The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-05-26
WHAT DOES MILK COST?
Figuring the Financial End of the
Dairy Business.

There is probably no farming ques-
ton as to which there is so wide disa-
greement among farmers as there is
about the cost of milk, says the Boston
Cultivator. 1t undoubtedly costs more
in winter than it does in summer, and
this was especially true under the old
time system of feeding on dry hay and
cornstalks, with sometimes little grain
for variety, which, however, usually
went to make fat on the body rather
than to increase the milk flow. There
was no inducement in those days to
have COWS calve in the fall, for the fresh
flow came at season when it was al
most impossible to keep it up. Milk is
always dearer in winter than in sum-
mer, but under these conditions the
slightly increased price did not pay the
extra cost, and all the winter made
milk had to be sold at a loss.
Now, however, farmer who has a
basement barn and silos to ensilage his
corn fodder can have cows drop their
calves in the fall with some confidence
that the winter product will pay its
cost. Corn fodder is so much cheaper
than is pasture on high priced land that
if it can be given in succulent form
and if COWS can be protected from win
ters cold the winters milk does not
cost any more than that made in sum-
mer, where the main dependence is on
pasture. We believe that good pasture
in June will bring more milk from a
new milk cow than will any other
feed. But that is not saying that even
then it is the cheapest feed. 1t must be
remembered also that June pasture fills
out only small part Of the summer.
The grass is sappy and innut1itious
in May, and by July or August it either
grows hard and woody or dries up so
that COWS will not eat so much of it,
and what they do eat will not make SO
much milk So great is the need of ex-
ira feed for cows at this time that corn
drilled for fodder is often cut before it
has even got into blossom, and when it
of course has very little nutrition So
soon as corn natures sufficiently, that
will furnish a ration that will material
ly increase the milk flow in COWS at
pasture Indeed many Of the best farm
ers put their COWS in darkened stables
during August heats, partly to protect
them from flies They find that entire
reliance on soiling with green corn or
with clover makes larger milk flow,
and makes it more cheaply than does
reliance on pasture, even when corn is
cut and fed daily as an adjunct to it.
This, we think, pretty nearly proves
that, considering results, the winter
feed Of COWS costs less than it does while
they are at pasture. Most farmers de-
ceive themselves into thinking that
their summer pasture costs nothing, be-
cause thy expend neither money nor
labor to secure it's product The COW is
turned in, eating with one mouth, but
all the time trampling the tender grass
with four feet, soiling the grass, besides
more or less bruising it and injuring it's
roots If the pasture is clover, this in
Jury is so serious that stock ought new
er to- be turned into clover field until
it is nearly ready to blossom. Until
this time clover is about the poorest
feed that can be offered to COW. But
turn a cow into field of clover when
it is in blossoms, and what will be the
result? She will trample through it, bit
ing off the clover heads and soiling or
destroying fully twice as much as she
eats If the same clover were cut and
! fed green to the COW. she cannot tsepa-
rate the heads from the stem SO well
and will eat the whole of it. In this
way three times as much feed will be
got from an acre of clover as can be Sc
cured by pasturing. Some of the clover
will be soiled so that the cow will not
touch it through the remainder of the
| season ~ &
Every farmer who has pastured clover
knows that toward fall, while most of
the ground will be eaten down almost
to the roots, there will be a considerable
portion that has grown hard and woody,
so that it has little nutritive value.
When the clover is eaten off early, the
second growth promptly springs up and
is both palata BILE and nutritious. That
is what grows up after the first crop
has been cut for soiling or for hay. A
second, third and even fourth crop of
clover may be grown if the soil is rich
enough, and each one will be more nu-
tritious than the first. This repeated
cutting of clover is far better for the
root growth than pasturing it can be-,
for in pasturing the constant trampling
of the ground hurts the plant and less
ems both its root and top growth In
short, clover will usually produce not
only three times as much feed when cut
with scythe or mower as when pas
tured, but it is nearly or quite three
times as much benefit to the land.
When the clover is cut, more or less
leaves fall upon the soil, and it is the
rotting of these that doubles and trebles
the growth that the clover would other
wise make. The cow returns only the
excrement from the clover she eats, but
that is not in condition to help the
clover growth materially the same sea-
son.