The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1911-11-03
THE DAIRY cow
AND The HIRED MAN

'io idIIllel IS asked why he
does not milk more cows the answer
almost invariably comes that hired
help is too scarce, or that it is al
most impossible to hire a man if he
Is expected to do the milking.
The hired man seems to have q
hatred toward the dairy business.
Inc question comes at once: why
ls this true?" Is milking harder
Than other work? l think that most
hired men will agree that milking
Is not such hard work, but the far
mer figures on having the hand do
a days work in the field and then
do the milking in the morning and
evening besides, without any extra
pay. Certainly if the dairy bust
ness is worth while, as | thoroughly
believe that it is, the farmer should
be willing to pay for the extra labor
involved.
Lhave worked for several years as
hired hand on the farm and find
that the work of milking the COWS
is not harder than other farm work
but that the tendency of the farmer
is always to do the milking after a
hard days work has been done in
the field. Often the milking was
begun at five or. earlier in the even
ing and in the evening when the
milking was done, the milk scpara-
ted, and the calves all fed it was
from eight to nine O'Clock.
The demands of the hired man
OF today are not SO much for higher
wages as they are for shorter days.
This is all right, and if the farmer
will cut few hours off the days
work in the field and use them in
the dairy business he will make just
as much money and enjoy lifea great
deal more. Cows, in order to do
their best, should be MIXED at equal
intervals. If they are MIXED at
five in the morning they should be
MIXED at five in the evening. II
this plan is followed | am sure that
the hired man question will not be
50 difficult one.
A hired man should be paid ac-
cording to his ability and willing
ness to work. If he is a sluggard
and still receives the same wages as
the alert man, the man with higher
ambition is discouraged because he
does not receive pay in proportion
to- the amount of work he does. In
many cases the farmer is condemn
ing the hired man when the farmer
himself is doing about all he can to
discourage the mans ability.
Human interest and kindness are
perhaps the best means of getting
the most out of the hired man. Ii
he is greeted in cheerful way In
the morning when he meets his
Loss at the barn and is treated as a
man, he feels that there is some
thing in this old world besides hard
work and will feel more like trying
to please his employer. On the
other hand, if the man is greeted in
a grouchy way in the morning or
receives no greeting at all, he feels
that the man for whom he is work
ing is interested in him only as far
as he wishes to get work out OF him.
If some of the foregoing hints are
carried out the dairy business will
not be dreaded at 80 great an ex-
tent by the hired man and in the
long run the farmer will be money
ahead. The dairy business IS Ger
tainly worth while. Why should
not the farmer do his best to devel-
CD it on his farm? AS land advances
in value, dairy farming IS sure
to come, and the farmer gets
into the band wagon the better the
better it will be for him. Assistant
Dairvman Idaho Experiment Sta
ton.