The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1894-12-08
Ghe Sarmer.
The Dairy.

Inc ualry, II properly conducted, VIII
bring in more money than any other use to
which the land can be put, but as the dairy
business is ordinarily carried on there is
not living margin between cost and sell
ing price, this being narrowed by the costly
feed bills.
The first essential to success is to know
the stock. The dairyman, like the manu-
facturer in any other line, must reduce the
cost of production, and to do this he must
be familiar with the capabilities of each
one of his machines, that is to say, of his
COWS.
There is great difference in animals in
the cost of their milk The common way
is to figure on the herd as a whole. With
this we can, of course, tell how much we
have spent and how much has been re-
turned, but this is not enough We must
find out the use each animal makes of the
raw material furnished to it, and TO get at
this we must begin with an investigation
of the individual The question is not
how many cows the land will support. but
how many can be kept proftably on the
land
Three thousand pounds of milk is the
average per COW for New York State, and
at these figures somebody is losing money,
and a good deal of it, as COWS cannot be
kept proftably on any such average
There are farms in New York State where
the average is 5000, 5000 and 10, 900
pounds. There are stables where the rec
ord is even $1,000 and 25, 900. One
COW, the Holstein, Pauline Hall, has the
average, as we all know, of 80, 900 pounds
per annum, and this product is not forced
by feeding, as the animal is too valuable
as breeder for her owner to make a
sacrifice of health for record
The first requisite of successful dairy
is a pair of scales. With these find out
what each cow is doing, and whenever the
animal is found whose annual average is
less than 5000 pounds, dispose of her
quickly and replace her with one up to or
exceeding this figure. There is no profit
in carrying herd of twenty cows to do
the work that ten could and should [
never had greater object lesson than
when | set about proving my herd and
found that of sixteen cows the profits
were carried by nine; seven were dead
heads. The sooner this is found out the
sooner we begin to stop the leaks and save
the profits.
The next consideration is to feed the
animal properly The best animal ever
bred fed injudiciously will be kept at
loss, because it is not made to do the best
it can, or is given more food than it can
make use Of
The question of profits in selling milk
depends quite as much upon what it costs
to produce it as the price it brings 1t is
in the power of every feeder to find out
what milk shall cost him. Milk can be
produced for + cents per quart, or no bet
ter at 4 cents per quart.
One COW in certain herd produced 1920
pounds of milk at cost of s44. 90, or So
cents per 100 pounds. Another gave
9T39 pounds at cost of S47.65 or 40
cents per 100 pounds Another gave TO-
754 pounds at cost of $40. 0S, or 46
cents per 100 pounds. A fourth gave
10, III pounds at cost of SAT. 81, or 46
cents per 100 pounds A fifth gave 4743
pounds at cost of S42, or SO cents per
100 pounds, and sixth gave 1887 pounds
at cost of S36. "a, or s107 per 100
pounds. Which of these cows was profit
able and which the drags?
The elements of food are: Albuminoids
supplying the muscles, frame, milk and
flesh; carbohydrates, the sugar, starch
and fat, giving the animal heat, or, in
other words, keeping the machine going,
the power of respiration.
Corn meal is the great food for the dairy
man, but may be used to be improbable
in that it is deficient in the albuminOids
and has an excess of carbohydrates. In
feeding corn alone we build up the fat and
increase the animal heat, but lessen the
milk flow, because it contains nothing to
make milk Of
Wheat bran ON the contrary is rich in
albuminoid, is good in carbohydrates and
fats Wheat bran and corn meal there
fore give good flow of milk of good
quality, and at the same time supply the
body with material to make good the wear
and tear of living
But this combination is expensive, and
economy must lead us to find out some ra-
ton that will cost less than the two, vet
give the same result and this we get by
using cotton and linseed meals, with hay
or silage to give the bulk But here again
must come thought of the product for
which the animal is to be fed, as what
would not be Objectionable where milk is
the purpose might prove luminous for but
ter making. Cotton seed meal, with the
stearine, will make butter crumbly, while
linseed meal, with its oleine, will make it
soft.
A good ration is cottonseed meal, lin
seed meal bran and cornmeal, to make s |
pounds; hay, 20 pounds; silage, Is pounds;
this to cost "a cents, Another is 40 |
pounds ensilage, 10 pounds hay and s
pounds of the mixture; cost, 20 cents.
Still another is 60 pounds silage, 3 pounds
clover hay and 6 pounds of the combina-
ton; the cost, ID cents per ration.
We must study the question of indi-
vidual capacity, otherwise we shall feed
some at a loss in not giving food enough,
Or giving more than is necessary.
1t is also of the utmost importance that
We have the confidence of those to whom
we would sell. If we are in danger of i'm
lairing the health Of the cows and the
health Of the milk by keeping the animals
90 closely confined, we must do differently.
do not advocate the barnyard for the
ows None of us can afford to buy high
rieed food to warm all out Of doors with,
ut we should have enclosures for the $
nilnals where they viii be free to 90 about
will where they can get water freely