The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1897-12-24

'i'iHlSSS ullpll Inc bpoNt SlDJcCl WHICH as uC-
iivrred at the Farmers institution Bel Air last
week by Mr.. James L. Rice, of Yorktown, n.
Y.
There Is no more important branch of farm
ing i'll this country than that of dairying, and
7 realize that you who are blessed with such
exec lent natural grazing land are especially
interested We have felt i'll the State of New
York that the business has been over done, and
that with such sharp Western competition
where they have cheap lands and low-priced
grains, we could scarcely hope to compete and
make very large profits. But | find here an
entirely different condition of affairs. A good
part of Maryland is not natural grass land; and
for various other reasons, not the least being
the labor problem, that part of the State will
never becom. a dairy section. The same may
be said of other States South of Maryland
Therefore you are assured of good, nearby
markets for Years to come.
1t is only question of a few years before we
will have an outlet for great deal of our but
ter and cheese IN foreign markets. where now
but comparatively little of these products are
sold. This will tend to hold up general prices
However, there is general tendency all along
the line of agricultural products for lower
prices, because of Il cheapness in the cost of
COWS, improved dairy implements and improv-
cd methods all tend to lessen the ost, therefore
cheapening the price. Durying will always be
popular 1t gives work all the year round,
and enables the farmer to manufacture into
cOnderS Il product the cOarser bulky materials
of the farm and TO make the farmer grow
Iichrr each year by the purchase of rich grain
feeds, about eighty $50 per cent. of which is
Iat ii int I,n sI,o Of
1t is IL question 10 be decided by the prices
and distance from market, just what kind of
Il trade is best. Nearby trade can often sell
milk to Il greater profit; little farther away,
would come the butter making section, and
still farther back, the cheese districts. In gen.
eral the cream trade is the most satisfactory.
Often as much can be obtained for butter fat
in the cream as in the butter, and there has
been Il great saving of labor and risk. and
moreover we have sllm-milEl which is worth
from Is to % cents per hundred to feed to
calves or young pigs. This would amount to
five dollars or more per cow year.
Ii butter making is practiced. it will genera
ly pay better to take the milk to factory and
sell it for what it is worth, than to pay to
manufacture it at home. Where butter is
made in u wholesale way by an expert, it can
bC hOllt illICu CuCdpti per pDults anu GdIl Dt
made much more uniformly. Butter made in
small quantities on the farm is seldom twi, e
alike, and will differ with each farmers way of
ripaning, sailing and working. This tends TO
demoralze the butter market. Dealers, us
well as consumers, like uniformity.
However, which ever way the milk is sold, it
should be according to its actual richness, and
not the poor and rich alike. Very often. one
-, -
much per quart as his ncighbors, and of course
is entitled to twice as high Il price. This can
best be determined by the use of the Babcock
tester. Whatever system of dairying we prac-
tice, we must have good cows. 1t should not
be our aim to keep certain number of cows,
but TO produce certain amount of milk OF
butter, and keep as few cows as possible to do
it. We must realize also that the best COW is
not always the one that costs the most to feed
II i often just the reverse. 1t depends alto
gathar on the ability of the cow TO manufacture
her food into milk, or into beef, or just to eat
and not make any particular of it, except
t. live. To illustrate this. a very careful ex-
pertinent at one of our Experiment Stations
showed that one COW gave $500 lbs. of milk at
a cost of SI.6O per cwt., and butter at Il cost of
26 cents per h.; while another gave II, 900 lbs.
TER for II cents per 10.
The vast Importance of having a good cow is
apparent, but, how shall we get her: 1t is diff
ficut TO buy her. The man who possesses Il
good COW naturally desires to keep her, and if
he does he is wise. Never buy poor cow IN
der any circumstances, She will simply eat up
the Profits of the good cows. Ordinarily we do
not make enought difference in the price of
cows. They sell for from $50 TO $50, yet the
thirty dollar COW might cost $50 to keep her
and furnish no income, while the fifty dollar
COW might cost not more than $40 to keep, and
bring $50 income, with profit of thirty-tive
dollars.
The only way to get IL real good dairy COW is
to raise it by using good thoroughbred sire
with only the best COWS. They will have to be
picked out by occasionally weighing their milk
and testing it.
The right breed to select, depends on what
wcintcnd to do with the product. The Jerseys
and Guernscys are prc-cmincntly our butter
breeds, while the Hosteins and Ayrshire are
for larger flows of poorer quality of milk
But there good and poor individuals in
every breed, 50 really we want the COW tn At
will give US the largest amount of milk at the
least cost, be that COW thoroughbred, grade or
scrub. There are scrubs among the thorough
breds. and the fact that COW has long pcdi-
gree does not prove Il valuable one. The poor
est cow in tine experiment above quoted was Il
thoroughbred Jersey, and the best one red
cow with humble and unknown ancestry.
In making up ration for Il cow, We must
bear three things in mind: Have SINE succu-
lent food like beets or eHsiIage, or both feed
only foods that COWS like and give them IL va
riety. Have good proportion of bulky food
mix ed with the concentrated grains. Have the
ration so balanced that the cow will have about
2,a lbs. of aIbumenoids to 121a lbs. of carbohy-
drates and about pound of fat. In general
| the more albumenoids We can get a COW to eat
and still keep in good flesh, the greater will be
| the production. Great loss of production and
waste of food also works injury to the animal,
and results when food contains too much or
100 little of the fattening elements.
| One can figure this out for himself by getting
| tables from the experimental stations contain
| ingcomposition of foods. Following are some of
| the common foods, which shows how different
| they are in their feeding value.