Connecticut western news., 1909-06-10
PLAIN FACTS ABOUT
 THE MILK QUESTION
CONTRIBUTED BY CHAS. A. BEAUION
Wide Interest Being Shown in Dis Cussion in The News as to Whether or Not there Are Profits-Mr. Beau jon Takes Negative.

hS NS" oo NO
 or Not there Are Profits-Mr. Beau
 jon Takes Negative.
 To HE EDITOR OF THE NEWS:
 Last week as I read Mr Lovell's figures showing the lack of profit in dalrying when we take into account the high price of labor and grain felt that he had stated the facts clearly only that he had not given them all.
 He makes no mention of the amount of capital invested in stock, farm, build ing and other equipment necessary to handle a dairy of thirty COWS. The money invested here ought return reasonable interest. TheR there s the depreciation of the herd and equipment that must be met. Cows wear out from natural causes. It is safe to say that the life of the entire herd is less than ten years. Occasionally a COW dies from some unavoidable cause or one goes wrong and must be turned to beef and become a partial loss.
 In herd of that size a good service bull must be we'll kept, which is another one of the many items of expense which are not taken into account by the man who does dairying with paper and pencil.
 Another important point which has not been touched upon is the period dur ilg which the COWS are dry. This is on an average about two months out of the twelve, winch means that five cows must be kept all the time without re- turning any revenue.
 There is also the tax account and insurance, of which the dairy. must pay it's share.
 It seems to me that the figures MT. Lowell gives are conservative and ac- ourate and no clear-thinking, practical man who has had to wrestle with the conditions during the past eight months will take exception to any of lis state ments.
 |. The only reasons can see that will hOOP 4nAs AOh CAA OA all OA ho A4OlA 6OALS "in the hole" is the fact that there are few months when we can make milk without the use of grain; and also grow as much az we can of what we must use.
 In MT. Roberts article is clearly visible she hand of the accountant but it lacks fOroa haoo1ca ;t iw mt prontical To tba man who must pay out dollar for milk tickets regularly it will probably look all right. But where is the man. who will do what he has laid out for days work?
 The nature of dairy work is such that we must have plenty of help at milking time but how must we employ the men during the intervening hours so that their labor will return us profit. True there are certain instances where out side work is obtainable so that the men can be employed to advantage, but this IS the exception rather than the rule.
 The rules and regulations of Boards of Health of the various cities are at present so stringent that it neoessitates good part of this time being spent in and about the stables. This to me seems like step in the right direction. But-and here is where lies all the friction that exists between the pro- ducers and handlers of milk-who is going to settle for all this extra care and cleanliness?
 There is great satisfaction for 8 true dairy man to go into his stable and find every thing clean and Nell cared for or to sit down to well groomed COW and draw from her a pail of milk that he knows is clean and wholesome enough to feed to his own children. But he can't use that satisfaction to pay his help nor to buy the necessities required to maintain his family in comfort.
 To keep the conditions about a stable reasonably clean you cannot say, "one hour in the morning feeding and milk ing, one hour at noon water and feed, " etc There are little details that require constant care off and on through the day. For as the neat mother and house wife takes many a step and gives many rub that the husband knows nothing about so the careful dairYman attends to many a detail that is entirely un- known to his more careless brother farmer.
 What inducement for better methods about the dairy caR there be to the man who would try to produce a wholesome article if he meets at the creamery another who is delivering milk that he knows is positively filthy? He sees his wouldn't care to drink himself, Both patrons receive the same price for their produce. This Is not a square deal.