The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-01-12
The Element Of Uncertainty.

In the different industries of the
farm, there is no one that demands 80
much close watch and minute observa-
ton as that of the dairy. In about
every one Of the different affairs of the
farm there can be some sort "oi
shrewd guess work" so much wood
makes about 80 much fire; 30 many
bushels of wheat make an average
load; 30 much help, aud so much ma.
chine ought to cut and put up 80 much
hay per day, aud 80 on through the list
When it comes to the dairy there is an
uncertainty. A COW ought to give
milk, and eat in proportion TO her size,
and 80 much milk from old brin ought
to make so much butter, but in the
management Of the dairy there is an
individualism that makes eve Y COW &C.
countsble only to herself, and this
finding out about this, makes dairying
one of the fine arts, 80 to speak. II
would seem that 80 much hay and
grain, and 80 much COW ought to pre-
duce 30 much milk. The engineer
says" Here is a ffty-ton locomotive,
there are ten tons OF coal and 1000
gallons of water, and that means that
L can pull 80 many cars and 80 many
tons of freight, go many miles" Can
the man with 1000 pound COW say
any such thing of her with certainty?
No man can tell, by looking at the cow
and estimating the feed, how many
pounds of milk, of what per cent fat,
and how long she will hold out. The
small COW often eats as much as the
larger one, out milks her and out
classes her in butter making. The en-
CINE can be built over, new furnace
put in, and economy secured, with ex
ira power added; but the COW is never
built over. She stays with US as either
a paying producer, or boarder. AS
boarder she consumes the profits OF the
better COW.
At the Experiment Stations interest
ing experiments are being carried on
in regard to this difference in cows and
their appropriate, of food, as related
to the milk supply. Charging pastur-
age at 81 per week, and hay, grain and
siage al actual market rates, and cred
iting milk, butter and cheese and whey
at the going rates, 1t was found that
with the herds-apd it is to be sup
posed that these cows rate much above
the average-the food fed to some cows
returned three times the produce as
did others. In one trial the food cost
of a pound OF blu ter was eight and one
half cents pound, and from another
cow eighteen and one-half cents, while
the herd as whole ranged between
the eight and one-half and about
| eighteen cents for food cost of butter.
Some cows fell many dollars short of
paying for their feed; others paid a
profit of $40. Sold as milk, the case
would have been little different, if a
price OF four cents quart could be- OBJ
tanned. Then the poor cow for butter,
would have had S13 to her credit and
the best one $50, and if made into
cheese at eight and one-half cents
pound, the best COW would have made
profit of over $40, and the poorest
| about third as much. So it is seen
that there are three points of view in
this matter. A COW may be poor but
ter COW, and il milk is sold by the quart,
turn fair profit, and if cheese is made,
quite different result follows, and the
best butter COW runs her owner in debt
in the milk market. Over all is this
fact that the same food makes rich
milk for one COW and thin for another,
and it may take even more food to
make the thin milk than the other.
Cows shrink and dry off, let the food
be what it may, and ten per cent of
them go to the SHAMELESS yearly, and
which ones it will be, no man knowe b
until the day thereof. Dairylng is
lottery at best, but it is an affair in
which each man loads and turns his
own wheel; and makes his own draw
ings, securing the capital prize always,
and lot of minor drawings, besides.
Oftentlmes he in rating his cows with
out testing, and finding out for sure,
confounds the minor drawing for the
actual prize card ticket. Do you know
which is your actually best cow?-John
Gould, in Practical Farmer.