The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-08-20
TIE DAIRY.
DAIRYING.

Editors of the American
The lack of positive knowledge con
corning dairying causes o Ial
than ANYTHING else. Dairying properly
conducted by experienced men ProuU
able. Areat many assume q a some
lord and a certain number of cows
will make a farmer independent IN a
dairy business. But these are only the
raw material of the industry, and how
IN handle them is never learned by
some.
much land is a less to some dairy
men. and it is causing heavier burdens
than they can stand to be thrown upon
their backs. They are probably pay
ing interest or rent upon land that they
do not need and cannot properly Guilt
vate. Either the land should be de
creased in acreage or the herd Of COWS
increased. One cow to the acre should
be aimed for. If that amount Of land
will not support the herdth her is some
thing radically wrong in the system
Now to make this a go the farmer must
rely on rotation. Plenty of clover hay
COW peas, OATS, succulent corn and en-
silage are absolutely nee ssary for sue
cess. Keep up the fertility OF the s7ll
with clover and grasses, and raise the
meas. oats and corn solely for stock
feed.
Do less summer dairying ard more
winter. The overproduction of sum-
mer butter and cheese increases every
season, ard those who supply the trade
make a very narrow margin of profits.
A warm barn, good water, good feed,
and good sense will make winter dairy
ing more successful than summer.
Devote some of the time and labor now
spent in summer dairy ing to the rails
ing, storing and preparing food for
winter feeding. The results will justify
you in this work. Instead of non pro
ducing COWS through the winter, you
will have profitable producers, bring
ing in more actual profits than the
summer cows. Food is cheap in sum
mer, but it can be made cheap in win
ter, too. Butter is very cheap in sum
mer and high in winter. Make the
winter feeding cheap, and then the
high prices for butter in winter will
turn the balance of the ledger in the
right direction.
Do not trust any cow that comes
along, but test her abilities thoroughly
and weed her out of the herd if she
does not come up to the standard. Good
COWS produce more for the food given
then than the inferior ones. This does
not mean pedigreed COWS, necessarily,
but we'll bred animals whose record for
producing milk and cream are well
known.
Butter cheese and butter should be
made. Special attention should be
given to the study of scientific cheese
and butter making. Many Canadians
are outselling US in the foreign markets
because of our half skim policy of
cheese making. Canadian cheese is
also entering into direct competition
with American cheese in all of the
cities of the United States. On the
whole, the so called part skins, espe
cially the under grades, do not pay but
a narrow margin of profits, and some
times none at all, while they give
American cheese a bad name at home
and abroad. When part skins r
selling for IL and two cents per pound
in the market where is the profit for
the manufacturer? This kind of work
should be abandoned and better cheese
and butter be turned out on our dairy
farms. Second and third grade butter
likewise hardly pays the producer any
profit. Better material, more C are and
a better knowledge of dairy methods
will enable the producer to realize a
great deal more per pound for his
product than he does now.