Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1899-06-07
fREAHERE ikE 35FE2 N II
DAIRY METHODS.
Some of Many Changes Wherein
TWENTY-FIVE Years.

oome OF many OnangeS Wnefoln
Twenty-Five Years.
What many farmers now need is to
realize the radical changes that have
taken place In all the methods that
have to do with the production, distri-
button and consumption of dairy pro-
ducts. Then ifthereis any scientific
teaching that will help him to adjust
his methods to meet the changes that
have taken place he should avail him
self of them.
twenty-five years ago, writes q cor
respondent of Hoard's Dairyman. when
1 was living on my ather's old dairy
farm, every COW was fresh in milk in
the spring. The most of the butter was
made during the summer months and
packed in firkins. Every fell we could
depend on several butter buyers coming
to our home to buy the butter. The
COWS are dried off in the fall or early In
the winter, and no more butter was
made until the next spring. In those
days the production of butter was con.
fined to few eastern states, and there
was q demand In the large cities for ~
the butter-old butter, too-st gooN
prices. Then came the imitation pfi6t
of the wartimes, and 9 great opp0 s
nifty was given for farmers to m III
their farms II they were bought 1T tha
right time.
This method of farming was adapted
entirely to summer dairying. The only
grain fed the COWS was little in the
spring, before grass, and this was grown
on the farm. The butter was all made
at home by the farmers wife, and the
expense of drawing the milk to the
creamery and money paid for making
the butter were saved. The bresdstuffs
and vegetables used by tie family were
all grown on the farm, taxes were less,
less was spent for the comforts or luxu.
ries of life, and the social demands were
less, SO the economical farmer could
save more money than the farmer of
tne present Clm0.
l do not say that he could make more
than the enterprising farmer of
today, but that, the processes of dairy
ing being nearly all conducted on the
farm and being less consumer of
other peoples products, he could live
and save money on a smaller cash in
come than he can now. Butter making
has been legated to the factory, and
the demand now is for fresh butter, so
the farmer must practice winter dairy
ing to hold his trade with the factory.
The butter buyer, instead of going to
the farmer, now goes to the factory,
where he can buy butter in large guam
titles that is of the highest quality and
uniform in grade. The western states
have become butter making states, and
with their cheap grain and transporta-
tion facilities they can undersell the
eastern dairymen in their own markets
and still make larger profits.
The result of large production of
any article and intense competition is
that the standard of quality is rails
ed. The market demands better
article, and inferior goods are of little
value. The fact is that the dairyman
of today is compelled to produce bet.
ter article and produce it cheaper than
at any other time. He must patronize
the creamery in order to sell his pro-
duct, he must pay the creamery for
manufacturing it, and he must produce
9 part In the winter when it costs him
more, and there is only one way for
him to meet the changed conditions of
things and that is to produce his milk
at less cost.
The old methods of farming that
have described will not do, and the
farmer who tries to make them fit with
the present order of things will soon
find his mistake. If our agricultural
papers and dairy conventions and farm
institutes can tell US how to make
fair margins in these times, we wan to
hear from them. If we have men who
have studied the situation, then have
gone to work and made their farms pay
good profits by what has been called
scientific farming" they should have
something to tell US. When they tell
us that the silo, clover, soiling crops,
testing their cows to see which pay pro
fit and VAIN stables with tight cutters
that save all the liquids have helped
them to solve the problem of reducing
the cost of production, we may rightly
call it scientific farming" and we will
do we'll to make it our study.
Parsnlps for Cows.
There is no better root for COWS than
the parsnip. 1t has the advantage that
part of the crop may, if need be, be
wintered in the ground whsse II has