Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-03-25
GROW DAIRY FEED

During the period of low prices of
grain and feeding stuffs of all kinds the
dairy farmers of New England got in the
habit of depending upon purchased feed
for the dairy herd to large extent, and
now in the time of excessively high
prices for grain and feeding stuffs it is
found to be an expensive practice. When
corn, oats and bran could be purchased
for about one-half the price they cost
to-day, there was some justification for
such course, for with the scarcity and
high price of labor perhaps the protein
needed could be purchased cheaper than
grown upon the farm, but such course
cannot be followed under prevailing con-
ditions and arrangements should be
made to grow most of the feed needed
or reduce the number of cows kept to
within reasonable distance of the ca
pacity of the farm. The price of dairy
products has not advanced in proportion
to the price of grain and feeding stuffs.
II the farm is adapted to the use of
machinery, and no farm can be profita-
bly, cultivated to-day that is not, the
proper course is to Immediately make
arrangements to grow crops this season
that will reduce the grain bill. 1t is dis
couraging to have to pay out from 80 to
80 per cent of the amount received each
month for milk or butter to the grain
dealer for the grain purchased to pro-
duce that milk. There is one slight con-
ISOLATION to such course in the fact that
the fertility of the farm is constantly in
creasing if the manurial elements are
properly saved and the resources of the
farm are thereby increasing. But so far
as tangible property is concerned there
is more of it in smaller quantity OF milk
produced mainly from feeds produced
upon the farm than from larger quanti-
ty produced mainly from feeds purchas-
ed in the market. The wise course is to
produce all that can possibly be produc-
ed from feeds grown upon the farm with
small proportion of heterogeneous grains
purchased to replace the fertility-car-
ried away from the farm in the marketed
product.
The crop of first Importance in supply
ing dairy feed is the corn crop. No
other approaches it in palatableness and
in economy. 1t will grow upon some
soils better than upon others, but, gen.
orally speaking, it is as well adapted to
all soils and all conditions of climate
found in New England as any forage
crop grown. Ii the corn crop of New
England could be increased one hundred
per cent over previous production, and
be grown and harvested in the most
economical manner, it would be one of
the greatest helps to the dairy industry
that could be named Next to the corn
crop come oats, oats and peas, and the
millets. These are also generally adapt
ed to prevailing conditions and will aid
in reducing the grain bill, whether fed
in the green state or cured. These crops
are specially adapted to helping out
scanty pasture feed more economically
than by the use of purchased grains.
Either of the crops we have named can
be grown without heavy application of
fertilizer, but they all need thorough
preparation of the seed bed by repeated
narrowing, and, in the case of corn,
half of the season.
If any dairyman who has good herd
of cows and is dissatisfied with the net
returns during the past year or two will
examine his books he will find that we
are right in this matter, for he will find
the amount he has paid out for grain in
proportion to his receipts for milk an
astonishing sum. There are scores and
hundreds of milk producers for the BOs-
ton market whose monthly grain bill is
from 40 to so per cent of the gross
amount received for milk, leaving the
balance to pay for labor, shrinkage on
cows and for the fodder grown upon the
farm. If such arrangement had been
made that not over Is or 20 per cent was
required for grain there would be more
satisfactory results. Those milk pro-
ducers who are keeping comparatively
small number of good cows, doing the
work themselves in the winter and with
a hired man in the summer, growing
and storing in the silo a good quantity
of corn, are doing as we'll in the milk
business as at any time in the past.
They are not doing as well as they
would do if the price of milk was as
high in proportion to other things as it
should be, but they are not complaining
very much. A lesson should be learned
from their experience and the number
of COWS reduced to the capacity of the
farm and to the ability of the owner to
provide a larger share of homegrown
feed.-Mirror and Farmer.