The Newtown bee., 1909-06-04

only to see them sold for "bolognas"
 Wlthln . years time. If Nelghbor
 Lowell, with one of the most fertile
 iarlns Tn this region, within half .
 mile or Borden's and the feed ware
 house, making over 500 lbs of milk
 daily mes of the year, finds 1t a
 business of small profit, what must
 De sie ease with us smaller fry, who
 make 2Oe lbs or less and have q haul
 or rom three to six miles, with rocky
 ana not over rich farms to back us.
 We men who are patrons of Borden's
 sometimes think, and say. that their
 requirements and restrictions make
 It needlessly hard for us, taking off
 rom our profits accordingly: per-
 haps it is 50, but many0f the changes
 and Improvements they have sug-
 gested add a lot to the health and
 comfort Of our stock and those who
 care Tor them. When you stop to
 think that B0rden's are shield for
 us from the big stick of the New
 York Health Board, we cannot blame
 them 1T they urge us to slick up a
 bit. There is no question but that
 |o might greatly increase the profits
 Of our cows if we had plenty of capi-
 tai and time, with willingness to use
 them in building ID our nerds; more
 Of us probably would but for some
 attempts we have made in that line
 Whicf did not come up to our Gxrec-
 tatlons. A bulldog, never-let-go
 policy is of prime importance in get
 ting a bunch of good milkers, as well as in any other line of business. A
 neighbor told me, recently, that his average from his six cows for several
 months this past winter was from IS to 20 quarts daily from each COW;
 that record is over double that of the 12 to 16 cows we milked the past season. In our herd we have seven
 twoyear-Olds, mostly fresh in July and August, one young COW and the
 rest not giving the flow of milk of former winter months. With milk checks ranging from $10O to SIS for for the past seven months, ones
 grain bills averaged $40 per month, not making any charge for hauling We estimate that, with a fair price for the hay and stalks fed, with a small charge for caring for the COWS and milk, we nave generous manure pile for our profit from the milk business Of the past seven months, AhQther neighbor, with a check of
 $175 for one of the winter months, said that his grain for that month cost him $45; stating that his COWS were not up to the standard he usually set for them. It cost no more to feed and care for 20-quart cows than for those giving six to 10 quarts daily, so lets all have emf we can. The statements of No. 1, and No. 2 in Profits in the Milk Busi- ness,", are, think, misleading 10 the average Bee reader not familiar with the details of dairy manage ment. As Neighbor Fairchild says, in No. 2, "the first 10 days of May | are not the best for milkproduction." I think if Messrs Lowell and Fair child made their tests during the last 1 10 days of May, instead of the first 10, they would have had a much | better balance sheet as to profit, for by that time hay and grain would | have been fed in much smaller quan- 1 titles, if at all, and the pounds of milk would probably have increased OH grass feed alone. Or had the tests been made during one of the four winter months when the price of milk was $1.90 per 100, instead of $1.25, as in May, the profit balance would also have shown better. venture a guess that MT Lowell was about 600 pounds daily, in those months, and fed stalks liber- ally, worth $5 to $S ton and his poorest hay, worth about $1O or $1E a ton; this lower priced fodder, l imagine, produced more milk, ton for ton, than the $15 hay. l sup pose I ought to apologize right here for insinuating that Neighbor Lowell with his sup-to-date farm and man. agement has any of the cheaper hay, but have to confess that we smaller fry of the back woods often have more tons of the SIC quality than of the S15. We will never lay up a million dollars off the milk business, with present conditions and prices but we can increase our profits. l believe, by raising more corn and | corn fodder, better hay, better farm management generally, and by giv- ing more attention to the quality of the stock in our herds. l hope 1909 1 will show an advance all along the 1