The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1904-02-15
les, making probably $4,000 pounds


of butter, which is somewhat higher
than the figures given by our state
dairy commissioner; but the secre-
tary gave no figures for the cheese re-
ported by the commissioner which, If
added to the actual amount, would
agree closely with the commissioners
report Mrs. Carmichael also reports
herds averaging $40 pounds of butter
per COW, which shows that the good
COWS are not all in one locality. In
fact, among dairymen on adjoining
farms one will be milking the $50 per
year cow while the other has the $50
or better kind of cow Now, if the
dairyman with the $S5 COW milks IL
COWS, he will receive $1,020 for butter,
while his neighbor with the $50 cow
will have to milk "a to be entitled to
receive the same amount Of money. is
it any wonder he is tired and says
"Dairying don't pay?" Is it any won
der that he is so busy nustling for feed
for his poor COWS that he has no time
to read dairy literature?
AS to the future possibilities of
dairying in Central Washington, we
know of no place that has so. many
natural advantages as are found here.
We have a fertile SOIL water to irri-
gate it, the sunshine to grow and cure
the crops. Alfalfa, the greatest for
age crop grown for dairy cows, pro-
duces from to 8 tons of hay per
acre; red clover, from to tons or
better; oats, from 40 to 120 bushels per
acre; barley, from 40 Ito 80 bushels
per acre; carrots and beets-well, just
plant patch of them, and it will as
tonish you the amount an acre will
produce. With the actual production
of such quantities of the best forage
for dairy COWS, it seems that the high
price of COW feed is injuring the dairy
industry Is it possible that such is
the case? On the surface it seems to
be so. 1t is checking the amount of
milk produced and quite few persons
who are milking COWS are trying to
sell them; but it will be found it is the
owners of the $50 year cow who
are trying to sell, and perhaps the
sooner these cows are disposed of, the
better We say to the dairyman, sell
or dispose of the poor cows in some
manner. Have they courage to tell
what they are, and take what they are
worth, or what the other fellow will
give? I can only think of three rea-
sons for keeping a poor cow: First,
She may be so poor the butcher will
not have her. Second If the pigs and
chickens would not eat her when she
was offered them as feed. Third, If
you could not obtain some place to
bury her.
All the good COWS do not belong to
any one bred. Neither are all the poor
ones found in any one breed. Every
dairyman should be a student of cow
ology and breeder of dairy cows, as
it is not always you ca puy any dairy
mans best cows. If any one is sell
ing his poor cows because they are
not paying for their feed, say to
them: well done! Keep on trying to
sell them until they are disposed Of"
But if they are selling good cows be-
cause they are getting high price for
hay, I say: "Stop selling them. You
are making a sad mistake"
Consider the many large irrigating
canals that are being built, and the
thousands of acres of new meadows
that will be producing hay in two
years from now, and the certain effect
it will have on the hay market 1t is
tho hardC Of choon and oattJa which