housing
of cattle, interest of capital invested, risk
of loss of animals, etc.
EEsULT IN FIGURES.
The most profitable COW was bought for
4En fnI SSl Invc and f1nV cold F~, q
making her actual cost $32, and the feed
cost $135. 05, SO that the total cash outlay
was Sl67.05 The milk brought S2O3. 81 at
the creamery, and the manure was estimat-
ed to be worth $50. 93, making the total
value received for feed consumed, s26O. 80.
Subtracting the total cash outlay of $167, O5
from this, there remains 1895 as net re-
turn for feed consumed. Deducting the
estimated value of the manure, the re-
mainder return in excess of estimated
value of manure" is $36. 32.
In the average for the twelve cows, the
net return was Sc. 43, and the return in
excess of the estimated value of the man
IRE only $15.13. With the least profitable
COW, the cash outlay for COW and feed ex-
ceeded the value of the milk and manure
by 1897; in other words, the net return for
feed consumed was 1897 less than nothing.
Subtracting the value of the manure, the
total loss was S334.25; that is to say, allow
ing for the value Of the manure, the re-
suits with the twelve COWS varied from a
gain of 1913 to a loss of 1897, or, if the
value of the manur be left out of &C
count. from a gain of $685. to a loss of
$34. Is.
1t is noticeable that the profit or loss did
not depend upon either the breed or the
length of the feeding period. The most
profitable COW, and the least profitable but
one, were both of the same breed. Of the
two most profitable cows, one was fed for
5s4 days and the other for only 27s days.
Two things, then, are brought out very
clearly by these experiments. One is that
in such localities as this the value of the
goes far to decide the profit in
feeding dairy cattle. Another is that COWS
which would ordinarily pass for good ones
may differ widely in product.
To the practical dairyman these expert
ments teach clearly the difference between
cows which are profitable and those which
are not and the Importance of selecting
the best cow for his dairy and getting rid
of the poor ones. In a larger sense they