Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-10-18

anu one tnat Will make not more tlan
$50 pounds? What should be the
difference in price? There are herds
that have even higher records than 800
pounds, and individual cows that
would exceed 400 pounds in a year on
just ordinarily good feeding, and herds
that with nearly as good care do not
come up to $50 pounds per head. We
say nearly as good care, for as rule
the man who has and keeps such cows
does not feel interest enough in his
business to take much pains with
them.
He is apt to be sure that farming
don't pay" and that lit costs more to
keep COW than all you can get out of
her," which is true, in his case, at
least; but he has got cows in some
way, perhaps by inheritance, perhaps
by purchase, and he has fodder to be
used up in some way, partly bog hay
partly English hay cut late and dried
until it has lost all juiciness and flavor,
and there are the corn stalks that the
cows manage to pick some leaves from
when they are taken to the barn, and
there is some grass among the bushes
and rocks in the pasture, and so he
keeps the cows to turn all this into q
little manure for his fields, which need
it badly enough, and takes what milk
he can get, and grumbles, but does not
try to get better cows or better feed.
We all know that sort of farmer, or
have known him, for they are dying
out, and their children usually have
left the farm for other business and not
one would go back to it if it was given
him.
That is the sort Of farmers that keep
150-pound or possibly 100 pound cows.
If they needed to buy another they
would not be willing to pay over $25
for her, and would not put on another
So for the best COW in town, but would
go dozen miles farther to find one
for 800.
But the man who has 300-pound
COW is by no means satisfied. He be-
lieves there is profit in keeping cows
if he can only get the right sort of cows.
If he has to buy COW he would like
one better than any he has now, and
the higher the price asked the farther
he will go to see it, and the quicker he
will buy it if he can see indications of
the qualities he desires. But he likes
better to raise the calves from his best
cows and from the best bull he can get,
and feed them up to maturity, with the
object of making them better than the
parents.
Having good cows he feels that he
ought to give them good care and good
food, and if he makes butter he has SO
much that he must have the best ap-
pliances for the work, and follow the
most approved methods, and seek the
best market.
The difference then is more than the
difference in getting there whether you
take the electric cars or take seat on
the stone wall. 1t is the difference be-
tween advancing or moving backward,
between prosperous farming and fail
ure.
The 150 pounds of butter year at
present prices will not pay for even
the poor keeping and ljttlo care we
have described as being given to that
kind of cows. The 800 pounds will
pay for much better food and care and
give little income besides, and the
4O0-pound COW will yield about as
much income as thousand dollars in
the bank, beside paying for good hay
and grain.
If the man with 150-pound COW
gets a living, he earns it by hard work
upon the land or elsewhere, and pays
for the luxury of having the cow. If
he has large herd of such COWS, he
needs good income from other
sources to support them.
At the prices of hay and grain near
the cities and large towns OF New Eng
land, it costs not less than $40 year
to feed a COW and shelter her in the
winter. That will require 200 pounds
of butter at twenty cents pound. In
tine more rural districts, hay and pas
turage being cheaper, and with good
hay and corn ensilage grown upon the
farm, it may be done for $50, but cer-
tainly not for less.
1t is then for every farmers interest
to know just what his COWS are doing
for him, and if he cannot make them
approximate closely to the 300-pound
limit, to begin the process of wedding
out the poorest and obtaining better,
even if the cost is much higher. =
American Cultivator.