The Monitor-register., 1897-05-14
MONEY IN DAIRY FARMING.
THE SECRETARY OF H TAT AGRI
CULTURAL BOARD POINTS q THE
WAY TO INCREASE THE OFT ON

MILK.
in tea or coffee will be much interested in
a paper on "Dairying." by Franklin
Dye. Secretary of the New Jersey State
Board of Agriculture, which has just
been printed in the twenty fourth annual
report of the board.
The secretary's paper begins with the
question, "What are some Of the hind
RANGES to greater profits in dairying ?
"First, men are engaged in it who do
not understand the requirements of the
business. either as to its production or
the market demands. A large per-
centage of COWS kept as profitable dairy
animals are SO only in name. The money
invested in them is dead capital, in that
it earns nothing. The feed given to
them is lost. The time spent in caring
for them is also wasted. They lower the
total profits of the dairy. They add the
amount they are supposed to be worth
to the taxable property of the farm.
They are, in a word, first-class dead
heads, and deserve to be sent to the
butcher as soon as fat enough to
slaughter. Why do farmers keep them ?
They do not know whether they are
worth keeping. The demand is increas-
ing for pure, guaranteed milk.
"Another hindrance to certain dairy
men is that milk in all cases is not pro-
duced in absolutely healthy surround
ings and under scrupulously clean condi-
lions. When the dairyman can invite
his city customers to visit his stables,
| examine their condition and surround
ings, inspect his stock, witness the wash
| ing of cans, see the milking done, the
handling of the milk and observe the
appearance and dress of the mixers,
such milk producers are on the advanced
lines of profitable dairying.
"Will it pay to take such painsP" No
| one, l believe, who has introduced the
| reforms in milk production and market
ing as here partially outlined but has
| realized an increasing profit from the
business. Dairymen are daily putting
IN the market one of the most essential
articles of human food-a product capa-
| BILE of many uses in the household as a
| strepgth-giver and health-produceT;
capable also, if produced from diseased
| COWS, or manipulated where disease ex-
lists or by persons affected by pulmonary
or fever troubles of absorbing aud On.
veying the germs of the diseas to the
consumers of the milk. The RESPONSE
| bility of the milk-producer is snch as to
require FIRE quent warnings.
take the period from 1887 to 1906
t,n years. The number of milch COWS in
| New Jersey has Increased from 1885
in 1887 to 200. SAT in 1861 total in
crease of 81, 421 head. The Increased
total valuation is from SO. 1926 1856 in 1887,
to Sc, 1877, $50 in 1861 total increase OF
$662, 594. Although there has be,n a
steady, and for some things a great re
duction in value, as is the case with
farms, the decline in the value of milch
COWS in the State during the period
named a been only $1.63 a head.
son the other hand, the decrease in
the number of other cattle for the same
decade has been 2,453. and of total
valuation amounting to 81, 095, 6S4, show
ing that less attention in general has beer
given by the farmers to the raising OF
calves for home use or sale as to dairy
COWS. Whether dairymen are giving as
much attentinn to this as would be pro-
ftable for them is a question. And the
in influence this decrease in production of
young cattle, which Is quite general,
may have on the price of dairy COWS
should be considered.
"There are in this State many diaries
owned and managed by men of more
wealth than most farmers possess. They
are run on a large scale, and. in some
cases, quite regardless of expense. The
question is sometimes advanced by farm
ers, of what benefit are such estab
lishments to us !? No farmer of average
capital could carry on the business in
this way No, not on so large a scale,
but these examples are object lessons
from which some good points can be
utilized by the progressive dairyman who
is on the alert for new. practical ideas.
"Mapy of these model barns and
stables can be reproduced on a smaller
scale at a greatly reduced proportionatt
expense, and be just IS comfortable anG
mole profitable. The product of many
of these fancy (if you please) diaries,
whether milk, cream or butter, is sold fol
a much larger price than that from the
average farm dairy. An inspection OF
tn em is frequently a recommendation to
use their products, and the guarantee
usually furnished the consumer as to
purity, cleanliness and quality, being
sustained by their uniformity in these
respects at all seasons of the year, estab-
fishes their trade.
"These points of excellence can be
duplicated in the smaller diaries of the
state. But these large esta blishments
have other points of Importance. Take
Havemeyer's, for example, at Mahwah,
located in the stony and rugged region
of north Bergen county; the possibilities
of the soil for dairy and incidentally other
agricultural purposes are demonstrated
If these things can be done there, what
can be done in NOR 9 favorable soils ?
Furthermore, they are of perpetual bene-
fit to the neighborhood where located.
They give employ ment to local work
men. Money is put in circulation, and
in various ways they are of local benefit.
And if this much is true of these larger
diaries, the large creameries run by bust
ness men are more so. In these, a whole
neighborhood of farmers for miles
around is benefited by having a whole
sale market at home, and thousands OF
dollars is paid to them weekly for the
milk furnished"