Middletown transcript., 1895-12-21

y y
country are closing up this fall per-
manently. OF course there are those
that make butter only during the
spring and sum mer season, and there
are others which wereestablished when
there was an insufficient guaranty for
them as to quantity of milk that should
be furnished. and there are others that
cost too much TO erect, and others that
are run on such a basis as to neces-
state the production of an article OF
butter that cannot command the
highest price. We believe there are
too many of these small creameries
through the country, and If forces
could be combined in some counties
where there are from twenty to thirty
such creameries it would be better for
all concerned. These small creameries
cannot afford to employ the best help,
consequently The butter maker must be
engineer and fireman as well as d0
other things that are strictly incompa
tible in the butter making business.
Small creaheries cannot compete in the
markets in the sales Of their product
with large creaneries which have all
the advantages of the latest machinery
and most expert and skilled workmen.
Too often cream cries are established
out of some grudge or spite which a
few farmers may have against neigh
bnr ing creamery, with the usual result
that they lose in the long run. A
farmer had better make his own butter
at home than to take his milk to a
creamery where anything but the best
methods and the best men are employ
ed.
WHAT TWENTY-SIX COWS EARNED.
AS many farmers do not know by
actual figures whether they make or
lose on their COWS or perhaps we might
say do not know how much they make
or lose, a report from the Ohio State
University Dairy Farm will be of in
terest. They experimental with
twenty-six cows, that number being
actually in milk during the year (but
they were not the same twenty-six as
others were purchased and some sold
during that period.) From this aver
age of twenty-six cows there we're pre-
duced 100, $50 pounds of milk and the
receipts from the same amounted TO
to S3,642.75. The cost of food was
placed at 1888 ,76, and the cost of labor,
which we are informed was all done by
the students of the university,
amounted to 81, ,595, "A, the total expen-
ditures thus being So ,579, 20, leaving a
net gain of S1,263.55. Analysing
these figures we discover that the cost
of food per cow was $37 and a fraction,
and the cost of labor S61 and over,
making the total expense per COW very
nearly $100. The gross income from
each cow was, as it will appear from
the abJve figures, $149 so, thus leav-
ing a net income of about $4S per head
for the year. This is a large net in.
come, and the expense was evidently
greater in this experiment than it
would be for the ordinary farmer.
1t is usually estimated, in a rough
way, that it costs $50 to $40 per year
to keep a COW, and as the expense is
greater in this instance, likewise the
receipts are greater. But few cows
produce $14S worth per year as they
are found on our ordinary farms. The
experiment goes to show that with
good care and food it is possible to
make neat sum from each cow in
the dairy but, as we stated at the out.
set, but few farmers Know what this
sum is. We believe that if farmers
kept an accurate account of the cost
of food and labor las well as returns
from their milk, butter and calves), in
many instances they would fnd they
were losing money on some of their
COWS and making very little on others.
1t would serve to open their eyes to
their condition and, also, to cause
them to look more carefully to details
Of cost and 10 give greater attention to
economical feeding and proper care of
their dairy stock.