Middletown transcript., 1902-01-11
PRACTICAL DAIRY POINTS

the best grasses and clovers flourish dairy
ing has become a profitable farm indus
try, and farmers have accumulated more
money by keeping COWS and selling butter
and cheese, and, in some instances, milk,
than have farmers in those sections In
which wheat and corn, but grass fails.
The reason is obvious; in dairying the
farmer converts the plant food drawn
from the soil into more valuable products
at minimum cost to the farm, as much
of the plant food is returned to the farm
as manure.
1t is an axiom in profitable agriculture
that that system of farming which relies
for its cash receipts upon converting the
raw products of the farm into meat, wool,
dairy products, etc., and selling these, is
the true one to pursue. Converting hay
and grain into choice dairy products, uti-
Iizing the by products of the dairy to best
advantage in growing calves and pigs,
offers good returns if followed intelli-
gently with ordinary business foresight
and administrative rbility.
In a manufacturing business the aim is /
to produce good article at the lowest
possible cost. This applies to dairying
from the fact that only a choice article Of
butter or cheese finds remunerative
market, while if the cost of production
has been kept down to the lo~eet figure
the dairyman has the satisfaction of feel
ing that be has practically secured both
ends of the bargain.
The educating force of example furn-
ished by the few first-class dairymen who
are found scattered throughout most
dairy sections affords stimulus and
pattern to the farmers of their neighbor-
hood, and by this means the business has
received an uplift to degree tnat better
cows are kept in many instances, and old,
slack methods of caring for dairy stock,
have given way to neater work in better
stables.
No study of dairy problems looking to
highest attainments in production of
dairy goods can be complete and of high
est benefit which omits the dairy CHAR
acteristics of the cows. The starting
point in successful dairying is the cow.
1t requires good administrative ability to
build up paying dairy herd. It hold
true with COWS as with 'other people"
that good cows are born, not made. And
yet, after the good herd is built up, as
much ability is required to feed Alright
proper foods properly combined-to bring
the herd to the highest producing ca
pacity, as it does to select and build up
the herd.
No two COWS are just alike in their feed
ing capacity. One may consume quar-
ter more feed than another, yet be the
more profitable producer of the two-the
range of butter fat may test higher and
the quantity be larger. Not every COW,
also, which gives high rate of butter fat
In her milk at low cost for feed to pro-
duce is profitable one to keep. I have
known of two instances at least where
high grade Jersey cows gave large messes
of milk whose butter product averaged
high for quantity, but for quality was less
than second rate-soft, salvy and clear off
in color, and these conditions prevailed
under the most favorable circumstances
of handling the milk and cream.
1t is this line of high Productive capa-
city for food consumed-turning the feed
to the butter fat account rather than to
storing it upon the body-a1d butter pro-
duct of the highest quality that should be
the base of action in selecting COWS or in
breeding to build up a first-class dairy.
One working along these lines will find
ample scope for his skill and administra-
tive ability in breeding, both in the Sc
lection of the heifers and cows retained in
his dairy and the choice of sire he in
troduces into his herd.
With the mass of farmers there has
been little progress in breeding for the
dairy. They too often 60 on the hap
hazard plan of breeding to the handiest
bull they can find, if his services are low
in price, entirely ignoring quality of
blood, characteristics and dairy inheri-
tance-a cheap service which costs more
than it is worth, even if given.
It was my fortune recently to be left
With little spare time on my hands in
a community of farmers where dairying
was carried on to quite an extent in the
aggregate, most of the farmers keeping
from six to ten cows, and selling their
cream to a butter factory, which had
cream route through the neighborhood.
A little inquiry ELECTED the information
that there were only two bulls owned
within radius of four miles. Both were
scrubs, mixture of several breeds, the
| product of "high grade' Jersey bull
crossed upon dams of native and grade
Hereford blood. Here were some good
looking cows, well proportioned, but evil
IDENTIFY the most of them better adapted
to stock purposes than for the dairy;
lacking in uniformity of color, size, come
illness of proportions or the dairy make
up, the latter quality painfully SO to the
practised eye.
Yet these farmers were apparently con-
tented and satisfied with the results of
the course they were following. Apathy
and lack of appreciation of the possibil-
tiles in breeding to raise the productive
capacity of their COWS comes as an inher-
itance to many farmers; hence they con-
tinue on contented with the delusion
that what was good enough for their
fathers is good enough for them.
| Good Advice