Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-04-23
Cost of Ignorance to the Dairy Farmer

Former Governor Eoord of Wiscoii-
sin, We'll said that ignorance Is 'ne
most expensive thing that a man ca,
be possessed of. That it holds goou
in the dairy world is easily seen. -
the United States there are l''''E'4ol
milch COWS that give an average Vi 10
pounds of butter a year. froleS9oi
Hoeckler of the Minnesota experiment
station has demonstrated that tne
average COW that now produces pul 10
pounds is capable of producing 40
pounds of butter Il year by giving her
proper food and care That Woulu
mean an increase of $50 pounds cow
or 2,62.i, ,S6y coo pounds increase y year
for tie dairies of the United states
At 20 cents a pound this would mean
s527, ,173, ,920, the cost of ignorance to the
dairy farmer. But the worst oil II Is
that the burden falls on all of u.s.
Mr.. Hoord, in order to determine II
agricultural papers had any effect on
the readers. had records kept OF loo
herds from which the cream was scld.
OF the proprietors of these herds, sixty
seven read farm papers, and their cows
averaged 200 pounds of butter a year,
WEile the cows of the thirty-three that
did not read any farm papers averaged
ninety-eight pounds, the 102 pounds eX-
ira being due to better care, feed and
selection. In addition to the farm
papers, there are the farm schools, the
farmers institute. the agricultural
colleges, experiment stations and the
United States Department of Agricul-
ture, all making war on this ignor-
ance.
While 275 pounds Of butter a year is
about the limit of the average COW, it
is by no means the limit within the
reach of the dairyman. BY selection,
feeding ana care, the herd can be
| brought up to 400 pounds. or even 45O
pounds. a year for each COW. The
possibilities that are in store can be
realized when one recollectS that YekSo
Sunbeam, a Guernsey COW, gave 1,00O.2
pounds of butter in year. The 450 or
even 500 pounds a year are very easily
probable and worth striving for.
The value of the good COW as COM
pared with that of the poor one is not
usually appreciated. Mr.. Gurler, be-
fore the recent national dairy conven-
ton at Chicago, made this point quite
| clear, and his statement is quoted:
What are the COWS worth that pro-
duce 400 pounds of butter q year?
Here l am going to make a statement
and undertake to prove it correct
When a COW that produces 200 pounds
of butter year at a food cost of $39,
and a labor cost of $12.5O, is worth $25,
the COW that produces 400 pounds of
| butter annually is worth $500, and the
owner can net SIG more from her, after
paying the interest on the $4OO, than he
can from the cows that produce 200
pounds of butter.
"Thcre is no more labor connected
with the 400-pound COW than there is
with the 2OO-pound cow The price at
which butter has been credited, that is
20 cents a pound, is the net price from
| the creamery after the making has
been paid for. In this herd the in
creased cost Of feed for the 400-pound
COW was more than offset by the in
| creased amount of skim milk, so we
| have the 2G0 pounds increase of butter
as net profit over the 200-pound COW.
| Two hundred pounds of butter at 90
| cents is $40. We have $400 invested in
these cows which at per cent. interest
! is s24, which, deducted from the $40.
| leaves credit of SIG to the 4O0-pound
| cow"
Mr. Gurler looks at it from a business
| standpoint and that is what the
! farmer is coming to do more and more.
| He will want TO know what per cent.
| he is realizing on his investment Mr..
| Gurler further said in his address
Are we going to keep 160-pound cows
! and receive $15 Il month for our la
/ Dor, or 200-pOund COWS and get S25 q
month for our work, or 0-pound COWS
and receive SIS, or will we do still bet
| ter and obtain cows that will make $50
! pounds of butter year and receive a
| salary of $1,000 a year for looking after
the men that are doing the work /?
This is based on what one man can
| care for or fifteen cows"
There is no doubt but we all prefer
| the $1,000 job, and bossing the other
| fellow around a doing tho "a